Guillermo Marconi

Guillermo Marconi (en italiano, Guglielmo Marco- Atraído por la idea de transmitir ondas de radio a tra-
ni; Bolonia, 25 de abril de 1874-Roma, 20 de julio de vés del Atlántico, marchó a Saint John’s (Terranova),
1937) fue un ingeniero eléctrico, empresario e inventor donde, el 12 de diciembre de 1901 recibió la letra «S»
italiano, conocido como uno de los más destacados im- en Código Morse, transmitida por encargo suyo desde
pulsores de la radiotransmisión a larga distancia, por elPoldhu (Cornualles) por uno de sus ayudantes, a través
establecimiento de la Ley de Marconi así como por el de 3360 km de océano. No obstante, la primera comu-
desarrollo de un sistema de telegrafía sin hilos (T.S.H.) o
nicación transatlántica completa no se hizo hasta 1907.
radiotelegrafía. Ganó el Premio Nobel de Física en 1909. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden ya había trasmitido la voz
Fue también uno de los inventores más reconocidos y, humana con ondas de radio el 23 de diciembre de 1900.
además del Premio Nobel, ganó la Medalla Franklin, fue En 1903 estableció en los Estados Unidos la estación
presidente de la Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei y el rey WCC, para transmitir mensajes de este a oeste, en cu-
Víctor Manuel III de Italia lo nombró marqués, con lo ya inauguración cruzaron mensajes de salutación el presi-
que pasó a recibir el trato de «Ilustrísimo Señor». Ade- dente Theodore Roosevelt y el rey Eduardo VII del Reino
más, está incluido en el Salón de la Fama del Museo de Unido. En 1904 llegó a un acuerdo con la Oficina de
Telecomunicaciones y Difusión de Chicago, y en su ho- Correos británica para la transmisión comercial de men-
nor se entregan los NAB Marconi Radio Awards, pre- sajes por radio. Ese mismo año puso en marcha el pri-
mios entregados anualmente por la Asociación Nacional mer periódico oceánico a bordo de los buques de la línea
de Radiodifusión de los Estados Unidos. Cunard, que recibía las noticias por radio.
Su nombre se volvió mundialmente famoso a consecuen-
cia del papel que tuvo la radio al salvar cientos de vidas
con ocasión de los desastres del Republic (1909) y del
1 Biografía Titanic (1912).
El valor de la radio en la guerra se demostró por primera
Segundo hijo de Giuseppe Marconi, terrateniente ita- vez durante la guerra ítalo-turca de 1911. Con la entrada
liano, y su esposa de origen irlandés Annie Jameson, es- de Italia en la I Guerra Mundial en 1915, fue designado
tudió en la Universidad de Bolonia. Fue allí donde lle- responsable de las comunicaciones inalámbricas para to-
vó a cabo los primeros experimentos acerca del empleo das las fuerzas armadas, y visitó los Estados Unidos en
de ondas electromagnéticas para la comunicación tele- 1917 como miembro de la delegación italiana.
gráfica. En 1896 los resultados de estos experimentos se
Tras la guerra pasó varios años trabajando en su ya-
aplicaron en Gran Bretaña, entre Penarth y Weston, y en
te, Elettra, preparado como laboratorio, en experimen-
1898 en el arsenal naval italiano de La Spezia. A petición
tos relativos a la conducción de onda corta y probando la
del gobierno de Francia, en 1899 hizo una demostración
transmisión inalámbrica dirigida.
práctica de sus descubrimientos, y estableció comunica-
ciones inalámbricas a través del canal de la Mancha, entre Obtuvo, en 1909, el premio Nobel de Física, que com-
Dover y Wimereux. partió con Karl Ferdinand Braun. Fue nombrado miem-
bro vitalicio del Senado del Reino de Italia en 1918 y en
Patentó la radio, aunque solo en un país y utilizando pa-
1929 recibió el título de marqués. Se cree que Nikola Tes-
ra su realización diecisiete patentes de Nikola Tesla, fe-
la rechazó el premio Nobel porque decía precisamente
chadas el 2 de julio de 1897 en el Reino Unido. En años
que Marconi había tomado patentes suyas para hacer su
posteriores dicha paternidad fue disputada por varias per-
invento, y que hasta que le retirasen el premio a Marconi
sonas. De hecho, otros países, tales como Francia o Rusia
él no lo aceptaría.
rechazaron reconocer la patente por dicha invención, re-
firiéndose a las publicaciones de Alexander Popov publi- La Radio Vaticana fue fundada por Guillermo Marconi e
cadas anteriormente. En 1943 el Tribunal Supremo de los inaugurada por Pío XI (con el mensaje radial Qui arcano
Estados Unidos dictaminó que la patente relativa a la ra- Dei) el 12 de febrero de 1931.[2]
dio era legítima propiedad de Tesla, y lo reconoció como
inventor legal de esta, si bien esto no trascendió a la opi-
nión pública, que sigue considerando a Marconi como su
inventor. En todo caso, fue Marconi quien desarrolló la
radio comercialmente.

