At the beginning of the twentieth century, humans crossed another threshold
onboard the small single-engine biplane of the Wright brothers, paving the way to
the era of aviation. Yet for the new daring sailors of the skies, navigation once
again became a central problem.
At first, they used the same tools exploited on sea vessels. During WWI, aviators used bubble sextants, which acted as an artificial horizon, to help determine
their route. But using these instruments was extremely challenging, and limited
aviation to short flights in a clear and cloudless sky.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh
8
reached Paris from New York after 33 hours of
solitary flight over the ocean, demonstrating that the airplane had potential as a
major mode of transportation into the future. Yet even then, Lindbergh flew without an onboard radio transmitter and relied only on a clock and a compass. Many
other pilots lost their lives trying to replicate Lindbergh’s flight, in part due to
inexperience, but above all due to the lack of adequate technology.
Once again, aviators were experiencing the same frustrations that had tormented
sailors in previous centuries. And once again, the political need to exploit aircrafts
for military purposes provided decisive impetus to search for a solution. Armed
forces were already using airplanes to observe battlefields from above, replacing
the slow and vulnerable balloons, but they had realized that those flying vehicles
could become a revolutionary weapon able to change the course of any conflict.
Where navigation of the sea was solved thanks to the invention of the clock,
navigation of the skies was solved thanks the discovery of radio signals.
The first patent on how to transmit radio signals was published by Guglielmo
Marconi in 1896. Years before, Nikola Tesla had already built a device that could
emit electromagnetic pulses by exploiting the characteristics of electrical circuits
powered by currents. Tesla, however, did not publish anything, while Marconi
arranged a demonstration by sending a signal from England to America. Thus,
Marconi’s invention was popularized and made him a wealthy man.
Even so, no one – not even Marconi himself – was able to explain how that
remote transmission physically took place. Only in 1924 did physicist Edward
Appleton discover that the radio waves were reflected by the ionized layers of the
upper atmosphere and bounced off the ground, reaching distant places. For this
discovery, Appleton would later earn the Nobel Prize in 1947.
The radio device immediately became an object of interest for the armed forces.
It was first used in a conflict in 1905 during the naval battle of Tsushima
9
between
the Russians and the Japanese. Thanks to radio technology, the Japanese fleet
annihilated the Russian fleet, whose sailors still communicated on sight through
coloured flags.
8
Berg, A. Scott. 1998. Lindbergh. New York: Putnam Publishing.
9
Constantine Pleshakov. 2002. The Tsar’s Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of
Tsushima. Basic Books.
54 GPS: The Stellar Clock
onboard the small single-engine biplane of the Wright brothers, paving the way to
the era of aviation. Yet for the new daring sailors of the skies, navigation once
again became a central problem.
At first, they used the same tools exploited on sea vessels. During WWI, aviators used bubble sextants, which acted as an artificial horizon, to help determine
their route. But using these instruments was extremely challenging, and limited
aviation to short flights in a clear and cloudless sky.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh
8
reached Paris from New York after 33 hours of
solitary flight over the ocean, demonstrating that the airplane had potential as a
major mode of transportation into the future. Yet even then, Lindbergh flew without an onboard radio transmitter and relied only on a clock and a compass. Many
other pilots lost their lives trying to replicate Lindbergh’s flight, in part due to
inexperience, but above all due to the lack of adequate technology.
Once again, aviators were experiencing the same frustrations that had tormented
sailors in previous centuries. And once again, the political need to exploit aircrafts
for military purposes provided decisive impetus to search for a solution. Armed
forces were already using airplanes to observe battlefields from above, replacing
the slow and vulnerable balloons, but they had realized that those flying vehicles
could become a revolutionary weapon able to change the course of any conflict.
Where navigation of the sea was solved thanks to the invention of the clock,
navigation of the skies was solved thanks the discovery of radio signals.
The first patent on how to transmit radio signals was published by Guglielmo
Marconi in 1896. Years before, Nikola Tesla had already built a device that could
emit electromagnetic pulses by exploiting the characteristics of electrical circuits
powered by currents. Tesla, however, did not publish anything, while Marconi
arranged a demonstration by sending a signal from England to America. Thus,
Marconi’s invention was popularized and made him a wealthy man.
Even so, no one – not even Marconi himself – was able to explain how that
remote transmission physically took place. Only in 1924 did physicist Edward
Appleton discover that the radio waves were reflected by the ionized layers of the
upper atmosphere and bounced off the ground, reaching distant places. For this
discovery, Appleton would later earn the Nobel Prize in 1947.
The radio device immediately became an object of interest for the armed forces.
It was first used in a conflict in 1905 during the naval battle of Tsushima
9
between
the Russians and the Japanese. Thanks to radio technology, the Japanese fleet
annihilated the Russian fleet, whose sailors still communicated on sight through
coloured flags.
8
Berg, A. Scott. 1998. Lindbergh. New York: Putnam Publishing.
9
Constantine Pleshakov. 2002. The Tsar’s Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of
Tsushima. Basic Books.
54 GPS: The Stellar Clock