Black I know Nicola Tesla proposed theories of wireless power transmission in the late 1800s. He conducted experiments in Colorado.
His objectives were to investigate theses three areas.
1 Demonstration that the Schumann Cavity can be resonated with an open air, vertical dipole antenna;
2 Measurement of power insertion losses;
3 Measurement of power retrieval losses, locally and at a distance.
It was his studies along with others that lead us to modern day Resonance and Wireless Power.
hopefully this helps black
A good website to for learning about wireless power is
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wireless-power.htm/printable