1
2 7 ENLACES EXTERNOS

2 Inventos atribuidos • Flores Lázaro, Jesús (1983). Guillermo Marconi.

Ediciones Auriga. ISBN 978-84-7281-115-7.
La primera patente de la radio, aunque en un solo país • Marconi, María Cristina (1996). Mi marido Guiller-
y utilizando para su realización diecisiete patentes de mo Marconi. Aguilar. ISBN 978-84-03-59735-8.
Nikola Tesla, verdadero inventor de la radio junto con
Julio Cervera, quien la registró el 2 de julio de 1897 en el • Parker, Steve (1994). Guglielmo Marconi y la radio.
Reino Unido. Un año después de la primera transmisión Celeste Ediciones. ISBN 978-84-87553-64-6.
sin hilos, Marconi patentó su invento y los ingleses con-
cedieron al joven inventor de veintidós años de edad una • Rodríguez Lázaro, Jesús (1981). Guillermo Marco-
subvención de 15 000 francos. De ahí en más, el éxito no ni. Afha Internacional. ISBN 978-84-201-0441-6.
se hizo esperar. Por pedido del gobierno francés hizo una • Marconi, Maria Cristina; Marconi, Elettra (2002).
demostración práctica de sus descubrimientos en 1899, Marconi My Beloved. Branden Books. ISBN
estableciendo comunicaciones inalámbricas a través del 9780937832394.
canal de la Mancha. El 27 de marzo de 1899 consigue
el enlace a través del canal de la Mancha, entre Dover
(Inglaterra) y Boulougne (Francia), a una distancia de 48
km, en lo que fue la primera transmisión entre ambos 7 Enlaces externos
países. Cabe aclarar que el 21 de junio de 1943 la Corte
Suprema de los Estados Unidos otorgó los derechos de • Wikimedia Commons alberga contenido multi-
las patentes a Tesla y no a Marconi por la invención de la media sobre Guillermo MarconiCommons.
radio.[3]
• Nobel : Guglielmo Marconi – Biography
• Marconi Corporation’s Marconi Calling
3 Aportes a la ciencia
• Guglielmo Marconi
• Telegrafía usando el código Morse (inventado por
• Comitato Guglielmo Marconi International, Bolog-
Samuel Morse) sin necesidad de cables conductores.
na, ITALY
• La Antena Marconi.
• Marconi, una crónica
• Comercialización de la radio
• Guglielmo Marconi, ingeniero, empresario e inven-
tor
4 Véase
• Nikola Tesla
• Electricidad
• Historia de la electricidad

5 Referencias
[1] Notas: su hija Maria Elettraarconi, luego Princesa Maria
Elettra Giovanelli Marconi.
[2] Radio Vaticana. Quiénes somos
[3] Corte Suprema de Justicia de los Estados Unidos. «Mar-
coni Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States».
320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued. pp. 9–12 (abril de
1943). Decisión el 21 de junio de 1943

6 Bibliografía adicional
• Birch, Beverley (1991). Guglielmo Marconi. Funda-
ción Santa María-Ediciones SM. ISBN 978-84-348-
3406-4.
 3

