Abstract
IT is now well known that all long-distance radio communication takes place by the propagation of electric waves through the upper regions of the atmosphere which are embraced by the modern term ‘ionosphere’. Although a conducting upper atmosphere was postulated in 1902, direct experimental evidence of its existence was not obtained until 1924. Since the latter date, a vast and increasing amount of research has been devoted to the ionosphere as a branch of theoretical and applied physics. While the major portion of this work has been conducted in Great Britain and in the United States, the fascination of the subject has attracted a number of research workers in other countries. The results of this work are generally recorded in the various scientific publications of the world. These publications are so numerous and so widespread, however, that the industrious worker in the subject is faced with a strenuous task if he is to study them all. Those whose main interest lies in other fields find it increasingly difficult to maintain an up-to-date knowledge on the ionosphere, and particularly to keep a clear perspective view of the progress which has been achieved and of its bearing on other fields such as meteorology and geophysics
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Growth of Knowledge of the Ionosphere. Nature 137, 956 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137956a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137956a0