This book describes the complex relations between wireless and the British Empire, and draws on an broad range of unpublished manuscripts and original printed texts found in an large diversity of archives and national contexts (Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). The book also investigates the intimate relationship between the upper atmospheric sciences on the one hand, and structural factors (such as radio industry, technical education, and geopolitics) on the other. As an original feature, the book follows a pattern in which certain categories transit in parallel throughout the his ... More

This book describes the complex relations between wireless and the British Empire, and draws on an broad range of unpublished manuscripts and original printed texts found in an large diversity of archives and national contexts (Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). The book also investigates the intimate relationship between the upper atmospheric sciences on the one hand, and structural factors (such as radio industry, technical education, and geopolitics) on the other. As an original feature, the book follows a pattern in which certain categories transit in parallel throughout the historical episode. The metaphor of a thread of five pieces representing the categories ‘science’, ‘industry’, ‘government’, ‘the military’, and ‘education’ serves to describe its thematic structure. The book examines the contribution of imperial defence, commercial companies, and academic traditions in promoting atmospheric sciences, a branch of research in which Britain was to lead the world. Attention is also given to the gradual displacementfrom long-wave to short-wave communications as a result of commercial imperatives associated with the Empire. The book concludes with a thought-provoking epilogue. ‘The Realist Interpretation of the Atmosphere’ proves how most radiophysicists indeed overstated the reality of the reflecting layers of the ionosphere, mainly for reasons related to the interests of radio engineers in commercial and governmental agencies, as well as to the activities of radio amateurs.