8 Origen del texto y las imágenes, colaboradores y licencias

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Petronas, Airunp, Taichi, Emijrp, Rembiapo pohyiete (bot), Orgullobot~eswiki, RobotQuistnix, Platonides, Alhen, Chobot, Palica, Yrbot,
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 Guglielmo Marconi
“Marconi” redirects here. For other uses, see Marconi vout member of the Church before his marriage to Maria
(disambiguation). Christina in 1927.[16]
Guglielmo Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (Ital-
ian: [ɡuʎˈʎɛlmo marˈkoːni]; 25 April 1874 – 20 July
1937) was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer
known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio
transmission[1] and for his development of Marconi’s law
and a radio telegraph system. He is often credited as
the inventor of radio,[2] and he shared the 1909 Nobel
Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun “in recogni-
tion of their contributions to the development of wireless
telegraphy”.[3][4][5]
Marconi was an entrepreneur, businessman, and founder
of The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in the
United Kingdom in 1897 (which became the Marconi
Company). He succeeded in making a commercial suc-
cess of radio by innovating and building on the work of
previous experimenters and physicists.[6][7] In 1929, the
King of Italy ennobled Marconi as a Marchese (marquis).
1 Biography
1.1 Early years
Marconi was born into the Italian nobility as Guglielmo
Giovanni Maria Marconi[8] in Bologna on 25 April 1874,
the second son of Giuseppe Marconi (an Italian aristo-
cratic landowner from Porretta Terme) and his Irish/Scots
wife Annie Jameson (daughter of Andrew Jameson of
Daphne Castle in County Wexford, Ireland and grand-
daughter of John Jameson, founder of whiskey distillers
Jameson & Sons[9] ). Between the ages of two and six,
Marconi and his elder brother Alfonso were brought up
by his mother in the English town of Bedford.[10][11] After
returning to Italy, at age 18 University of Bologna physi-
cist Augusto Righi, neighbour of Marconi who had done
research on Heinrich Hertz's work, permitted Marconi to
attend lectures at the university and use the lab and library
as well.[12] Marconi received further education in Flo-
rence at the Istituto Cavallero and, later, in Livorno.[13]
Marconi did not do well in school, according to Robert
McHenry,[14] though historian Giuliano Corradi char-
acterizes him in his biography as a true genius.[15] He
was baptized as a Catholic but had been brought up as
a member of the Anglican Church, being married into
it (although this marriage was later annulled). Marconi
was confirmed in the Catholic faith and became a de-
1
1.2 Radio work
During his early years, Marconi had an interest in science
and electricity and in the early 1890s he began working
on the idea of "wireless telegraphy"—i.e., the transmis-
sion of telegraph messages without connecting wires as
used by the electric telegraph. This was not a new idea;
numerous investigators and inventors had been explor-
ing wireless telegraph technologies and even building sys-
tems using electric conduction, electromagnetic induction
and optical (light) signalling for over 50 years, but none
had proven technically and commercially successful. A
relatively new development came from Heinrich Hertz,
who demonstrated beginning in 1888 that one could pro-
duce and detect electromagnetic radiation—now gener-
ally known as radio waves, at the time more commonly
called “Hertzian waves” or “aetheric waves”.
There was a great deal of interest in radio waves in the
physics community, but the interest was in radio as a sci-
entific phenomenon, not in its potential as a communica-
tion method. Physicists generally looked on radio waves
as an invisible form of light, a short range phenomenon
which could only travel along a line of sight path, and
thus its range was limited to the visual horizon like ex-
isting forms of visual signaling, making it unsuitable for
long distance communication.[17] Hertz’s death in 1894
brought published reviews of his earlier discoveries in-
cluding a demonstration on the transmission and detec-
tion of radio waves by the British physicist Oliver Lodge
and an article about Hertz’s work by Marconi’s teacher,
Augusto Righi. Righi’s article renewed Marconi’s interest
in developing a wireless telegraphy system based on radio
waves,[18] a line of inquiry that he noted other inventors
did not seem to be pursuing.[6]
1.2.1 Developing radio telegraphy
Marconi, just twenty years old, began to conduct
experiments, building much of his own equipment in the
attic of his home at the Villa Griffone in Pontecchio, Italy
with the help of his butler Mignani. In the summer of
1894, he built a storm alarm made up of a battery, a
coherer (an early detector that changed resistance when
exposed to radio waves), and an electric bell, which went
off if there was lightning. Soon after he was able to make
2 1 BIOGRAPHY

Edouard Branly's original device with refinements

to increase sensitivity and reliability;

• A telegraph key to operate the transmitter to send

short and long pulses, corresponding to the dots-and-
dashes of Morse code; and

• A telegraph register activated by the coherer which

recorded the received Morse code dots and dashes
onto a roll of paper tape.

