Reginald Fessenden: Brilliant Inventor, Unsuccessful Radio Entrepreneur

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, a Marconi contemporary, made significant advances in radio technology from 1900 to 1911. His work was focused on continuous wave transmissions with the goal of transmitting sound over radio waves. He was the first to demonstrate practical radio telephony and several of his other innovations made their way to the Chatham RCA station. However, his track record commercializing inventions was less impressive. Some of his inventions were ahead of their time but he was also unable to manage ownership issues with financial partners. We’ll look at his life, selected radio inventions, business activity and contrast his contributions to that of Guglielmo Marconi.