In 1864, the Scottish mathematician James C. Maxwell formulated the laws that govern electromagnestism. Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist, was later able to transmit and receive radio waves in a controlled laboratory manner. Hertz, though, seemed uninterested in the practical importance of his work. He stated that:

"This is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right - we have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye; but they are there ... I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical application."