Who invented radio? Start by defining the question.
Wireless signals, receivers and regular broadcasting developed in different stages. A useful history starts by asking which stage we mean.
Several questions inside one
“Who invented radio?” can mean who demonstrated electromagnetic waves, who developed practical wireless signalling, who designed a receiver, or who organised a broadcasting service. These are connected achievements, but they are not interchangeable.
The Nobel Prize's historical account connects Heinrich Hertz's laboratory work with later developments by Guglielmo Marconi and Ferdinand Braun. Marconi and Braun shared the 1909 Physics Prize for their contributions to wireless telegraphy. Marconi's biography records experiments in 1895 and later work on long-distance links.
A signal is not yet a programme
Early wireless telegraphy carried coded messages. The familiar experience of tuning in to voices, music and a regular schedule belongs to further developments in transmission, reception and broadcasting organisations.
A museum can therefore tell this story through several objects: a signalling apparatus, a receiver and a broadcast transmitter. Each answers a different part of the question.
Look more closely
When you see the phrase “the first radio”, ask what it describes, where it operated and which evidence supports the claim. A patent, a demonstration and a surviving object may establish different things. Follow the references below rather than treating one date as the complete history.