“If two people can’t see each other, then it’s impossible to communicate”
– Unknown roman warfare expert (63 ad.)
“Samuel Morse most have lost his mind if he believes in this idea himself!”
– Senator Oliver Hampton Smith, (1842), after having seen a demonstration of Morse’s new invention.
“It is only righteous that Joshua Coppersmiths, who has tried to find investors to finance the development of a so-called telephone, is arrested for fraud!”
– An article in the Boston Post (1865)
“The radio has no future!”
– Lord Kelvin, British Mathematician (1897)
“Use your time on something useful. All radios this country will ever need can easily fit on my desk!”
– W.W. Dean, director of the American phone company “W.W. Dean” (1907) to Lee DeForrest (one of radios first pioneers)
“Radio is just a fashion contrivance that will soon die out. It is obvious that there never will be invented a proper receiver!”
– Thomas Edison
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
– David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s