Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
After the success of the first submarine cables in the early 1850s, the laying of short cables became routine, but longer cables presented more problems. It was, of course, of considerable financial and political interest to span the Atlantic Ocean, and the attempts in 1857, 1858, and 1865, and the eventual success in 1866, attracted much attention. But the operation of those cables showed how little understood electricity and magnetism were at the time. In this presentation Bill Burns tells how the technical challenges of transmitting messages over submarine cables in the mid 1800s led to James Clerk Maxwell's equations and the second great unification in physics when it was first understood that magnetism and electricity were just two different aspects of one force – electromagnetism.
Help us preserve the history of electronic communications by becoming a member of the Antique Wireless Association at: antiquewireless.org/homepage/join-or-renew-membership
Subscribe to the Antique Wireless Museum channel and you'll receive news of our latest video uploads.
After the success of the first submarine cables in the early 1850s, the laying of short cables became routine, but longer cables presented more problems. It was, of course, of considerable financial and political interest to span the Atlantic Ocean, and the attempts in 1857, 1858, and 1865, and the eventual success in 1866, attracted much attention. But the operation of those cables showed how little understood electricity and magnetism were at the time. In this presentation Bill Burns tells how the technical challenges of transmitting messages over submarine cables in the mid 1800s led to James Clerk Maxwell's equations and the second great unification in physics when it was first understood that magnetism and electricity were just two different aspects of one force – electromagnetism.
Help us preserve the history of electronic communications by becoming a member of the Antique Wireless Association at: antiquewireless.org/homepage/join-or-renew-membership
Subscribe to the Antique Wireless Museum channel and you'll receive news of our latest video uploads.
