Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859 - 1906) - Russian physicist and electrician, professor. From 1905 to 1906 he was director of the St. Petersburg Imperial Electrotechnical Institute of Alexander III (now St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI")
April 25 (May 7), 1895- at a meeting of the Physics Department of the RFCS, held in the Physics Auditorium of the University A.S. Popov read a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations.” During the report, with the help of assistant P.N. Rybkin Popov demonstrated in action equipment for wireless transmission of electrical signals of various durations.
May 7, 1945 The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided: given the most important role of radio in the cultural and political life of the population and for the defense of the country, in order to popularize the achievements of domestic science and technology in the field of radio and encourage amateur radio among the general population, to establish May 7 annual “Radio Day”.
The creation and public demonstration of a radio communication system by Alexander Stepanovich Popov on May 7, 1895 gave impetus to the emergence and development of many completely new scientific directions and creative ideas. The first ten years from 1896 to 1906 Radio engineering in Russia developed under the leadership of A.S. Popov and with his active participation. The invention of radio communications was the significant step thanks to which he, a teacher of physics, higher mathematics and electrical engineering of the Mine Officer Class (MOC) of the Naval Department, became a world-famous scientist. The first serial radio equipment based on the A.S. system. Popov for ships of the Russian and French fleets was produced since 1899 by the French company Ducrete. In 1900 A.S. Popov most actively participated in the creation of the Kronstadt radio workshop, the first enterprise in the domestic radio industry. Since 1904, he actively worked with the companies JSC Russian Electrotechnical Plants Siemens and Halske and the German Society of Wireless Telegraphy Telefunken, which recognized the significance of his ideas and organized at their enterprises a department of “wireless telegraphy according to the system of Professor Popov and the Society of Wireless Telegraphy.” Telefunken."
Radio engineering as a field of knowledge and practical human activity was born at the very end of the 19th century and over more than a hundred years of its development has come a long way - from the first wireless signal transmission system to modern ground-based and space radio systems.
Popov A.S. – short biography
Born on March 16, 1859 (all dates are indicated according to the new style) in the Northern Urals, in the mining village of Turinskie Rudniki, in the family of a priest, rector of the Maximov Church Stepan Petrovich Popov (1827-1897) and his wife Anna Stepanovna (1830-1903), the middle of seven children. The family was very friendly. The elders - brother Raphael (1849-1913) and sisters Ekaterina (1850-1903) and Maria (1852-1871) always helped the younger ones. Alexander, in turn, took care of his younger sisters - Anna (1860-1930), Augusta (1863-1941) and Kapitolina (1870-1942). In addition to the main service of S.P. Popov spent almost his entire life working for free “teaching children literacy and the law of God" V mining school And at home school for girls, which he maintained at his own expense. For his diligent and useful service, he was awarded many commendations, bronze (1857) and gold pectoral crosses (1877) and the Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree (1986). Anna Stepanovna also taught schoolgirls handicrafts for free, for which she received gratitude from the spiritual consistory.
Alexander’s interest in technology was facilitated by the fact that the Popov family’s circle of acquaintances included many engineers, graduates of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. He visited mines and workshops with interest and tried to make various mechanisms himself. All his life Popov was grateful to the husband of his sister Ekaterina V.P. Slovtsov (1844 - 1934), a priest, like his father, who taught him carpentry, plumbing and turning. Alexander received his primary education at the Dalmatovsky (1869−1871) and Ekaterinburg (1871−1873) theological schools. In 1873 Popov entered the Perm Theological Seminary. In these educational institutions, education for children of the clergy was free, which was of significant importance for the large Popov family. Religious upbringing instilled in Alexander Popov high moral qualities, which were repeatedly noted by people who knew him.
Popov graduated from general education classes at the seminary, which provided knowledge equivalent to a classical gymnasium with the right to enter the university, with honors in 1877.
In September 1877, Alexander Popov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. He came to St. Petersburg, where Rafail, who graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, lived at that time with his sisters Anna and Augusta. (Anna received a secondary medical education, and Augusta graduated from the Academy of Arts.) Alexander Popov received a scholarship only in the first and third years and solved his financial problems by tutoring.
Among Popov’s teachers and professors during these years were mathematicians P.L. Chebyshev and A.N. Korkin, physicists F.F. Petrushevsky, P.P. Fan der Fleet, I.I. Borgman and O.D. Khvolson, chemists A.M. Butlerov and D.I. Mendeleev. From Borgmann's lectures, Popov learned about the electrodynamic theory of the English physicist D.K. Maxwell, whose fundamental work “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” was published in 1873.
In 1880, the VI (Electrical Engineering) Department was created at the Russian Technical Society. At the end of March 1880, the First Electrical Engineering Exhibition opened in Salt Town on the banks of the Fontanka. Student A. Popov was invited to work as an “explainer” at the exhibition, thanks to which he studied everything related to the development and state of electrical engineering of that time. The demonstration of communications equipment (Shilling and Jacobi, Morse, Siemens and Wheatstone telegraphs, Bell, Golubitsky and Ochorowicz telephones) aroused great interest among the public. The exhibition presented almost all types of dynamos and alternators developed by that time. Here Popov met leading electrical engineers D.A. Lachinov, A.N. Lodygin, V.N. Chikolev, P.N. Yablochkov, listened to their public lectures. In May 1880, the first issue of the magazine “Electricity” was published. In the same year, the Electrical Engineer Partnership was organized, which carried out work on electric lighting of streets, gardens and public institutions in St. Petersburg. Popov worked at the Partnership as a fitter. In his 4th year, he helped the physics professor as an assistant. Thus, by the end of his studies at the university, Popov acquired not only very extensive fundamental theoretical knowledge, but also acquired thorough practical experience.
In November 1882 A.S. Popov graduated from the university and, after defending his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of dynamoelectric direct current machines” (January 1883), received a candidate’s diploma. His first scientific article based on the dissertation materials was published in the September issue of the magazine “Electricity” for 1883. By decision of the academic council, A. Popov was left at the university to prepare for a professorship.
St. Petersburg Scientific and Physical School, led by prof. F.F. Petrushevsky, instilled in students a desire for practical application of the achievements of world science and the results of their own research. Popov always strived for serious scientific work, for which the necessary conditions were the presence of an appropriate laboratory base and his own stable financial situation.
In the summer of 1883, he accepted an invitation to take the place of teacher and head of the physics classroom in the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt, which had a well-equipped physics classroom and a good library. Popov started his work as a freelancer with a salary of about 100 rubles. per month, led practical classes on galvanism, and gave lectures on higher mathematics. Working with naval officers, Alexander Stepanovich realized that in the context of the rapid development of the fleet, solving the problem of information exchange was becoming more and more urgent.
