Radio may well serve as a brand of the city. The radio pioneer Alexander Popov (considered the inventor of radio in Russia) showed here the technical innovations at the commerce and industry exhibition of 1896. M. Bonch-Bruyevich made his discoveries here (at the end of 1918 under his guidance the radiotelephone transmitter was created). Since 1918, the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory began to work which transmitted the human voice for the first time on February 27, 1919. The radiotelephone plant "Siemens & Halske" was constructed in 1916 in Nizhny Novgorod (later it was renamed into the Lenin TV Plant also known as ‘NITEL’). The city was called "the first radio-capital".
The Nizhny Novgorod radio discoveries and other technical inventions have not stopped, the development of a scientific and technical thought continues nowadays as well, and it is possible to learn about history of the famous discoveries in an exposition of the of Radio Laboratory Museum, as well as of the Museum of Prioksky city district.
Radio Laboratory Museum presents to everyone a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the history of great discoveries in radio engineering. The majority of exhibits are in working order, and during the tour you can listen to the music as people used to do it in the 1960-70s when x-ray films were used as records. Today it is not only a museum, but also a scientific and information center. During the tour, anyone will be able to study the ordinary physical phenomena in games. You can become a real radio telephone operator and send a radiogram to Berlin.
The museums of the NITEL plant and Frunze plant have interesting expositions as well, but to get there, a special pass is necessary.