Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Radio Communication and its Import in International Relations Address by Brig. General David Sarnoff at Princeton University Conference on "Engineering and Human Affairs," October 3, 191,6. IT IS indeed a great pleasure to participate in this conference as part of the observance of Prince- ton University's Bicentennial. It is most appropriate that the subject to be discussed at this meeting is "Modern Communications and Its Import" and that it should be dis- cussed at this place. For it was on this campus that Professor Joseph Henry, more than a century ago, erected important milestones in electromagnetism and telegraphy that helped to open the way for radio. The notebooks which he kept show that he "communicated orally" by means of "induction at a dis- tance". One of his students at Princeton noted that "each spark sent from the electrical machine in the College Hall affects the surrounding elec- tricity through the whole village". The spirit of research exhibited by Professor Henry continues to chai- acterize the work and scholarshiji of noted scientists and teachers at Princeton University. Indeed, that spirit extends beyond the walls of the University, for here in Prince- ton are located the RCA Labora- tories where research in radio, com- munications, electronics and related fields are carried on by a staff of renowned scientists and engineers, on a world-wide scale. Today, man is able to "communicate orally" around the earth. War revealed, in a spectacular way, the vital significance of com- munications. In a world that is struggling for rehabilitation from the ravages of war, there is no doubt that communications repre- sent an important factor in human affairs and in any formula for peace. All forms of electric com- munication — telegraph, telephone and radio—now are woven through the pattern of international rela- tions. Of the.se, radio is the most powerful because of its speed and its ability to reach all nations re- gardless of barriers, whether oceans, mountains, deserts, fron- tiers or censorship. It can speak any tongue; it can speak as the voice of freedom or as the voice cf dictatorship. Radio's effectiveness depends not only upon kilowatts and wave- lengths but upon the use which man makes of it. The power of radio for good or for evil does not rest within the electron tube but within the minds of men. They determine to what use we put this modern means of communications which encircles the globe and travels with the speed of light. Radio can move even across 240,000 miles of outer space to bring a radar signal back from the moon in less than three sec- onds ! We have crossed the thresh- old of television domestically and are approaching international tele- vision. Thus we see how radio has helped to shrivel the size of the universe; we behold its great power and the challenge which science hurls at mankind. During the war, radio did a tre- mendously effective job in linking the Allied armies, fleets and air armadas. The impact of war and its demands upon science revolu- tionized communications. Today we have at our disposal new electronic devices which make radio an even more powerful force throughout the world. By giving a fair and balanced picture of world relation- ships and by honest dissemination of facts and news, radio can be used constructively to help achieve a lasting peace. For long years the portals of the British Broadcasting Company car- ried the inscription, "Nations Shall GRADUATE COLLEGE OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, MEETING PLACE OF THE UNIVER- SITY'S FIRST BI-CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE ON "ENGINEERING AND HUMAN AFFAIRS." [RADIO AGE 25;