November 18, 1883 in the Church of Cosmas and Damian of the Life Guards Engineer Battalion A.S. Popov married Raisa Alekseevna Bogdanova (1860-1932), the daughter of a sworn attorney. He met her while preparing her for admission to the Higher Women's Medical Courses at the Nikolaev Military Hospital. Upon completion of the course (second graduation in 1886), she became one of the first certified female doctors in Russia and spent her entire life practicing medicine.
In July-August 1887 A.S. Popov participated in the RFHO expedition in Krasnoyarsk to observe a total solar eclipse. He developed a method for photometric research, designed and manufactured a photometer for photographing the solar corona.
By tradition, teachers of Officer classes gave public lectures on the latest achievements of science at the Naval Officers' Assembly. Lectures by A.S. Popov's lectures were distinguished by their relevant content and excellent demonstration of physical experiments, which made an unforgettable impression on the audience.
Thanks to the high erudition in solving technical issues A.S. Popov soon became one of the leading specialists of the Maritime Department, a member of the Marine Technical Committee and was regularly involved in solving complex practical issues.
From 1889 to 1898, during the summer months, free from classes at the IOC, A.S. Popov was in charge of the power plant that served the Nizhny Novgorod fair. For the season he received 2,500 rubles - twice the annual salary of an IOC teacher. Since his arrival, the station's work has improved markedly. The experience of working at the Nizhny Novgorod power plant gave Popov material for compiling a textbook on electrical machines, published in 1897 by the Maritime Department.
At the opening of the XVI artistic and industrial exhibition (1896), held in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, all those present were greatly impressed by the festive illumination. A.S. Popov was a member of the jury of the electrical engineering department of this exhibition, for which he was awarded the gratitude of the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte. In addition, he himself was a participant in the exhibition - his lightning detector was awarded a diploma.
In December 1890, Popov began combining work at the IOC with the work of a full-time teacher of physics and electrical engineering at the Technical School of the Maritime Department, located not far from the IOC. The position gave the right to promotion and a pension based on length of service. When enlisting in the school, he signed Oath commitment in other words, he took the oath “to serve faithfully and unhypocritically and to firmly guard every entrusted secret.”
Start of work by A.S. Popov's work in the field of wireless communications dates back to 1889. In 1887, two articles by the German physicist G. Hertz were published on the results of his experimental work, which confirmed the validity of Maxwell's theory. In 1890 A.S. Popov gave a series of lectures on the propagation of electromagnetic waves with a demonstration of Hertz’s experiments, united under the general title “The latest research on the relationship between light and electrical phenomena.”
The demonstration of the experiments was so vivid and convincing that the command instructed him to give a lecture in St. Petersburg at the Admiralty for a wider range of listeners - naval officers. According to the recollections of his contemporaries, Popov already at that time spoke about the use of “Hertz rays” or “beams of electric force” for signaling at a distance without wires.
From May 2 to July 4, 1893, Alexander Stepanovich was in Chicago, where he was sent to the World Exhibition dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.
Along the way he stopped in Berlin, London and Paris. Joined the French Physical Society. In America, in addition to the exhibition and Chicago enterprises, he visited New York and San Francisco and inspected the construction of a powerful power plant at Niagara Falls. At the exhibition, he personally saw the achievements of the American inventor of Serbian origin N. Tesla, whose experiments with a high-frequency transformer he brilliantly repeated in his lectures. Upon his return, Popov gave presentations: in Kronstadt - on the electrical department of the World Exhibition and in St. Petersburg - on the “teleautograph” of I. Gray.
But the greatest interest for Popov at this time is the task of creating a wireless signal transmission system for the fleet. The source of high-frequency damped electromagnetic oscillations - the transmitter - in Popov's experiments was his modernized Hertz vibrator with a spark gap fed from a Ruhmkorff coil (high-frequency transformer). A special device - a chopper - supplied the coil with a sequence of current pulses with the frequency necessary to generate a series of high-frequency damped oscillations. Many scientists in the world, including A.S., worked on the problem of creating a device capable of detecting the presence of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation. Popov.
In 1890, the French scientist Branly created a “radio conductor” - a device that was a tube with metal filings, the resistance of which changed under the influence of high-frequency vibrations. The disadvantage of this device was the loss of sensitivity after a single irradiation.
The English physicist O. Lodge improved Branly's device (1894) by connecting to it a mechanical device for periodically shaking sawdust, calling it a coherer (from the word “cohesion” - adhesion).
However, these shaking were carried out without any connection with the sending of electromagnetic radiation, so this solution did not provide the possibility of reliable reception of a sequence of signals transmitted using electromagnetic waves.
Popov invented a new scheme for automatically restoring the sensitivity of the coherer. A relay was included in the circuit with the coherer, which ensured the connection of an actuator - an electric bell, the hammer of which struck the tube, shaking the sawdust and restoring the resistance of the coherer after receiving each parcel of damped electromagnetic oscillations. Depending on the closure of the telegraph switch switch, the sending could be short or long. The problem of providing wireless communication was fundamentally solved.
In the spring of 1895 A.S. Popov and his assistant P.N. Rybkin (1868-1948) conducted experiments on transmitting and receiving signals at a distance of 30 fathoms (64 meters) in the IOC garden. A wire raised by balloons to a height of 2.5 meters was used as the receiver antenna.
On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Physics Department of the Russian Federal Chemical Society, Popov made a report “On the relation of metal powders to electrical vibrations”, in which he outlined the results of his research and demonstrated the ability of the device he invented to accept the sequence "short and long signals" that is, essentially, transmitting elements of Morse code.
In fact, the system created and tested in action by A.S. Popov, contained all the essential elements and their connections that are inherent in the modern concept of “radio signal transmission line.”
Information about the report was published in the Kronstadt Bulletin newspaper on May 12, 1895, indicating the final goal of the work:
“Dear teacher A.S. Popov... combined a special portable device that responds to electrical vibrations with an ordinary electric bell and is sensitive to Hertzian waves in the open air at distances of up to 30 fathoms... About these experiments A.S. Popov reported last Tuesday at the Physics Department of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, which was met with great interest and sympathy. The reason for all these experiments is the theoretical possibility of signaling at a distance without conductors, like an optical telegraph, but using electric rays.”
The device of the receiver with details sufficient for its reproduction is set out in the minutes of the meeting of the RFKhO, published in the August issue of the “Journal of the RFKhO” (1895, vol. 27, issue 8, pp. 259−260).
