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Sunday, 13 January 2013

In the Beginning - Sunday Stamps

There are lots of inventions that we take for granted which would not exist without the men who were in it at the "Beginning." With so many to chose from I decided to chose a few who you could say are connected with our ability to communicate.

Great Britain - issued 1995

In the 1860s,  a Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell had  predicted the existence of radio waves; and in 1886, the German Heinrich Rudolph Hertz demonstrated that rapid variations of electric current could be projected into space in the form of radio waves similar to those of light and heat. In 1888 an American, Mahlon Loomis demonstrated "wireless telegraphy." Loomis was able to make a meter connected to one kite cause another one to move, marking the first known instance of wireless aerial communication.

But it was Guglielmo Marconi who proved the feasibility of radio communication. He sent and received his first radio signal in Italy in 1895. By 1899 he flashed the first wireless signal across the English Channel and two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. This was the first successful transatlantic radiotelegraph message in 1902.

 One year later the Wright Brothers made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903.

USA - issued 2003
There are several stamps commemorating that first flight but this was issued on the centenary of the flight that was the beginning of aviation as we know it.

The first non-stop transatlantic flight came in 1919.

Great Britain - 1969
The stamp shows a page from the Daily Mail newspaper and was issue for the 50th anniversary of the flight. Alcock and Brown flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St John's Newfoundland to Clifden in County Galway in Ireland. There was  a small amount of mail carried on the flight making it the first transatlantic airmail flight.

Now please fly over to Viridian's Sunday-stamps-105 for the celebration of other beginnings.

11 comments:

Lisa B said...

Great choices for the theme.

Jo said...

Good selection of stamps again Bob. I don't remember the Alcock and Brown one even though I was living in England at the time. I have a book called Victorian Inventions with the most incredible ideas propounded by our predecessors. I've always wished I could think of something to invent.

Postcardy said...

I especially like the 1969 stamp with the newspaper. It's similar in concept to the card I posted.

21 Wits said...

I'm always fascinated with your stamp collections choices and themes, but the back story to them is always so interesting. Often we never learn the whole story, but this blog sure devotes to unmasking the truth!

viridian said...

I like the design and style of the Marconi stamp. And radio is still with us, everyday.
thank you for participating!

Postcard Blogger said...

wow! great selection!

Joy said...

Marconi is a popular subject for stamps, I like all the detail in the 95 one. Today the first thought of Royal Mail seems to be to head for the photo archive when celebrating a life.

VioletSky said...

I almost went with first flight, but your stamps are a more interesting selection than mine would have been!
The 1969 one is brilliant.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

Strangely, I remember the 1969 stamp but not the one from 1995.

Marcie said...

Wonderful selections of firsts!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. stamps do tell us so much - or remind us more likely ..

These are great shots .. and I like your title "In the Beginning ..." - amazing entrepreneurs trying these flying machines out for us ..

Cheers Hilary