Coaxial cable
Cable coaxial
- Date
- 1880 · confidence high
- Place
- London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Oliver Heaviside
- Field
- Communication
What it is
Self-taught physicist and engineer Oliver Heaviside patents the coaxial cable: a central conductor surrounded by a shielding mesh that prevents crosstalk between parallel cables.
Cables of similar structure had already been laid (the 1858 transatlantic telegraph), but Heaviside formalised and patented the shielded design.
What it led to
- Long-distance telephony and telegraphy without interference
- High-frequency transoceanic submarine cables
- Cable television and data networks (coaxial Ethernet)