Editing Radio wave (section)

== Discovery and exploitation ==
{{Main|History of radio}}
Radio waves were first predicted by the theory of [[classical electromagnetism|electromagnetism]] that was proposed in 1867 by Scottish mathematical physicist [[James Clerk Maxwell]].<ref name="Harman1998">{{cite book |last=Harman |first=Peter Michael |title=The natural philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-521-00585-X |location=Cambridge, UK |page=6}}</ref> His mathematical theory, now called [[Maxwell's equations]], predicted that a coupled [[electric field|electric]] and [[magnetic field]] could travel through space as an "[[electromagnetic wave]]". Maxwell proposed that light consisted of electromagnetic waves of very short wavelength. In 1887, German physicist [[Heinrich Hertz]] demonstrated the reality of Maxwell's electromagnetic waves by experimentally generating electromagnetic waves lower in frequency than light, radio waves, in his laboratory,<ref>{{cite web |last=Edwards |first=Stephen A. |title=Heinrich Hertz and electromagnetic radiation |url=https://www.aaas.org/heinrich-hertz-and-electromagnetic-radiation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615215616/https://www.aaas.org/heinrich-hertz-and-electromagnetic-radiation |archive-date=15 June 2022 |access-date=13 April 2021 |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science}}</ref> showing that they exhibited the same wave properties as light: [[standing wave]]s, [[refraction]], [[diffraction]], and [[polarization (waves)|polarization]]. Italian inventor [[Guglielmo Marconi]] developed the first practical radio transmitters and receivers around 1894–1895. He received the 1909 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for his radio work. Radio communication began to be used commercially around 1900. The modern term "''radio wave''" replaced the original name "''Hertzian wave''" around 1912.