Einstein, Tesla, Edison, and Marconi on Radio Signals from Aliens

Article by Alejandro Rojas                            June 3, 2020                             (denofgeek.com)

• Tesla and Marconi, the renowned scientists who invented the radio, believed they had received contact from intelligent extraterrestrial beings. This subject is at the center of Amazon Prime’s drama, The Vast of Night, where a switchboard operator and a DJ in a small town in the 1950s discover a strange, potentially alien, audio signal that leads them on a wild investigation to find the origins of the signal.

• The famous inventor, Nikola Tesla, is often credited with the invention of the radio. Tesla claimed he received strange signals while experimenting with radio at his lab in Colorado Springs in 1899. He told Collier’s Weekly that he was alone in his lab at night when there was present “something mysterious, not to say supernatural”. “[S]ome time afterward… the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed (on the radio) might be due to an intelligent control,” said Tesla. “Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.”

• The Collier’s article goes on to argue that despite whether the signal was from aliens or not (Tesla suspected it was Martians) the technology he was working on would have the potential to be used to communicate distances as vast as those between the planets in our solar system.

• Another pioneer in the invention of the radio is the Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi. In 1920, Marconi wrote, “I have encountered during my experiments with wireless telegraphy [a] most amazing phenomenon,” wrote Marconi. “Most striking of all is receipt by me personally of signals which I believe originated in the space beyond our planet. I believe it is entirely possible that these signals may have been sent by the inhabitants of other planets to the inhabitants of Earth.” “Linking of the science of astronomy with that of electricity may bring about almost anything.”

• The famous inventor, Thomas Edison, agreed with Marconi. “I can plainly see that the mysterious wireless interruptions experience by Mr. Marconi’s operators may be good grounds for the theory that inhabitants of other planets are trying to signal us,” said Edison. “Mr. Marconi is quite right in stating that this is entirely within the realm of possible.” Edison continued, “If we are to accept the theory of Mr. Marconi that these signals are being sent out by inhabitants of other planets, we must at once accept with it the theory of their advanced development.” “It would be stupid of us to assume that we have the corner on all the intelligence in the universe.”

• Tesla also weighed in on Marconi’s suggestion that we might be able to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations on other planets, saying, “Marconi’s idea of communicating with the other planets is the greatest and most fascinating problem confronting the human imagination today.” Then Tesla related a similar story of his own: “One day my ear caught what seemed to be regular signals. I knew they could not have been produced upon Earth. The possibility that they came from Mars occurred to me…”

• Even Albert Einstein reflected on his fellow scientists’ theories. “There is every reason to believe that Mars and other planets are inhabited,” said Einstein. “Why should the Earth be the only planet supporting human life? It is not singular in any other respect. But if intelligent creatures do exist, as we may assume they do elsewhere in the universe, I should not expect them to try to communicate with the Earth by wireless [radio]. Light rays, the direction of which can be controlled much more easily, would more probably be the first method attempted.” Nevertheless, radio waves became the predominant method used to search for alien signals.

• In 1924, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy felt that the close approach of Mars would be an opportune time to listen in for signals from Martians. He sent out a telegram asking radio stations to listen in. After all, some of the biggest brains in the business thought it was possible.

A switchboard operator and a DJ in a small town in the 1950s discover a strange, potentially alien, audio signal that leads them on a wild investigation to find the origins of the signal. This is the plot for The Vast of Night, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Could our first contact with aliens be as simple as a radio signal from aliens saying, “Hi?” The renowned scientists who invented the radio believed they received precisely that early in their experiments. Today, scientists spend millions to listen in on radio signals from space hoping to hear that first transmission from an extraterrestrial civilization.

A complicated debate rages as to who first invented the radio. On the U.S. side is Nikola Tesla, the

famous inventor who is the namesake for Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicle company. Representing the Europeans is Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi. They both were pioneers in developing radio communication. For our purposes, it doesn’t matter who you feel should get credit for inventing radio communication, because both of them claimed to have possibly received radio signals from aliens.

The first was Tesla. In an article titled “Talking with the Planets” for Collier’s Weekly in 1901, Tesla claimed he received strange signals while experimenting with radio at his lab in Colorado Springs in 1899.

“Even now, at times, I can vividly recall the incident, and see my apparatus as though it were actually before me,” wrote Tesla. “My first observations positively terrified me, as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night; but at that time the idea of these disturbances being intelligently controlled signals did not yet present itself to me.”

“It was some time afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might

be due to an intelligent control,” Tesla continued. “Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.”

The article goes on to argue that despite whether the signal was from aliens or not (Tesla suspected it would likely be Martians) the technology he was working on would have the potential to be used to communicate distances as vast as those between the panels in our solar system. This may have been the first time anyone used the “I am not saying it’s aliens, but…” line. Which was pretty bold at the time, especially given that earlier in the article, he noted skeptics questioned whether two-way radio communication was possible.

Marconi shared his alien signal encounter in an article in 1920.

“I have encountered during my experiments with wireless telegraphy [a] most amazing phenomenon,” wrote Marconi. “Most striking of all is receipt by me personally of signals which I believe originated in the space beyond our planet. I believe it is entirely possible that these signals may have been sent by the inhabitants of other planets to the inhabitants of earth.”

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