In the summer of 1895, Marconi moved his experimenta-

tion outdoors and continued to experiment on his father’s
estate in Bologna. He tried different arrangements and
shapes of antenna but even with improvements he was
only able to transmit signals up to one-half mile, a dis-
tance Oliver Lodge had predicted in 1894 as the maxi-
mum transmission distance for radio waves.

1.2.2 Transmission breakthrough

A breakthrough came that summer when Marconi found

that much greater range could be achieved after he raised
the height of his antenna and, borrowing from a tech-
nique used in wired telegraphy, grounding his transmit-
ter and receiver. With these improvements the system
Marconi’s first transmitter incorporating a monopole antenna. It was capable of transmitting signals up to 2 miles (3.2
consisted of an elevated copper sheet (top) connected to a Righi km) and over hills.[22][23] The monopole antenna reduced
spark gap (left) powered by an induction coil (center) with a the frequency of the waves compared to the dipole an-
telegraph key (right) to switch it on and off to spell out text mes- tennas used by Hertz, and radiated vertically polarized
sages in Morse code. radio waves which could travel longer distances. By this
point, he concluded that a device could become capable
of spanning greater distances, with additional funding and
a bell ring on the other side of the room by pushing a
research, and would prove valuable both commercially
telegraphic button on a bench.[19]
and militarily. Marconi’s experimental apparatus proved
One night in December 1894, Guglielmo woke his to be the first engineering-complete, commercially suc-
mother and invited her into his secret workshop and cessful radio transmission system.[24][25][26]
showed her the experiment that he had created. The next
Marconi wrote to the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs,
day, he also showed his work to his father, who gave his
then under the direction of the honorable Pietro Lacava,
son all of the money he had in his wallet when he was
explaining his wireless telegraph machine and asking for
certain that there were no wires, so that Guglielmo could
funding. He never received a response to his letter which
buy more materials.
was eventually dismissed by the Minister who wrote “to
Marconi read through the literature and picked up on the Longara” on the document, referring to the insane
the ideas of physicists who were experimenting with ra- asylum on Via della Lungara in Rome.[27]
dio waves, but did a great deal to develop devices, such
In 1896, Marconi spoke with his family friend Carlo Gar-
as portable transmitters and receiver systems, that could
dini, Honorary Consul at the United States Consulate in
work over long distances,[6] turning what was essentially
Bologna, about leaving Italy to go to England. Gardini
a laboratory experiment into a useful communication
wrote a letter of introduction to the Ambassador of Italy
system.[20] Marconi came up with a functional system
in London, Annibale Ferrero, explaining who Marconi
with many components:[21]
was and about these extraordinary discoveries. In his re-
sponse, Ambassador Ferrero advised them not to reveal
• A relatively simple oscillator or spark-producing ra- the results until after they had obtained the copyrights.
dio transmitter; He also encouraged him to come to England where he
• A wire or metal sheet capacity area suspended at a believed it would be easier to find the necessary funds
height above the ground; to convert the findings from Marconi’s experiment into a
practical use. Finding little interest or appreciation for his
• A coherer receiver, which was a modification of work in Italy, Marconi travelled to London in early 1896
1.2 Radio work 3

at the age of 21, accompanied by his mother, to seek sup-

port for his work. (He spoke fluent English in addition to
Italian.) Marconi arrived at Dover and the Customs offi-
cer opened his case to find various contraptions and ap-
paratus. The customs officer immediately contacted the
Admiralty in London. While there, Marconi gained the
interest and support of William Preece, the Chief Elec-
trical Engineer of the British Post Office.

