Alexander Stepanovich Popov

Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859 - 1906) - physicist, electrical engineer, inventor, known as the creator of radio. The demonstration of radio communications led to the development of many scientific ideas, and for ten years, until the death of the inventor, radio engineering developed with his active participation.

Childhood and youth

The future scientist was born on March 4 (16), 1859 in the settlement at the Bogoslovsky plant, the Turinsky mines of the Perm province in the Urals. Alexander's father was a hereditary priest and served as rector of the church named after John the Theologian at the Theological Plant. The family, in which seven children grew up, lived very modestly.

At the age of 10, Alexander was sent to study at the Dalmatov Theological School. After 2 years, the boy continued his studies at the Yekaterinburg Theological School. Alexander studied well and graduated with the highest first category. This allowed him to easily enter the Perm Theological Academy, and in 1877, without exams, enter the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.

Student years became a real test for Popov. In short, the young man was sorely lacking funds, and due to illness in his second year, he was forced to stay for the second year. In order to somehow make ends meet, Alexander was engaged in tutoring, worked as an electrician.

In 1882, Alexander Popov successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic "On the principles of DC magneto- and dynamoelectric machines", which allowed him to stay at the university to prepare for a professorship.

The beginning of a scientific career

In 1883, Popov received an invitation to teach physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering at the Mine officer class in Kronstadt. In those years, it was the only educational institution in Russia in which electrical engineering occupied an honorable place, and the laboratories were well equipped, and Popov agreed without hesitation.

In 1890–1900 Alexander Stepanovich also worked as a teacher at the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt. In the summer, he was in charge of the power station of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

Popov lived in Kronstadt for 18 years, becoming the author of many inventions for equipping the Russian fleet with radio communications.

invention of radio

Conducting numerous studies in the field of electrical engineering and magnetism, the scientist came to the conclusion that electromagnetic waves can be used to create wireless communications. He repeatedly expressed this idea at scientific speeches in 1889, and 6 years later, on May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society, Alexander Popov made a report and demonstrated the world's first radio receiver he had created. This day went down in the history of world science as the birthday of radio.

Ten months later, Popov transmitted the world's first radiogram over a distance of 250 meters. A year later, he was able to increase the distance to 5 kilometers. In 1900, the scientist made communication at a distance of over 45 kilometers during the rescue operation of the battleship General-Admiral Apraksin, who had landed on stones.

The successful use of a wireless communication line served as an impetus for the introduction of wireless telegraphy on combat ships.

Alexander Stepanovich Popov, whose biography is closely connected with science, invented not only the world's first radio receiver. He formulated the basic principles of radio communication, developed the idea of ​​amplifying weak signals using relays. The authorship of Popov belongs to the receiving antenna and grounding, the first marching army and civilian radio stations.

The works of the inventor were highly appreciated not only at home, but also abroad: in 1900, at the World Exhibition in Paris, Popov's radio was awarded the Big Gold Medal.

Personal life

Alexander Stepanovich was married once. His wife was Raisa Alekseevna Bogdanova, one of the first certified women doctors in Russia. Four children were born in this marriage: sons Stepan and Alexander, daughters Raisa and Ekaterina.

Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly on December 31, 1905 (January 13, 1906). The cause of death was a stroke.