Jaap haartsen biography of michaels

The Bluetooth Logo is universally recognizable since showing up on just about every smart device in the early 2000s. But have you ever wondered where the name and logo came from? In this episode, we talk about “Harald Bluetooth” the Viking and why his name was used for the technology. Then we chat with Comedian & Magician Matt Donnelly! 

The country of Denmark is named Denmark because that’s an old Norse word for “The Marches of the Danes.” Originally it was known as “Danmark” and common folklore tells a story about it being named after “King Dan,” who was sort of a mythological first king of the area. But there’s no one real person that we can point to who was “King Dan.”

But Denmark as a nation was a unification of a bunch of different lands in the area – including what we now know as Norway and Sweden. The unification of the country saw its first official unified King somewhere in the 10th century by a Viking King, Gorm the Old, and then by his son Harald. Harald is the Viking King of Denmark that’s credited with really uniting the lands as well as introducing Christianity to Denmark. He ruled from 958 to 986. 

We have a great reminder of these Danish Kings. If you visit the railway town of Jelling, Denmark, you’ll find the earliest written mention of the name of the country. Two large stones known as the Jelling Rune Stones. These stones were placed by Gore the Old and his son Harald and they are covered with inscriptions of ancient norse runes, including the name “Danmark.” The stones are absolutely huge, considering they were placed there in the 10th century. The larger of the two stones was placed by the son, Harald, and has an inscription: “King Harald bade this monument be made in memory of Gorm his father and Thyra his mother, that Harald who won for himself all Danmark and Norway and made the Danes Christians”.

And it was the joining of nations, the joining of Denm

1800s: Origins of Radio

Bluetooth is a short form communication technology that uses radio waves. This means that Bluetooth itself would not exist today if it weren’t for the discovery of radio.

In the early 1800s, physicists like Hans Christian Oersted and Michael Faraday postulated the idea of electromagnetic waves. But in 1864, an experimental physicist named James Clerk Maxwell theorized that electromagnetic waves could be transmitted through the air, rather than through just a wire.

Soon after, Heinrich Hertzbecame the first scientist to prove Maxwell’s theory correct. Credited as the man who discovered radio waves, the unit of frequency “Hertz” is named in his honor.

While radio waves had been studied in laboratories for some time, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconistarted experimenting with radio waves outside of the lab. In 1899, Marconi had used radio waves to telegraph the results of the International Yacht Races in real time. Soon after, he established his own wireless company, broadcasting the first transatlantic signal in 1901.

For a few years, radio transmission was limited to Morse code dots and dashes, but this changed when Reginald Fessenden sent the first long-distance transmission of human voice and music from a Massachusetts based station.

Entertainment based broadcasting began around 1910, and radio music stations continue to persist today. Although music streaming services have affected radio’s popularity, radio waves are the basis for which Bluetooth technology is established.

1994: The Invention of Bluetooth

The origins of Bluetooth can be traced back as far as 1994 when Dr. Jaap Haartsen was tasked with finding short-range radio connections. Working at Ericsson’s Mobile Terminal Division, the company wanted to find a way to enrich the functionality of mobile phones which had been growing in popularity at the time.

By experimenting with multiple different factors and assets, Haartsen finally was able