who discovered radio waves

Heinrich Hertz is generally credited with discovering radio waves in the late 1880s, by generating and detecting them experimentally in his laboratory.

Quick Scoop

• German physicist Heinrich Hertz first produced and detected controlled radio waves around 1886–1888, confirming James Clerk Maxwell’s earlier theoretical prediction of electromagnetic waves.

• Hertz’s experiments showed that these “Hertzian waves” behaved like light (they could be reflected and refracted), firmly establishing them as a new form of electromagnetic radiation.

• Later inventors such as Guglielmo Marconi and others built on Hertz’s discovery to develop practical radio communication systems, but Hertz is the one credited with discovering the waves themselves.

In short: Maxwell predicted them on paper, but Hertz was the first to demonstrate radio waves in the lab, which is why he is typically named as the discoverer.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.