He probably would have figured it out had he had time to evolve into Megahertz.

If you think about it, almost all computer-technology is radio. Wifi, bluetooth, GPS, radar, and cellular are literally radio. Meanwhile everything else runs on transistor tech developed and refined... for radios.

Our modern economy couldn't exist if people like Hertz and Maxwell didn't get to toy with their useless hobbies. But we can't rely on the curiosity of the leisure class anymore. Basic research is expensive, necessary, and a public good. I'm afraid that the Trump regime has already spoiled the secret sauce that makes America the technology leader of the world.

Faraday, after demonstrating how moving a magnet through a coiled wire induced a current in the wire was asked by a visiting statesman what was the use of this.

Faraday responded, "In twenty years, you will be taxing it"

Similarly, at a demonstration of hot air balloons in France, Benjamin Franklin was asked "Of what use is this?"

Franklin replied, "Of what use is a newborn baby?"

I mean, it would be some 25 years until the radio was invented. And Hertz' machine required a 30kV spark on a 2.5m meter long antenna with 2 solid 30cm zinc spheres, and his transmission range was something like "barely down the hall".

Not the most practical method.

I feel like I hear about this guy once every second

this type of science-discovery to usefulness-realization latency is the norm, pretty sure Curie didn't envision nuclear power plants

There's a good NPR podcast in the same vein as this: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/06/21/533840751/episode-779-shrimp-fight-club

It's about congressman talking about government waste and targeting the sciences. It's like, you don't get the "cool" applications without the "weird" research. I'm doing a horrible job describing it, but I thought it was a good listen.

This post tickles a fond memory of mine. I was talking to a right-wing libertarian, and he said there should be no research done ever if it couldn't prove beforehand its practical applications. I laughed out loud because I knew how ignorant and ridiculous that statement was. He clearly had never picked up a book on the history of science, on the history of these things:

• quantum mechanics. It would be a shame if the poor libertarian didn't have semiconductors in his phone, or if he didn't have access to lasers for his LASIK surgery (which he actually did have), both of which are technologies built by basic research that didn't have practical applications in mind.
• electromagnetism. It would be a shame if the poor libertarian was having his LASIK surgery and the power went out without there being a generator, a technology built by basic research that didn't have practical applications in mind.
• X-rays. It would be a shame if the poor libertarian didn't have x-rays to check the inside of his body in case something went wrong, a technology built by basic research that didn't have practical applications in mind.
• superconductivity. It would be a shame if the poor libertarian didn't have superconductors for an MRI to check the inside of his body in case something went wrong, a technology built by basic research that didn't have practical applications in mind.
• radio waves. It would be a shame if the poor libertarian didn't have radio waves for his phone and computer's wifi and bluetooth to run his digital business, technologies built by basic research that didn't have practical applications in mind.

Was he the guy that started that rental car company?

/s

This may be an even better example than the positron. Originally a theoretical antimatter form of the common electron, with no practical application.

Turned out to be a vital tool for medical imaging. If you or someone you know has ever had a PET scan, now you know what the P stands for.

I feel like this is a very "scientisty" thing - the theoretical aspect is so fascinating and being able to fit all the pieces into a model that is mathematically accurate is the reward.

Considering the practical application of the model and how it can benefit society (or in other words, be marketed for profit) takes a different set of skills.

We stand on the shoulders of giants etc etc. But it seems odd to me that they wouldn't think about using this for communication at least.

I LOVE SIGNAL PROCESSING

And this is why science shouldn't be beheld to the whims of politicians and capitalists

I mean, why would a guy that started a car rental company know anything about radio waves?

Gotcha!

~~Aperture~~ Science! We do what we must because we can!

Imagine if he had to apply for funding

"these waves have the potential to transform how we communicate and will likely find world wide usage"

He would actually be right unlike all the other funding applications which are largely oversold.

Hilariously, light is an electromagnetic wave.

So, yes, we can see electromagnetic waves.... Just, only a very small segment of them.

How wrong he was. Now we use EM daily for everything.... Communicating via Wi-Fi, listening to music in the car (FM broadcast), or via Bluetooth and using LTE... Even heating our food. Not to mention medical applications like X-rays...

There's a shitload of stuff we use EM for without even thinking. It's all around us, all the time, like the matrix. I love EM science.

This goes to show you that, just because someone discovered a thing, doesn't mean that they have any idea what to do with that discovery, or that the discoveries end there....

Before, reality was just what humans could touch, smell, see, and hear, but after the publication of the charged electromagnetic spectrum, we now know that what we can touch, smell, see, and hear, is less than one-millionth.