During the first tests of the receiver, its susceptibility to atmospheric discharges was noticed. A.S. Popov designed a special device, later called a lightning detector, for round-the-clock reception of electromagnetic oscillations of natural origin with automatic recording of them on a paper tape of a recorder. Since July 1895, the lightning detector was used practically: for meteorological observations at the Forestry Institute and for studying atmospheric interference with radio reception at the IOC laboratory.
Thus, in the spring of 1895 A.S. Popov implemented almost simultaneously two types of radio communication, which are still successfully developing: from person to person and from natural object to person.
A full description of the world's first radio communication system was published in the January issue of the RFHO Journal under the title “Device for detecting and recording electrical oscillations” (1896, vol. 28, Issue 1. pp. 1-14).
In the winter of 1895−1896. Popov was engaged in improving radio equipment. In January, he spoke at a meeting of the Kronstadt branch of the IRTS, demonstrating the operation of a portable receiver with a symmetrical antenna similar to the transmitter antenna (in his words, “to achieve resonance”). It became clear to representatives of the Maritime Department who listened to the report that a fundamentally new means of communication had been invented. The dissemination of information about this was undesirable. Popov used equipment with directional reflector antennas during his report on March 24, 1896 at the next meeting of the Russian Federal Chemical Society. At that time, between the buildings of St. Petersburg University at a distance of 250 meters, Morse code and words were transmitted Heinrich Hertz. However, only one phrase about Popov’s demonstration was recorded in the minutes of the meeting "devices described earlier". On April 14, ETI physics teacher V.V. Skobeltsyn showed Popov’s equipment in action already within the walls of ETI. Nowadays this equipment is exhibited in the Memorial Museum of A.S. Popov at the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" named after. V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) (SPbSETU).
As a physicist A.S. Popov was interested in scientific discoveries in all areas of the application of electricity. His work in the field of newly discovered x-rays dates back to the beginning of 1896. Already in February, he manufactured one of the first X-ray machines in Russia, and obtained images of various objects, including an image of a person’s hand. With his support, an X-ray room was equipped at the Kronstadt naval hospital in 1897, and subsequently some warships were equipped with X-ray machines. It is known that after the battle in the Tsushima Strait, the cruiser Aurora, which had such an installation, provided assistance to 40 wounded sailors.
In the second half of 1896, reports appeared in the Western and then in the Russian press about the demonstration in London of experiments in wireless telegraphy by the Italian inventor G. Marconi. The design of the devices he designed was kept secret.
This information, of course, forced Popov to work more intensively on the development of wireless telegraphy equipment. During the 1896−1897 academic year A.S. Popov was preparing experiments in telegraphy without wires. In January 1897, he published the article “Telegraphing Without Wires” in the Kotlin newspaper, and in March 1897, he gave a lecture “On the Possibility of Telegraphing Without Wires” at the Kronstadt Maritime Assembly. The lecture was held in front of a large crowd: "admirals, generals and officers of all branches of arms, ladies, private individuals and students"(Kotlin newspaper, April 13, 1897) Already in the spring of 1897, experiments began on wireless signaling in Kronstadt harbor, where a range of 300 fathoms (about 600 m) was achieved. During the summer campaign of 1897, a number of studies were carried out. Between the ships of the Mine Training Detachment in the Gulf of Finland, a communication range was obtained at distances of up to 5 kilometers. During the tests, a reflection of radio waves was discovered by a foreign metal body (the cruiser "Lieutenant Ilyin"), which fell in a straight line between the ships on which the transmitter (the transport "Europe") and the receiver (the cruiser "Africa") were installed. This is a property of radio waves studied by A.S. Popov back in 1890 in the laboratory, the scientist proposed using it to determine the direction to a working transmitter for radio beacons and direction finders, to solve navigation problems.
On June 4, 1897 in London, V. Preece, chief engineer of the UK telegraphs, made a report in which he first revealed the technical structure of G. Marconi’s equipment. The activities of G. Marconi have always had a pronounced commercial orientation. He submitted a preliminary brief application for an invention entitled “Improvements in the transmission of electrical impulses and signals and in equipment for this” on June 2, 1896. Since his arrival in England, he has received very serious engineering support from specialists of the British Postal and Telegraph Department. Under British patent law at the time, which did not require examination for world novelty, Marconi received a patent valid only in the UK. His company was founded that same year. In Russia, France and Germany he was denied patenting with reference to the publications of A.S. Popova.
A.S. Popov did not ignore Preece's speech and the publication of Marconi's patent. In his articles in the Russian and English (Electrician magazine) press, he indicated that the Marconi receiver does not have significant differences from his receiver and lightning detector, the device of which was published 1.5 years earlier. At the same time, Popov paid tribute to the work of Marconi, who « the first had the courage to take a practical approach and achieved great distances in his experiments.” Indeed, Marconi’s energetic activity had an accelerating effect on the development of radio technology.
In the fall of 1897, Popov gave reports on wireless telegraphy with a demonstration of the radio communication system to various audiences: at the Kronstadt Naval Assembly (March), at the 4th Consultative Congress of Railway Electrical Engineers in Odessa (September), in St. Petersburg - at the IRTS (September), at the Electrotechnical Institute (October), at St. Petersburg University (December).
At the same time, the French engineer and owner of the physical instrument workshop E. Ducretet (1844−1915), using the published works of A.S. Popov, created the first wireless telegraphy equipment in France and demonstrated it at a meeting of the French Physical Society. A business cooperation was established between Popov and Ducretet, which made it possible to begin serial production of radio stations in 1898. In 1898-1905 Ducretet constantly used written consultations from A.S. Popova. In May 1899, during a foreign business trip, Popov visited the Ducrete company. The Russian Maritime Department has given an order for the supply of 50 ship radio stations within five years.
In the summer of 1899, Popov was sent by the Maritime Department to England, France, Germany and Switzerland to familiarize himself with the organization of electrical engineering education and the production of wireless telegraphy equipment. Testing a set of equipment manufactured in the workshop of E.V. Kolbasyev, in accordance with Popov’s methodological instructions, P.N. Rybkin and the head of the Kronstadt telegraph, Captain D.S. Troitsky (1857-1920). They discovered the high sensitivity of the equipment when receiving signals through headphones. A.S. was summoned by telegram from Zurich. Popov, who investigated the discovered “detector effect” of the coherer.
