 His idea of conductive atmospheric layers has been discredited.However, based on his claims of successful wireless telegraphic and telephonic transmissions in the 1860s and 1870s, it is sometimes asserted that Loomis' equipment had, inadvertently, been the first to produce and receive radio signals.Mahlon Loomis was born in Oppenheim, New York, the third of eight children born to Nathan and Waitie J.