Technology
Antenna Design
Quick fact
The first antennas were not designed but discovered; in 1888, Heinrich Hertz used a simple dipole antenna to prove the existence of radio waves, yet modern antenna design can amplify a signal by a factor of a thousand or more.
Why this is interesting
Every time you stream a video or make a phone call, a carefully designed antenna is working invisibly—so how does a simple piece of metal make wireless communication possible?