1.2.3 The British become interested

Plaque on the outside of BT Centre commemorates Marconi’s first

British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi’s radio equipment public transmission of wireless signals.
during demonstration on Flat Holm Island, 13 May 1897. The
transmitter is at center, the coherer receiver below it, the pole
supporting the wire antenna is visible at top.
of 1899, the first demonstrations in the United States took
place, with the reporting of the America’s Cup interna-
Marconi made his first demonstration of his system for tional yacht races at New York.
the British government in July 1896.[28] A further series
of demonstrations for the British followed—by March Marconi sailed to the United States at the invitation of
1897, Marconi had transmitted Morse code signals over a the New York Herald newspaper to cover the America’s
distance of about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) across Salisbury Cup races off Sandy Hook, NJ. The transmission was
Plain. On 13 May 1897, Marconi sent the world’s first done aboard the SS Ponce, a passenger ship of the Porto
[30]
ever wireless communication over open sea. The ex- Rico Line. Marconi left for England on 8 November
periment, based in Wales, witnessed a message trans- 1899 on the American Line's SS Saint Paul, and he and
versed over the Bristol Channel from Flat Holm Island his assistants installed wireless equipment aboard during
to Lavernock Point in Penarth, a distance of 6 kilome- the voyage. On 15 November Saint Paul became the first
[29]
tres (3.7 mi). The message read “Are you ready”. The ocean liner to report her imminent return to Great Britain
transmitting equipment was almost immediately relo- by wireless when Marconi’s Royal Needles Hotel radio
cated to Brean Down Fort on the Somerset coast, stretch- station contacted her sixty-six nautical miles off the En-
ing the range to 16 kilometres (9.9 mi). glish coast.
Impressed by these and other demonstrations, Preece in-
troduced Marconi’s ongoing work to the general public 1.2.4 Transatlantic transmissions
at two important London lectures: “Telegraphy without
Wires”, at the Toynbee Hall on 11 December 1896; and At the turn of the 20th century, Marconi began investi-
“Signaling through Space without Wires”, given to the gating the means to signal completely across the Atlantic
Royal Institution on 4 June 1897. in order to compete with the transatlantic telegraph ca-
Numerous additional demonstrations followed, and Mar- bles. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station
coni began to receive international attention. In July at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901
1897, he carried out a series of tests at La Spezia, in to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall, England and
his home country, for the Italian government. A test for Clifden in Co. Galway, Ireland. He soon made the an-
Lloyds between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island, Ireland, nouncement that the message was received at Signal Hill
was conducted on 6 July 1898. The English channel was in St John’s, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) on 12
crossed on 27 March 1899, from Wimereux, France to December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported
South Foreland Lighthouse, England, and in the autumn antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the com-
4 1 BIOGRAPHY

Marconi watching associates raising the kite (a “Levitor” by

B.F.S. Baden-Powell[31] ) used to lift the antenna at St. John’s,
Newfoundland, December 1901
Marconi demonstrating apparatus he used in his first long dis-
tance radio transmissions in the 1890s. The transmitter is at right,
the receiver with paper tape recorder at left.

Magnetic detector by Marconi used during the experimental cam-

paign aboard a ship in summer 1902, exhibited at the Museo
nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of
Milan.

pany’s new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The

distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles
(3,500 km). It was heralded as a great scientific advance,
yet there also was—and continues to be—considerable
skepticism about this claim. The exact wavelength used
is not known, but it is fairly reliably determined to have
been in the neighborhood of 350 meters (frequency ≈850
kHz). The tests took place at a time of day during which
the entire transatlantic path was in daylight. We now
know (although Marconi did not know then) that this was
the worst possible choice. At this medium wavelength,
long distance transmission in the daytime is not possi-
Marconi caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1905
ble because of heavy absorption of the skywave in the
ionosphere. It was not a blind test; Marconi knew in
advance to listen for a repetitive signal of three clicks,
coni aboard, carefully recording signals sent daily from
signifying the Morse code letter S. The clicks were re- the Poldhu station. The test results produced coherer-tape
ported to have been heard faintly and sporadically. Therereception up to 1,550 miles (2,490 km), and audio recep-
was no independent confirmation of the reported recep- tion up to 2,100 miles (3,400 km). The maximum dis-
tion, and the transmissions were difficult to distinguish tances were achieved at night, and these tests were the first
from atmospheric noise. (A detailed technical review of to show that radio signals for medium wave and longwave
Marconi’s early transatlantic work appears in John S. Bel-
transmissions travel much farther at night than in the day.
rose’s work of 1995.) The Poldhu transmitter was a two- During the daytime, signals had only been received up
stage circuit.[33][34] to about 700 miles (1,100 km), less than half of the dis-
Feeling challenged by skeptics, Marconi prepared a bet- tance claimed earlier at Newfoundland, where the trans-
ter organized and documented test. In February 1902, the missions had also taken place during the day. Because of
SS Philadelphia sailed west from Great Britain with Mar- this, Marconi had not fully confirmed the Newfoundland
1.3 Later years 5

