Guglielmo Marconi
1874–1937
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During his early years, Marconi did not do well at school, but he did have aninterest in science and history. He briefly studied electromagnetic radiation underAugusto Righi, a physicist at the University of Bologna, before embarking on his own. Constructing most of the needed equipment in the attic of his home in Italy, Marconi began toconduct experiments as he sought to build a wireless system through which coded messagescould be sent. He was far from the first to undertake such an endeavor, but pastattempts in the field had not proved commercially successful. After several months ofconstruction and adjustment, Marconi’s system was able to transmit signals nearly a mile, allwithout the use of any wires whatsoever. Unable to find significant support for hiswork in Italy, he took the telegraph system to London, where he hoped that he might earnenough profit to improve upon his product. There soon followed several demonstrationsof his system for the British government, including a 3.7 mile Morse code transmissionacross the Salisbury Plain, and later, a wireless crossing of the English Channel. In 1901, he sent a message from Newfoundland to Cornwall, 2200 miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, and two years later a greeting from Theodore Roosevelt was sent to Edward VII of England. Additionally, Marconi was highly praised for his invention when his radio system allowed those on board the sinking Titanic to call for help.
In 1914, Marconi was made a member of the Italian Senate, and during World War I he was placed in charge of the Italian military’s radio service after Italy joined the Allied ranks. He later went on to become a lieutenant and was made a marquis by King Victor Emmanuel III. He joined the Italian Fascist party under Benito Mussolini, and he achieved the status of Fascist Grand Council Member before his death in Rome following a series of heart attacks. In tribute to this well-respected inventor, all radio stations observed two minutes of silence following his passing, in reverence for the creator of the first working wireless telegraph.
Key events during the life of Guglielmo Marconi:
| Born | |
| Built his first wireless telegraphy system | |
| Began experiments in transmitting messages over increasing distances | |
| Transmitted morse code over a distance of 3.7 miles across the Salisbury Plain | |
| Transmission across English channel | |
| Radio system helped save Titanic survivors by alerting other ships to their location | |
| First American demonstrations of Marconi's telegraph system | |
| Regular entertainment broadcasts were put out by the Marconi Research Centre | |
| Made a Senator in the Italian Senate | |
| Joined the Italian Fascist party | |
| Made a Marquis by Victor Emmanual III | |
| Became a member of the Fascist Grand Council | |
| Passed away following several heart attacks |
Other Resources
| Guglielmo Marconi in | Great Inventors and Their Inventions by Frank P. Bachman |
Image Links | ||
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A Wireless Operator in Great Inventors and Their Inventions |
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| General Hindenburg | Field Marshal during WWI, and German Statesman. President of Germany after the War. |
| Commander and chief of the French army during the early years of the Great War. | |
| Ferdinand Foch | Military theorist and teacher who became Field Marshall of the Allies during the Great War. |
| Karl Ferdinand Braun | German inventor and physicist. Earned a Nobel Prize alongside Marconi for his developments in radio and television technology |