As a result of a thorough study of this effect, he developed an improved coherer (crystal diode) based on contact between metals (steel needles) oxidized to varying degrees and electrodes (platinum or carbon) and a telephone detector receiver circuit. The high sensitivity of the new receiver made it possible to triple the communication range. Popov opened a new era in radio communications - listening. A.S. Popov received patents for a “telephone dispatch receiver” in Russia (No. 6066 dated July 14, 1899, issued December 13, 1901). UK Patent A.S. Popov for an improved detector for telephone reception No. 2797 was declared on February 12, 1900, issued on February 22, 1900. With the active participation of E. Ducretet, patents were obtained in France (No. 296354 dated January 22, 1900 and with an addition to this patent received October 26, 1900), in the USA (No. 722,139 of March 3, 1903). in Switzerland - patent A.S. Popov for “Receiver for telegraphy without wires” No. 21905 (issued April 9, 1900). In the USA, patent A.S. Popov for “Self-decoghering coherer system” No. 722139, declared on March 8, 1900, was issued on March 8, 1903; Spanish patent No. 25816 was issued on April 11, 1900.
In August 1899, Popov conducted experiments on radio communication with a balloon in the Aeronautical Park near St. Petersburg.
In August-September 1899, Popov and Rybkin participated in testing radio stations manufactured by Ducrete on ships of the Black Sea squadron.
At the end of 1899, the Marine Technical Committee proposed using radio communications to organize work to rescue the coastal defense battleship Admiral General Apraksin, which had landed on the rocks near the island. Gogland in the Gulf of Finland as a result of a navigation error. And at the beginning of 1900 A.S. Popov and P.N. Rybkin participated in the construction and commissioning of the first practical radio communication line between the island. Gogland and the Finnish city of Kotka, which had a telegraph wire connection with St. Petersburg. The icebreaker "Ermak" supported the operation. One radio station was built on the island. Gogland, it was turned around by P.N. Rybkin. The other was installed under the leadership of A.S. Popov on the small island of Kutsalo near Kotka. Both stations were built in difficult conditions with severe frosts and snowstorms.
On February 5, 1900, radio communication was established. The very first radiogram sent by A.S. Popov from Kotka and accepted by P.N. Rybkin on Gogland, contained an order to the commander of the icebreaker Ermak to go out to the open sea to help the fishermen carried away on the ice floe. By the evening of February 6, the Ermak returned with 27 fishermen on board. Thus, the invention of A.S. Popov, even at its first practical use, it served a humane purpose - the rescue of people in trouble.
In connection with the successful use of radio communications in the name of A.S. Popov received congratulatory telegrams. Admiral S.O. Makarov telegraphed: “ On behalf of all Kronstadt sailors, I cordially greet you with the brilliant success of your invention. The opening of wireless communication from Kotka to Gogland at a distance of 45 miles is a major scientific victory.” Replying to Admiral Makarov, Popov writes: “Thanks to Ermak and the wireless telegraph, several human lives were saved. This is the best reward for all my work, and the impressions of these days will probably never be forgotten.”
The radio link continued to operate for 84 days until the end of the rescue efforts. During these days, 440 radiograms (over 10,000 words) were transmitted. In April 1900, the battleship was safely removed from the rocks and went under its own power for repairs.
An important consequence of the successful operation of the radio line was the decision to adopt wireless telegraphy equipment for the navy. A.S. Popov was appointed responsible for overseeing the process of equipping ships with radio communication equipment. The need for training specialists in wireless telegraphy became obvious.
« By the highest permission"Popov was given a large monetary reward for those times - 33 thousand rubles" for work on the introduction of radio communications on naval ships». This amount was determined taking into account Popov’s termination of the contract with the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.
In 1900, in Kronstadt, with the direct participation of Popov, a workshop for the manufacture and repair of radio equipment was opened - the first enterprise in the domestic radio industry.
In the summer of 1900, the World Industrial Exhibition took place in Paris, at which the A.S. lightning detector was demonstrated in action. Popov, made in the Kronstadt workshop of E.V. Kolbasyev, and a ship's radio station produced by the Parisian company Ducrete under the brand name "Popov-Ducretet-Tissot". Popov, as a participant in the exhibition, was awarded a personal gold medal and a diploma. Alexander Stepanovich could not attend the IV International Electrical Congress, which was held there on August 18–25, 1900. The report he prepared on the “telephone dispatch receiver” was read by ETI professor M.A. Chatelain and aroused great interest among the congress delegates.
In the winter of 1900−1901 A.S. Popov is seeking to expand the Kronstadt workshop for the repair and manufacture of radio equipment, and for the period 1901-1904. 54 ship radios were manufactured here. In the fall of 1901, Popov and Rybkin were engaged in the construction of the first Russian commercial radio communication line in Rostov-on-Don, which ensured shipping in the Don arms.
During the years of intensive scientific and teaching activity A.S. Popov developed a number of original courses in physics and electrical engineering, some of which have come to us in the form of lithographed publications. Alexander Stepanovich organized courses for the training of radiotelegraph operators and developed programs of lectures and practical classes for them. In May 1900, teaching radiotelegraphy began at the IOC.
18 years of teaching activity in the Mine Officer Class - the elite higher school of the Naval Department - formed A.S. Popov as an experienced teacher and as an outstanding electrical engineer with international recognition.
In March 1901 A.S. Popov received an invitation from ETI director N.N. Kachalov to take the position of ordinary professor of physics. He agreed, but with the condition of maintaining service in the Maritime Department to carry out work “on the organization of wireless telegraphy on ships of the Russian fleet, which task I consider it my moral duty to complete.” In September, classes began at ETI, still in the old building - on Novo-Isaakievskaya Street, in house No. 18. One of Professor Popov’s first documents in ETI was a note “General directions of the physics course and immediate tasks of scientific work in the physics laboratory of the Electrotechnical Institute.” It contained not only the basic provisions for the training of electrical engineers in physics, but also a research program that determined the range of problems under study for many years. The main objective of the physics course, defined by Popov in this document: “to provide the fundamentals of the doctrine of electricity in such a way that those deep views on the nature of electrical phenomena that were created thanks to the works of M. Faraday and D.K. Maxwell, Hertz's experiments did not seem inaccessible to ordinary mortals, but, on the contrary, were guiding principles in the study of electrical engineering. ... This new area of electrical phenomena, which has given such amazing practical results in telegraphy without wires, at the same time provides so many new facts and expands the horizon so quickly that it is difficult to even foresee the limits of its influence on the doctrine of electricity. Therefore, the study of this new type of electrical energy should occupy one of the main places in the course of physics... A whole series of discovered but not yet explained phenomena in this area of the study of electricity provides abundant material for more complex work for many years..."
To solve the assigned problems A.S. Popov developed a number of courses in physics, conducted 42 laboratory works: in the general course of physics (23), in electricity and magnetism (19) - created a scientific laboratory.
At the beginning of 1902 A.S. Popov participated in the work of the II All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in Moscow in the building of the Polytechnic Museum, where he was elected as an honorary participant.
