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Sparks to Signals: Literature, Science, and Wireless Technology, 1800–1930

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Sparks to Signals: Literature, Science, and Wireless Technology, 1800–1930 Sparks to Signals: Literature, Science, and Wireless Technology, 1800–1930 by Erik Christopher Born A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German and Medieval Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Film Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Niklaus Largier, chair Professor Anton Kaes Professor Mary Ann Doane Spring 2016 Sparks to Signals: Literature, Science, and Wireless Technology, 1800–1930 © 2016 by Erik Christopher Born Abstract Sparks to Signals: Literature, Science, and Wireless Technology, 1800–1930 by Erik Christopher Born Doctor of Philosophy in German and Medieval Studies Designated Emphasis in Film Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Niklaus Largier, Chair “Going wireless” involves not only the elimination of wires but also the production of electromagnetic waves, a realization that had far-reaching implications for the cultural logics of German modernity. As a media archaeology of wirelessness, this dissertation situates the “discovery” of electromagnetic radiation and the “invention” of wireless transmission in a richer field of scientific, experimental, and aesthetic relations during the early and pre-history of national broadcasting. Before wireless transmission came to be synonymous with the mass distribution medium of radio or even the long-distance communication medium of wireless telegraphy, it was at the center of speculation about a variety of possible wireless futures. Understanding the rhetoric of the new media of radio and wireless telegraphy in the first chapter opens onto questions of continuity and change in the longue durée of the second chapter. The insights gained from this comparison of pre-modern cultural techniques and modern electronic technologies are crucial for understanding the “discovery” of electromagnetic radiation and the “invention” of wireless telegraphy examined in the third and fourth chapters with a focus on the immediate pre-history of national broadcasting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The significance of this pre-historical period and the contingency of national broadcasting in the mid-twentieth century arguably only became apparent with the revival of wireless transmission at the turn of the twenty-first century, as the fifth chapter makes evident. As a contribution to the early and pre-history of national broadcasting, this dissertation suggests a new way of thinking about the order of wirelessness, from “wireless” as synonymous with the communication medium of telegraphy or the distribution medium of radio, to “wireless” as electromagnetic radiation and a medium of experimentation. 1 To Judy i Contents Introduction: The Wired World, ca. 1900 ....................................................................... 1 1. Wireless Topoi: Common Places of National Broadcasting .................................... 19 Modernity, Novelty, Media Topoi ................................................................................. 24 The Wireless Age ........................................................................................................... 27 Understanding Wireless ................................................................................................. 30 Pocket Wireless .............................................................................................................. 36 Chaos on the Airwaves ................................................................................................... 41 Conclusion: Rundfunk für alle! ...................................................................................... 50 2. Signaling Without Wires: Origin Stories and Primal Scenes of Wireless Communication ................................................................................................................ 55 Wireless Before Wireless ............................................................................................... 58 Symbolic Communication .............................................................................................. 65 Telegraphy and Literature .............................................................................................. 74 Ends of the Wire ............................................................................................................. 84 Conclusion: Ursprung and Urszene ............................................................................... 87 3. Going Wireless: The Poetics and Politics of Invention ............................................ 92 The Physics of Wireless ................................................................................................. 96 Range Tests .................................................................................................................. 100 Worldwide Wireless Networks .................................................................................... 107 Patent Fiction ............................................................................................................... 113 Tele-Everything ............................................................................................................ 118 Conclusion: Literary Invention .................................................................................... 123 4. The Wireless Spectrum: The Discovery of Electromagnetic Radiation and Intermedial Television ................................................................................................... 126 From Ether to Spectrum ............................................................................................... 130 Figurations of Wireless ................................................................................................ 135 Giving Form to the Formless ....................................................................................... 140 Intermedial Television ................................................................................................. 145 Conclusion: Energy and Information ........................................................................... 150 5. In Praise of the Antenna: A Celebration of Wireless Infrastructure ................... 153 The Tower as Medium ................................................................................................. 154 From Wireless Stations to Radio Towers ..................................................................... 156 Pre-Historical Antennas ............................................................................................... 163 Wireless Architecture ................................................................................................... 166 Radar and Disaster ....................................................................................................... 169 Conclusion: The Antenna Vanishes ............................................................................. 171 Conclusion: The Wireless World, ca. 2000 ................................................................. 173 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 182 ii Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the support of several institutions and the labor of the individuals of which they are composed. I would like to express my gratitude to the Graduate Division, which generously supported my education at Berkeley; to the Departments of German Studies and Religious Studies, the Institute of European Studies, and the Max Kade Foundation, which provided fellowships that allowed me to undertake summer research throughout Austria and Germany; and to the Fulbright Scholars Program and the Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften, which sponsored an extended research stay in Vienna. For access to archival materials, I am grateful to Jörg Schmalfuß at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin and Wolf Harranth at the Dokumentationsarchiv Funk in Vienna. For publicizing my research, I thank Günter Hack of the Österreichische Rundfunk and Ernst Schmiederer of the Austrian edition of Die Zeit. I would also like to thank the staff of the Department of German at Berkeley, particularly Elisabeth Lamoreaux and Andrea Rapport for guiding me through the graduate program, and Cathie Jones for keeping everything in order. For their criticisms, suggestions, and support of my pursuit of an unorthodox research subject, I am grateful to my advisors, Mary Ann Doane, Anton Kaes, and Niklaus Largier, without whom this project would never have been completed. Jeroen Dewulf, Niko Euba, Karen Feldman, Deniz Göktürk, and the rest of the German Department faculty welcomed me into a vibrant intellectual community. For providing me with additional training and orientation in Medieval Studies, I am grateful to Frank Bezner, Beate Fricke, Maureen Miller, Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, and the members of the Graduate Medievalists at Berkeley. I am especially indebted to Elaine Tennant for introducing me to the fields of German and Medieval Studies, for encouraging rigorous analysis and meticulous attention to detail, and for quite a few memorable lunches. I am thankful for many inspiring conversations on the topic of this project and many others with Yael Almog, Paul Dobryden, Kenneth Fockele, Sebastian Haselbeck, Tara Hottman, Jennifer Ingalls, Sasha Rossman, Eric Savoth, and Dagmar Theison. To Ken and Tara, I am particularly indebted
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