Any new invention appears only when there is a need for it and when science and technology have prepared the ground for its implementation. So it was with the advent of radio. Alexander Stepanovich Popov completed the centuries-long history of the search for the most advanced means of communication. The long, fruitless dispute about the primacy of the discovery of radio - Popov or Marconi - adds drama to the fate of the scientist in world history. The Russian physicist himself did not consider himself the “father of radio”, giving Tesla the authorship; he only took credit for improving radio equipment and “addressing it to the needs of the fleet.” But, despite a modest attitude towards his merits, distrust and sometimes misunderstanding, and the lack of worthy support in his homeland, Popov literally fought in world scientific circles not for his authorship - but for the birthplace of radio. It was important for him that the world recognize that a new revolutionary means of communication was discovered in Russia. The life of a great scientist, like the life of a lonely Russian inventor in the 90s of the 19th century, is extremely instructive. It was subject to the play of external absurd accidents, which either rudely interfered with or suddenly for a moment unusually favored his work. This is what this book is dedicated to.