Back in 1900, in Paris, Popov became acquainted with the works of Pierre and Marie Curie. At the Physics Congress they made a report on the results of their research. In 1902, Alexander Stepanovich developed an original method and created a device for measuring “ voltage of the electric field of the atmosphere using the ionization effect of salts for the sake of I".
The possibilities for conducting scientific research expanded with the move of ETI to new buildings on Aptekarsky Island: an academic building equipped taking into account advances in the field of electrical engineering, and a residential building, in one of the apartments of which Professor Popov’s family settled.
The list of research works carried out at this time indicates the breadth of scientific interests of A.S. Popova. At the meeting of the 3rd All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress held on January 4, 1904 in the ETI building, Popov and his graduate student S.Ya. Lifshits reported on the development of radio equipment for transmitting the sounds of human speech using damped electromagnetic oscillations. Communication range was provided at a distance of up to 2 km. Together with graduate student D.A. Rozhansky carried out studies of damped electrical oscillations using Brown's oscilloscope tube (1904−1905). An optical device was invented for detecting floating mines and a system for telemechanical control of fire ships (1903-1904). Popov paid the most serious attention to the development of instruments and methods for measuring the wavelengths of radio transmitters (1905). In the period 1900-1905. he conducted experiments on using the phenomenon of resonance to increase the sensitivity of receiving devices and improve their selectivity. During these years, the scientific and pedagogical school of A.S. was formed. Popova, represented by such names as A.A. Petrovsky, P.S. Osadchiy, D.A. Rozhansky, N.A. Skritsky, S.I. Pokrovsky.
While remaining a member of the Marine Technical Committee, Alexander Stepanovich continued to oversee issues of arming the fleet with wireless telegraphy equipment. He participated, as a representative of the Russian Maritime Department, in the Berlin Conference on the International Regulation of Radio Communications (1903). Opening this conference, the German Minister of Posts and Telegraphs R. Kretke emphasized: “ We owe the appearance of the first radiographic apparatus to Popov.”
In May 1904, the joint-stock company of Russian electrical plants "Siemens and Halske" announced that the company had formed “a special department for the installation of a wireless telegraph according to the system of Professor Popov and the Wireless Telegraphy Society”Telefunken"in Berlin. A real unification of a globally significant invention made in Russia by Professor A.S. Popov, his experience in using wireless telegraphs in practice with the inventions and extensive practice of the Wireless Telegraphy Society makes it possible to use devices in Russia that meet the latest requirements in all respects.”
Among the founders of the German radio engineering company Telefunken were famous German scientists F. Braun, W. Siemens, A. Slaby and G. Arco. According to the terms of the agreement concluded for five years (counting from January 1, 1904), working capital was provided to the department by both companies, and profits were divided equally between three counterparties - both companies and A.S. Popov. As we can see, German and Russian investors highly valued the intellectual property of the Russian scientist.
In connection with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and the preparation of the Second Pacific Squadron for a campaign in the Far East, Popov gave special lectures on wireless telegraphy for mine officers. But the preparation was clearly insufficient; radio communications were practically not used. Popov deeply felt the defeat of Russia in this war.
In 1905, Alexander Stepanovich gave a series of lectures on wireless telegraphy at the Military Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg. In the same year, he gave public lectures to public teachers in Pavlovsk in April-May 1905, and conducted classes with engineers who were graduates of ETI. The training was conducted at radio stations built in Sestroretsk, Oranienbaum and St. Petersburg (on Krestovsky Island). Part of the equipment of the training telegraph station has been preserved and is on display in the A.S. Memorial Museum. Popov at St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI".
In the fall of 1905, a revolutionary wave swept across the country, and higher schools received autonomy, including the right to choose a director. The ETI board elected Popov as its director. On October 15, 1905, under his chairmanship, a meeting of the Council was held with the participation of the entire teaching staff of the institute, which supported the student demands for democratic freedoms. The minutes of the meeting were first signed by the Chairman of the Council A.S. Popov.
On October 20, a red flag appeared in the window of the institute’s student dormitory with the words: “Long live the democratic republic.” A number of calls to the Ministry of Internal Affairs followed. After one of these conversations, at the 47th year of his life, on January 13, 1906, Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. On the last journey "brilliant electrical engineer of Russia" saw off at the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg.
According to the current Charter of the RFHO in the new year of 1906, A.S. Popov would have to take the place of chairman of its Physics Department and the highest public scientific post of president of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society.
In 1906, a prize named after the inventor of radio A.S. was established. Popov for the best scientific work in the field of electrical engineering, its laureates until 1917 were: V.F. Mitkevich (1906), D.A. Rozhansky (1911) and V.I. Kovalenkov (1916).
In ETI in 1916, by decision of the ETI Council, the training of engineers in the specialty of radiotelegraph stations began, and in 1917 the first department of radio engineering in Russia was organized (N.A. Skritsky, I.G. Freiman).
Throughout his active creative life, the scientist was accompanied by the definition of “first.” This is the first coherer radiotelegraph receiver and the first spark radiotelegraph system (April 1895); the first device for recording electromagnetic radiation of atmospheric origin - a lightning detector (July 1895); the first detector radio receiving telegraph signals by ear (September 1899); first crystalline point diode (June 1900); first radiotelephone system (December 1903).
In 1945, by government decree, the birthday of radio communications, May 7, was declared an annual public holiday - Radio Day. The Gold Medal named after A.S. was established. Popov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (formerly the USSR Academy of Sciences) “For outstanding services in the field of radio. A.S. Popov”, the badge “Honorary Radio Operator” was introduced, personal scholarships were established for undergraduate and graduate students in the field of radio engineering and telecommunications.
The memory of the scientist is worthily immortalized in numerous monuments, markers, and memorial plaques in a number of cities where he lived and worked.
Name A.S. Popov awarded to scientific institutions, educational institutions, industrial enterprises, radio stations, museums, scientific and technical societies, ships; City streets are named after him. In 1945, the Russian Scientific and Technical Society of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Communications (NTORES) named after A.S. was founded. Popova. There is a small planet “Popov” (No. 3074) in the Solar System; on the far side of the Moon a crater is named after him. Films have been made about the life and work of the scientist. In 1959, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Popov, a monument was erected to him on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue in St. Petersburg (sculptor - People's Artist of the RSFSR V.Ya. Bogolyubov and architect - People's Artist of the USSR N.V. Baranov). Monuments to A.S. Popov were also opened on the alley of scientists on Sparrow Hills, in Yekaterinburg, Krasnoturinsk, Kotka (Finland); his busts were installed in Kronstadt, in Petrodvorets, on the island of Gogland, in St. Petersburg on the Literary Bridge of the Volkovsky Cemetery.