claims, although he did prove that radio signals could be 1.2.6 Continuing work
sent for hundreds of kilometres, despite some scientists’
belief that they were essentially limited to line-of-sight Over the years, the Marconi companies gained a reputa-
distances. tion for being technically conservative, in particular by
continuing to use inefficient spark-transmitter technol-
On 17 December 1902, a transmission from the Mar-
ogy which could only be used for radiotelegraph oper-
coni station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada became
ations, long after it was apparent that the future of radio
the world’s first radio message to cross the Atlantic from
communication lay with continuous-wave transmissions
North America. In 1901, Marconi built a station near
which were more efficient and could be used for audio
South Wellfleet, Massachusetts that sent a message of
transmissions. Somewhat belatedly, the company did be-
greetings on 18 January 1903 from United States Pres-
gin significant work with continuous-wave equipment be-
ident Theodore Roosevelt to King Edward VII of the
ginning in 1915, after the introduction of the oscillating
United Kingdom. However, consistent transatlantic sig-
vacuum tube (valve). The New Street Works factory in
nalling was difficult to establish.
Chelmsford was the location for the first entertainment
Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both radio broadcasts in the United Kingdom in 1920, em-
sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea, ploying a vacuum tube transmitter and featuring Dame
in competition with other inventors. In 1904, a com- Nellie Melba. In 1922, regular entertainment broadcasts
mercial service was established to transmit nightly news commenced from the Marconi Research Centre at Great
summaries to subscribing ships, which could incorporate Baddow, forming the prelude to the BBC, and he spoke
them into their on-board newspapers. A regular transat- of the close association of aviation and wireless telephony
lantic radio-telegraph service was finally begun on 17 Oc- in that same year at a private gathering with Florence
tober 1907[35][36] between Clifden Ireland and Glace Bay, Tyzack Parbury, and even spoke of interplanetary wire-
but even after this the company struggled for many years less communication.
to provide reliable communication to others.

1.3 Later years

1.2.5 Titanic

The role played by Marconi Co. wireless in maritime res-

cues raised public awareness of the value of radio and
brought fame to Marconi, particularly the sinkings of the
RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912 and the RMS Lusitania on
7 May 1915.
RMS Titanic radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold
Bride were not employed by the White Star Line but by
the Marconi International Marine Communication Com-
pany. After the sinking of the ocean liner on 15 April
1912, survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia of
the Cunard Line.[37] Also employed by the Marconi Com-
pany was David Sarnoff, who later headed RCA. Wire-
less communications were reportedly maintained for 72
hours between Carpathia and Sarnoff,[38] but Sarnoff’s in-
volvement has been questioned by some modern histori-
ans. When Carpathia docked in New York, Marconi went
aboard with a reporter from The New York Times to talk
with Bride, the surviving operator.[37]
On 18 June 1912, Marconi gave evidence to the Court of
Inquiry into the loss of Titanic regarding the marine teleg-
raphy’s functions and the procedures for emergencies at
sea.[39] Britain’s postmaster-general summed up, refer- Marconi with his wife c. 1910
ring to the Titanic disaster: “Those who have been saved,
have been saved through one man, Mr. Marconi...and his In 1914, Marconi was made a Senator in the Italian Sen-
marvelous invention.”[40] Marconi was offered free pas- ate and appointed Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the
sage on Titanic before she sank, but had taken Lusitania Royal Victorian Order in the UK. During World War I,
three days earlier. As his daughter Degna later explained, Italy joined the Allied side of the conflict, and Marconi
he had paperwork to do and preferred the public stenog- was placed in charge of the Italian military’s radio service.
rapher aboard that vessel.[41] He attained the rank of lieutenant in the Italian Army and
6 3 LEGACY AND HONOURS

