Physics and the communications industry

This review explores the relationship between physics and communications ov er the past 125 years. The authors find that four eras of major change in c ommunications technology can be traced to the corresponding major discoveri es of physics that directly influenced the communications industry. The fou r areas of physics that define these periods are electromagnetism, the elec tron, quantum mechanics, and quantum optics. [S0034-6861(99)02602-1].