The main stages of the life and work of A.S. Popov's works are adequately presented in Russian museums. The first exhibition created by A.S. Popov devices was opened on April 24, 1906 within the walls of the IOC, where the Memorial Museum-Office of A.S. is now located. Popova. It was here that radio communication equipment was invented. The exhibition features instruments made by the scientist himself to demonstrate physical experiments, instruments from the IOC physics room, and radio communication equipment.
In the Central Museum of Communications named after A.S. Popov (CMS) in St. Petersburg, collection of instruments by A.S. Popova began to form in 1926-1927. Currently, a significant part of A.S.’s hardware heritage is concentrated here. Popov, the first copies of a radio receiver and a lightning detector, as well as instruments related to the stage of the invention of the wireless telegraph, a special hall dedicated to the inventor of radio was decorated. The museum archive has allocated a special documentary fund of A.S. Popova.
Memorial Museum of A.S. Popov "LETI" was opened on June 27, 1948. It combines the memorial museum-laboratory of the physics professor in the academic building of the university and a memorial apartment in the ETI residential building. The museum contains collections of original documents and photographs taken by Popov himself, an excellent photographer, personal belongings of family members, and the original furnishings of the apartment. The museum-laboratory displays the physical instruments preserved at the institute that A.S. worked with. Popov, laboratory equipment, experimental wireless telegraph equipment produced by the Kronstadt workshops and equipment for serial ship radio stations produced by E. Ducrete. The museum archive contains documents confirming the priority of the Russian scientist in the invention of radio.
The Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps houses one of the first prototypes of the A.S. coherer receiver. Popov, with the use of which experiments were carried out in Kronstadt.
Museums are also open in the Urals, the birthplace of A.S. Popov, in Krasnoturinsk. The memorial museum was opened in the house where the Popov-Slovtsov family lived (1959, modern exhibition on March 16, 1984), in Yekaterinburg. Museum of Communications named after A.S. Since January 31, 1986, Popova has been housed in the house where, while studying at theological school, Sasha Popov lived with his older sister Maria.
“The scientific feat of Alexander Stepanovich Popov is immortal, the legacy he left to humanity is inexhaustible”- this is how he assessed the activities of A.S. Popov, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, laureate of the Gold Medal named after A.S. Popova S.A. Vekshinsky. Years will pass, these words will not lose their deep meaning, the name A.S. Popova will forever remain among the outstanding representatives of domestic and world science. Foresights of A.S. Popov were completely justified. The 21st century has become the century of telecommunications and information.
By decision of UNESCO, the entire world community in 1995 solemnly celebrated the 100th anniversary of radio.
On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the invention of radio A.S. Popov and the International Scientific Conference held in St. Petersburg "Radio−connection of times"(May 2005) , A bronze commemorative plaque was unveiled to commemorate the first public demonstration of a radio communication system on May 7, 1895. The decision to designate May 7, 1895 as a “Milestone in the History of Electrical Engineering” was made as part of the program on the history of electrical engineering “ Milestones" of the History Center of the International Organization of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The plaque was installed near the entrance to the memorial laboratory of the A.S. Memorial Museum. Popov SPbSETU "LETI", where the inventor of the radio worked since 1903.
Pedagogical activity of A.S. Popov, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, left a bright mark in the process of establishing the domestic electrical and radio engineering school for training both military and civilian specialists. In 1901, he headed the department of physics at the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III (ETI). In September 1905, after the Tsar’s decree on the autonomy of universities came into force, the ETI Council elected A.S. Popov director of the institute.
Merits of A.S. Popov were noted by both the state and scientific and public organizations. Alexander Stepanovich had the high rank of state councilor (since 1901), was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd and 2nd degrees (1895, 1902), St. Stanislav, 2nd degree (1897), and a silver medal in memory of the reign Alexander III on the ribbon of the Order of Alexander Nevsky (1896), received a prize from the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTO) “for a receiver for electrical oscillations and devices for telegraphing at a distance without wires” (1898). He was also awarded the title of Honorary Electrical Engineer (1899) and received “by the Highest permission” a reward in the amount of 33 thousand rubles “for his work on the use of telegraphy without wires on naval vessels” (1900). The jury of the World Exhibition in Paris, dedicated to the turn of the century, awarded him a large gold medal and a diploma for the radio equipment of his system, which was demonstrated in action.
In 1902 A.S. Popov was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTS), and in 1905 - chairman of the Physics Department and president of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society (RFCS), positions that he was to occupy from January 1, 1906.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859-1906) - great Russian scientist, inventor of radio.The activities of A. S. Popov, which preceded the discovery of radio, included research in the field of electrical engineering, magnetism and electromagnetic waves.
On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society, Popov made a report and demonstrated the world’s first radio receiver that he had created. Popov ended his message with the following words: “In conclusion, I can express the hope that my device, with further improvement, can be used to transmit signals over a distance using fast electrical oscillations, as soon as a source of such oscillations with sufficient energy is found.”
This day went down in the history of world science and technology as the birthday of radio.
In 1899, he designed a receiver for receiving signals by ear using a telephone receiver. This made it possible to simplify the reception circuit and increase the radio communication range.
The first radiogram transmitted by A. S. Popov to the island of Gogland on February 6, 1900, contained an order for the icebreaker Ermak to go to the aid of fishermen carried out to sea on an ice floe. The icebreaker complied with the order, and 27 fishermen were rescued.
Popov established the world's first radio communication line at sea, created the first military and civilian radio stations, and successfully carried out work that proved the possibility of using radio in the ground forces and in aeronautics.
The invention of radio in our country was not an accident. Popov was one of the most educated people of his time, an outstanding physicist and a leading electrical engineer.
Two days before his sudden death, A.S. Popov was elected chairman of the physics department of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. With this election, Russian scientists emphasized the enormous merits of A. S. Popov to Russian science.
Did the great Russian scientist ever imagine that someday people would listen
Popov entered as the inventor of the radiotelegraph. He was born on March 16, 1859 at the Bogoslovsky plant in the Urals, where his father was a priest. Of the six children who made up the Popov family, Alexander was the third. A certain future awaited the sons of a poor priest: service as a deacon or priest in one of the parishes of their diocese, often in their father’s parish. But from a very young age, Alexander began to show completely different inclinations and interests. His childhood games and activities set him apart sharply from his circle of peers who were interested in grandmothers, playing ball and other common games for boys. Instead, he preferred to build working models of water wheels, mills, and various types of moving mechanisms. The skillfully made cars aroused surprise not only among peers, but also among adults.