of commander in the Italian Navy. In 1929, he was made O'Brien (1882–1976), a daughter of Edward O'Brien,
a marquess by King Victor Emmanuel III. 14th Baron Inchiquin, having met her in Poole in
[50]
Marconi joined the Italian Fascist party in 1923. In 1930, 1904. They had three daughters, Degna (1908–1998),
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini appointed him President Gioia (1916–1996), and Lucia (born and died 1906), and
of the Royal Academy of Italy, which made Marconi a a son, Giulio, 2nd Marchese Marconi (1910–1971).
member of the Fascist Grand Council. In 1913, the Marconis returned to Italy and became part
of Rome society. Beatrice served as a lady-in-waiting to
Marconi died in Rome on 20 July 1937 at age 63, follow-
ing a series of heart attacks, and Italy held a state funeral Queen Elena. The Marconis divorced in 1924, and, at
for him. As a tribute, shops on the street where he lived Marconi’s request, the marriage was annulled on 27 April
were “Closed for national mourning”.[43] In addition, at 6 1927, so he could remarry.[51] Beatrice Marconi mar-
pm the next day, the time designated for the funeral, all ried her second husband, Liborio Marignoli, Marchese
BBC transmitters and wireless Post Office transmitters di Montecorona, on 3 March 1924 and had a daughter,
in the British Isles observed two minutes of silence in his Flaminia.[52]
honor. The British Post Office also sent a message re- On 12 June 1927 (religious 15 June), Marconi married
questing that all broadcasting ships honor Marconi with Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali (1900–1994), only daughter
two minutes of broadcasting silence as well.[43] His re- of Francesco, Count Bezzi-Scali. They had one daugh-
mains are housed in the Villa Griffone at Sasso Marconi, ter, Maria Elettra Elena Anna (born 1930), who married
Emilia-Romagna, which assumed that name in his honour Prince Carlo Giovannelli (born 1942) in 1966; they later
in 1938.[44][45] divorced. For unexplained reasons, Marconi left his en-
In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States handed tire fortune to his second wife and their only [53]
child, and
down a decision on Marconi’s radio patents restoring nothing to the children of his first marriage.
some of the prior patents of Oliver Lodge, John Stone Later in life, Marconi was an active Italian Fascist[54] and
Stone, and Nikola Tesla.[46][47] The decision was not an apologist for their ideology and actions such as the
about Marconi’s original radio patents[48] and the court attack by Italian forces in Ethiopia.
declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi’s Marconi wanted to personally introduce in 1931 the first
claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that radio broadcast of a Pope, Pius XI, and did announce at
since Marconi’s claim to certain patents were question- the microphone: “With the help of God, who places so
able, he could not claim infringement on those same many mysterious forces of nature at man’s disposal, I have
patents.[49] (There are claims the high court was trying been able to prepare this instrument which will give to the
to nullify a World War I claim against the United States faithful of the entire world the joy of listening to the voice
government by the Marconi Company via simply restor- of the Holy Father”.[55]
ing the non-Marconi prior patent.)[46]

