EPISODE 4: WIRELESS ## PART ONE: THE VISION ### CHAPTER 1: RADIO WAVES The idea of wireless communication was not new when Tesla began his experiments. Heinrich Hertz had demonstrated electromagnetic waves in 1887, proving that Maxwell's theoretical predictions were correct. Others—Oliver Lodge in England, Edouard Branly in France—had experimented with detecting these waves over short distances. But Tesla saw further than his contemporaries. While others imagined wireless telegraphy—sending Morse code without wires—Tesla imagined wireless power transmission. He saw a world where electricity itself could be sent through the air, powering lights and motors without physical connections. It was a vision so audacious that most scientists considered it impossible. Tesla considered it inevitable. --- ### CHAPTER 2: THE EXPERIMENTS Tesla began his wireless experiments in the early 1890s. Working with high-frequency currents, he discovered that electricity behaved strangely at frequencies far above those used in power systems. At certain frequencies, current could be transmitted through the air, through human bodies, through materials that normally blocked electricity. His demonstrations of wireless lighting astonished audiences. He would hold fluorescent tubes that glowed without any visible connection to power. He would create "electric discharges" that leapt through the air without wires. He seemed to be conjuring electricity from nothing. The demonstrations were real, but the explanation was complex. Tesla was using resonance—tuning...