Nevertheless, when the time came, A.S. Popov, due to lack of funds, was sent by his father to a religious school, where education and maintenance were free. After graduating from college, he entered the Perm Theological Seminary. And here Alexander Stepanovich found time to independently study the exact sciences, for which he even received the nickname “mathematician” from his comrades. It is quite understandable that a young man with such inclinations was not attracted to the career of a priest. After graduating from the seminary, A. S. Popov independently prepared for additional exams, successfully passed them, and at the age of eighteen, in 1877, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.
Having successfully graduated from the university in 1882 with a candidate's degree, A. S. Popov received an invitation to stay there to prepare for professorship in the department of physics. In 1882 he defended his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of magneto- and dynamoelectric direct current machines.” But the young scientist was more attracted to experimental research in the field of electricity, and he became a teacher of physics, mathematics and electrical engineering at the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt, where there was a well-equipped physics classroom. In 1890, he received an invitation to the position of physics teacher at the Technical School of the Naval Department in Kronstadt.
During this period of time, A.S. Popov taught a course in higher mathematics and practical physics at the Marine Technical School and in the Mine Officer Class. Every year he goes to Nizhny Novgorod, where he is in charge of electrical installations on the fair grounds. For nine years, the teacher of mathematics and physics managed a large energy enterprise at that time. As a member of the Elektrotekhnik society, A. S. Popov heads the construction of a number of power plants in Moscow, Ryazan and other cities. Work in this area made him a name as one of the best Russian energy specialists.
In 1893, A. S. Popov received a business trip to Chicago for an exhibition, where he had the opportunity to become closely acquainted with the latest achievements of electrical engineering and physics, in particular, with the experiments of Hertz, previously known to him only from literature. Of course, Hertz's experiments could not help but attract his attention. Prone to analogies and generalizations, he perceived the discovery of new "rays of electric force" as a factor of the greatest importance, confirming Maxwell's theory. Accustomed to approaching physical phenomena from a practical perspective, he immediately began to look for possible applications of these rays for transmitting signals over a distance.
In one of the documents concerning the nomination of A. S. Popov for awarding the Order of Stanislav, 2nd degree and dated 1894, it was said: “Collegiate Assessor A. S. Popov has been a teacher in the Mine Officer Class since 1883. During these 11 years he taught practical physics, a subject that he had to independently develop in accordance with the requirements of the galvanism and chemistry program and for which he compiled courses. During the illness of the galvanism teacher in 1883, he completely replaced him, taking upon himself the teaching of two subjects for almost the entire winter.
During this time, A. S. Popov acquired general respect and well-deserved fame as an excellent professor and serious scientist, sensitive to the development of science, the new acquisitions of which he always willingly shared through extremely interesting lectures and messages, which he read repeatedly in the Mine Class, the Naval Assembly in Kronstadt and the Maritime Museum in St. Petersburg. The Marine Technical Committee has repeatedly used his advice and opinion on electrical engineering issues.”
The date May 7, 1895 should be noted as having special significance in the history of radio communications and modern culture. On this day, Alexander Stepanovich Popov read a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations” at a meeting of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society and demonstrated the transmission of Morse code characters without the help of wires. A coil with a Hertz vibrator attached to it was used as a transmitter, and a circuit created by A. S. Popov, consisting of an antenna, a coherer, a relay and a device for restoring the sensitivity of the coherer, was used as a receiver. A. S. Popov ended his report with the words: “In conclusion, I can express the hope that my device, with further improvement, can be used to transmit signals over a distance using fast electrical oscillations, as soon as a source of such oscillations is found with sufficient energy " Thus, A.S. Popov was the first to point out the possibility of using Hertz waves for communication and confirmed this possibility with extremely convincing experiments.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly on December 31, 1905 (January 13, 1906) from a stroke. He was buried on the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkovskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg.
In many Western countries, Marconi is considered the inventor of radio, although other candidates are also named: in Germany Hertz is considered the creator of radio, in a number of Balkan countries - Nikola Tesla, in Belarus J. O. Narkevich-Iodka. The claim about Popov's priority is based on the fact that Popov demonstrated the radio receiver he invented at a meeting of the physics department of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society on April 25 (May 7), 1895, while Marconi filed an application for the invention on June 2, 1896. In Russia, this is accompanied by direct or indirect accusations of plagiarism against Marconi: it is assumed that his works of 1895 were not published anywhere (more precisely, they are known only from people close to him, whose impartiality is considered questionable in Russia), while at the same time in the application he used a circuit similar to the Popov receiver, the first description of the prototype of which was published in July 1895 with the release of the 2nd edition of “Fundamentals of Meteorology and Climatology” by D. A. Lachinov, which outlined the principle of operation of the “Popov discharge marker”.
Popov himself, from the beginning of 1897 (that is, from the appearance of the first newspaper reports about Marconi’s successes), began to actively defend his priority, supported in this by his relatives and colleagues. In the 1940s in the USSR his priority (including among scientists) was considered indisputable.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov - Russian physicist and electrical engineer, professor, inventor, state councilor (1901), Honorary electrical engineer (1899).
Alexander Stepanovich Popov entered the history of science, technology and world culture as the inventor of the radiotelegraph. He was born on March 16, 1859 at the Bogoslovsky plant in the Urals, where his father was a priest. Of the six children who made up the Popov family, Alexander was the third. A certain future awaited the sons of a poor priest: service as a deacon or priest in one of the parishes of their diocese, often in their father’s parish. But from a very young age, Alexander began to show completely different inclinations and interests. His childhood games and activities set him apart sharply from his circle of peers who were interested in grandmothers, playing ball and other common games for boys. Instead, he preferred to build working models of water wheels, mills, and various types of moving mechanisms. The skillfully made cars aroused surprise not only among peers, but also among adults.
Nevertheless, when the time came, A.S. Popov, due to lack of funds, was sent by his father to a religious school, where education and maintenance were free. After graduating from college, he entered the Perm Theological Seminary. And here Alexander Stepanovich found time to independently study the exact sciences, for which he even received the nickname “mathematician” from his comrades. It is quite understandable that a young man with such inclinations was not attracted to the career of a priest. After graduating from the seminary, A. S. Popov independently prepared for additional exams, successfully passed them, and at the age of eighteen, in 1877, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.
Having successfully graduated from the university in 1882 with a candidate's degree, A. S. Popov received an invitation to stay there to prepare for professorship in the department of physics. In 1882 he defended his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of magneto- and dynamoelectric direct current machines.” But the young scientist was more attracted to experimental research in the field of electricity, and he became a teacher of physics, mathematics and electrical engineering at the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt, where there was a well-equipped physics room. In 1890, he received an invitation to the position of physics teacher at the Technical School of the Maritime Department in Kronstadt. 
