I am sure we have amazing inventors today like this, but Hiram Percy Maxim was amazing. Actually… I had no idea about some of his inventions. He was one of the first inventors of a car that was powered by a gasoline engine. Oh and also, he invented a muffler for a car. And his family was full of inventors and several had invented machine guns and other weapons. But, the silencer which screws on the front of the barrel… is his invention. For more about that..
From Field Ethos. A super newsletter I recommend!
But what is this W1AW thing? That is an amateur radio call sign. Hint.. mine is W5RF. He learned morse code at age 40.. I learned it in high school. Still use it several times a week, to make contacts with other radio amateurs around the world. Point is - in the early days, the “hams” didn’t understand the sky waves of ionospheric reflection to allow the waves to follow the curve of the earth around instead of going straight out through the ionosphere - and keep going forever into the void of space. The old hams thought messages would have to be sent short distance and then “relayed” on to the ultimate recipient. Not necessary actually. W1AW was one of the very involved early amateur radio operators in the first part of the century. His ham “call sign - W1AW is now the official call sign of the ARRL station which is on the air quite frequently. He was also a pilot and flew some of the first gliders in New England. He died of a throat infection in 1936.. Penicillin had to wait to be invented in the World War time frame. Sad.
Keep reading.. learn from history. So much is NOT taught in schools today because they have to teach insanity like pedophilia to young kids. But that is another substack.. after I cool down a bit.