 Alexander Stepanovich Popov, one of the world pioneers of radio communications, was born in Russia in 1859. In 1894 he was able to generate radio waves, but could only detect them over a few metres. Popov improved the Kohira for receiving waves, and by attaching an antenna to one end of it and grounding the other, he could detect lightning many kilometres away, giving advance warning of dangerous storms. It was the first time that such an antenna had received electromagnetic waves. Popov demonstrated his invention to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society in 1895, and it was later set up at a weather observatory. At a meeting of the Society at St. Petersburg University in 1896, Popov sent radio signals between buildings some 245 metres apart. By January 1900, a 47 kilometre radio link had been established between the town of Kotka on the Gulf of Finland and Hogland Island, where teams were working to release a ship that had run aground. That winter, Hogland received a distress call from 50 men stranded on an ice flow. A vessel was immediately sent to the rescue. It was probably the first time that radio communications were used to save lives. The main conference hall at ITU's headquarters has been named the Popov Room in his honour.