During this period of time, A.S. Popov taught a course in higher mathematics and practical physics at the Marine Technical School and in the Mine Officer Class. Every summer he goes to Nizhny Novgorod, where he manages the electrical installations on the fair grounds. For nine years, the teacher of mathematics and physics managed a large energy enterprise at that time. As a member of the Elektrotekhnik society, A. S. Popov heads the construction of a number of power plants in Moscow, Ryazan and other cities. Work in this area made him a name as one of the best Russian energy specialists.
In 1893, A. S. Popov received a business trip to Chicago for an exhibition, where he had the opportunity to become closely acquainted with the latest achievements of electrical engineering and physics, in particular, with the experiments of Hertz, previously known to him only from literature. Of course, Hertz's experiments could not help but attract his attention. Prone to analogies and generalizations, he perceived the discovery of new "rays of electric force" as a factor of the greatest importance, confirming Maxwell's theory. Accustomed to approaching physical phenomena from a practical perspective, he immediately began to look for possible applications of these rays for transmitting signals over a distance.
In one of the documents concerning the nomination of A. S. Popov for awarding the Order of Stanislav, 2nd degree and dated 1894, it was said: “Collegiate Assessor A. S. Popov has been a teacher in the Mine Officer Class since 1883. During these 11 years he taught practical physics, a subject that he had to independently develop in accordance with the requirements of the galvanism and chemistry program and for which he compiled courses. During the illness of the galvanism teacher in 1883, he completely replaced him, taking upon himself the teaching of two subjects for almost the entire winter.
During this time, A. S. Popov acquired general respect and well-deserved fame as an excellent professor and serious scientist, sensitive to the development of science, the new acquisitions of which he always willingly shared through extremely interesting lectures and messages, which he read repeatedly in the Mine Class, the Naval Assembly in Kronstadt and the Maritime Museum in St. Petersburg. The Marine Technical Committee has repeatedly used his advice and opinion on electrical engineering issues.”
The date May 7, 1895 should be noted as having special significance in the history of radio communications and modern culture. On this day, Alexander Stepanovich Popov read a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations” at a meeting of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society and demonstrated the transmission of Morse code characters without the help of wires. A Ruhmkorff coil with a Hertz vibrator attached to it was used as a transmitter, and a circuit created by A. S. Popov, consisting of an antenna, a coherer, a relay and a device for restoring the sensitivity of the coherer, was used as a receiver. A. S. Popov ended his report with the words: “In conclusion, I can express the hope that my device, with further improvement, can be used to transmit signals over a distance using fast electrical oscillations, as soon as a source of such oscillations is found with sufficient energy " Thus, A.S. Popov was the first to point out the possibility of using Hertz waves for communication and confirmed this possibility with extremely convincing experiments. 
Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly on December 31, 1905 (January 13, 1906) from a stroke. He was buried on the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkovskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg. 
In many Western countries, Marconi is considered the inventor of radio, although other candidates are also named: in Germany Hertz is considered the creator of radio, in a number of Balkan countries - Nikola Tesla, in Belarus J. O. Narkevich-Iodka. The claim about Popov's priority is based on the fact that Popov demonstrated the radio receiver he invented at a meeting of the physics department of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society on April 25 (May 7), 1895, while Marconi filed an application for the invention on June 2, 1896. In Russia, this is accompanied by direct or indirect accusations of plagiarism against Marconi: it is assumed that his works of 1895 were not reflected anywhere (more precisely, they are known only from people close to him, whose impartiality is considered questionable in Russia), while at the same time in the application he used a circuit similar to the Popov receiver, the first description of the prototype of which was published in July 1895 with the release of the 2nd edition of “Fundamentals of Meteorology and Climatology” by D. A. Lachinov, which outlined the principle of operation of the “Popov discharge marker.”
Popov himself, from the beginning of 1897 (that is, from the appearance of the first newspaper reports about Marconi’s successes), began to actively defend his priority, supported in this by his relatives and colleagues. In the 1940s in the USSR his priority (including among scientists) was considered indisputable. 
Compatriot - Alexander Stepanovich Popov.
He was born in March 1859, in the Urals. From childhood it was clear that the boy was talented. In 1883 he graduated from the university with flying colors. Upon completion of his studies, he was invited to teach at the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt.
It was the only educational institution that trained and graduated electricians. In addition to this job option, he had other, more tempting offers, but he still chose Kronstadt.
This choice was made because this institution had a modern physics laboratory and an excellent library.
A contemporary of Alexander Stepanovich, Heinrich Herzen discovered the existence of electromagnetic waves, and also substantiated their relationship with light. Popov was very interested in this discovery.
The Russian scientist undertook a detailed study of these phenomena. The achievement of Alexander Stepanovich is that he saw practical significance in these electromagnetic waves. He told in his lectures that a person cannot receive and feel electromagnetic waves.
A device should be invented that could do this, and with the help of it transmit information at a distance. Soon he invented one.
During his research and experiments, Popov also managed to create an antenna and grounding. On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, Alexander Stepanovich presented to the world his creation - radio. May 7 is still celebrated in our country and is considered the “Day of the Creation of Radio.”
The inventor continued to work on his brainchild. A year later, the scientist managed to assemble a complex for wireless signal transmission over a distance of about 250 meters.
In the spring of 1897, Alexander Popov began conducting experiments on the development of wireless signal transmission in the fleet. He created a good level of communication between two ships at a distance of 5 kilometers. During experiments at sea, he made a discovery: electromagnetic waves were reflected from ships. Subsequently, this discovery formed the basis for the development of radar.
Naval officials did not take Popov’s discoveries seriously and did not see much practical meaning in it. But His Majesty chance came to the aid of the scientist in his recognition.
So, in 1899, the battleship Admiral General Apraksin set out on a circumnavigation of the world. Having walked a little from the harbor, he encountered a strong storm and, having lost his course, ended up on underwater rocks near the island of Gogland. Frost set in, the armadillo froze to the stones, and it was very difficult to remove it.
The expedition that set out to save the battleship needed constant communication with headquarters. It was here that the Naval Ministry remembered Alexander Popov.
The scientist was given the task of establishing communication between the rescue group and headquarters. The distance between them was more than 40 kilometers. Previously, it was possible to transmit signals only 30 kilometers. But, despite the difficulties, he coped with the task brilliantly, and communication was established.
A little later, thanks to a timely radio message, the fishermen, carried out to sea on an ice floe, were rescued. This case received wide publicity in the Russian and foreign press. Foreign states tried to lure Alexander Stepanovich to their country, promising mountains of gold, but the scientist did not agree.
Alexander Popov continued to devote himself to science until his death. The talented Russian scientist passed away on January 13, 1906.