3 Legacy and honours

2 Personal life
3.1 Honours and awards
• In 1909, Marconi shared the Nobel Prize in Physics
with Karl Braun for his contributions to radio
communications.[3]
• In 1918, he was awarded the Franklin Institute's
Franklin Medal.
• In 1929, he was made a marquess by King Victor
Emmanuel III, thus becoming Marchese Marconi.
• In 1931, he was awarded with John Scott Medal by
wireless telegraphy
• In 1934, he was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal.
• In 1977, Marconi was inducted into the National
American electrical engineer Alfred Norton Goldsmith and Mar- Broadcasters Hall of Fame.[56]
coni on 26 June 1922.
• In 1988, the Radio Hall of Fame (Museum
of Broadcast Communications, Chicago) inducted
Marconi had a brother, Alfonso, and a stepbrother, Luigi. Marconi as a Pioneer (soon after the inception of its
On 16 March 1905, Marconi married the Hon. Beatrice awards).[57]
3.3 Places and organizations named after Marconi
• In 1990, the Bank of Italy issued a 2000 lire ban-
knote featuring his portrait on the front and on the
back his accomplishments.[58]
• In 2001, Great Britain released a commemorative
British two pound coin celebrating the 100th an-
niversary of Marconi’s first wireless communica-
tion.
• Marconi’s early experiments in wireless telegraphy
were the subject of two IEEE Milestones; one in
Switzerland in 2003[59] and most recently in Italy in
2011.[60]
• In 2009, Italy issued a commemorative silver €5
coin honouring the centennial of Marconi’s Nobel
Prize.
• In 2009, he was inducted into the New Jersey Hall
of Fame.[61]
• The Dutch radio academy bestows the Marconi
Awards annually for outstanding radio programmes,
presenters and stations.
• The National Association of Broadcasters (US) be-
stows the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards also
for outstanding radio programs and stations.
3.2 Tributes
Guglielmo Marconi Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• Department of Electrical, Electronic and Infor-
• A funerary monument to the effigy of Marconi
can be seen in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Flo-
rence but his remains are in near the Mausoleum
of Guglielmo Marconi in Pontecchio Marconi, near
3.3.3 Oceania
Bologna. His former villa, adjacent to the mau-
soleum is the Marconi Museum (Italy) with much
Australia
of his equipment.
• A statue of Guglielmo Marconi stands in Church
Square Park in Hoboken, NJ.
7
• A Guglielmo Marconi sculpture by Attilio Piccirilli
stands in Washington, D.C.
• A large collection of Marconi artifacts was held
by The General Electric Company, p.l.c. (GEC)
of the United Kingdom which later renamed Mar-
coni plc and Marconi Corporation plc. In Decem-
ber 2004 the extensive Marconi Collection, held
at the former Marconi Research Centre at Great
Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex UK was donated to
the nation by the Company via the University of
Oxford.[62] This consisted of the BAFTA award-
winning MarconiCalling website, some 250+ physi-
cal artifacts and the massive ephemera collection of
papers, books, patents and many other items. The
artifacts are now held by The Museum of the His-
tory of Science and the ephemera Archives by the
nearby Bodleian Library.[63] Following three years
work at the Bodleian, an Online Catalogue to the
Marconi Archives was released in November 2008.
• A granite obelisk stands on the clifftop near the
site of Marconi’s Marconi’s Poldhu Wireless Station
in Cornwall, commemorating the first transatlantic
transmission.
3.3 Places and organizations named after
Marconi
3.3.1 Outer space
The asteroid 1332 Marconia is named in his honor.
3.3.2 Europe
Italy
• Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (IATA: BLQ –
ICAO: LIPE), of Bologna, is named after Marconi,
its native son.
• Open University Guglielmo Marconi in Rome, Italy
(Università Telematica “Guglielmo Marconi”)
• Ponte Guglielmo Marconi, bridge that connects Pi-
azza Augusto Righi with Piazza Tommaso Edison,
in Rome
mation Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi” (DEI),
Università di Bologna
• Australian football (soccer) and social club Marconi
Stallions
8 4 PATENTS
3.3.4 North America
Canada
• The 'Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company of
Canada' (now CMC Electronics, of Montreal,
Canada, was created in 1903 by Guglielmo
Marconi.[64] In 1925 the company was renamed to
the 'Canadian Marconi Company', which was ac-
quired by English Electric in 1953.[64] The com-
pany name changed again to CMC Electronics Inc.
(French: CMC Électronique) in 2001.
• The Marconi National Historic Sites of Canada was
created by Parks Canada as a tribute to Marconi’s
vision in the development of radio telecommunica-
tions. The first official wireless message was sent
from this location by the Atlantic Ocean to England
in 1902. The museum site is located in Glace Bay,
Nova Scotia, at Table Head on Timmerman Street.
As of 2016 the Canadian Marconi Company and CMC
Electronics no longer exist. Most bought up by Esterline
in Ottawa. The Marine Service Group was acquired by
MacKay Marine but many of the employees left the group
at transition.
United States
California
• Marconi Conference Center and State Historic Park,
site of the transoceanic Marshall Receiving Station,
Marshall
Massachusetts
• Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, part of
the Cape Cod National Seashore, located near the
site of his first transatlantic wireless signal from the
United States to England. There are still remnants of
the wireless tower at this beach and at Forest Road 4.2 US patents
Beach in Chatham, Massachusetts.[65]
• U.S. Patent 586,193 "Transmitting electrical sig-
New Jersey
• New Brunswick Marconi Station, now the Guglielmo
Marconi Memorial Plaza in Somerset, NJ. Presi-
dent Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech was
transmitted from the site in 1918.
New York
• La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi on New York
City’s Upper East Side
Pennsylvania
• Marconi Plaza, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Roman
terrace-styled plaza originally designed by the archi-
tects Olmsted Brothers in 1914–1916, built as the
grand entrance for the 1926 Sesquicentennial Expo-
sition and renamed to honor Marconi.
4 Patents
4.1 British patents
• British patent No. 12,039 (1897) "Improvements in
Transmitting Electrical impulses and Signals, and in
Apparatus therefor". Date of Application 2 June
1896; Complete Specification Left, 2 March 1897;
Accepted, 2 July 1897 (later claimed by Oliver
Lodge to contain his own ideas which he failed to
patent).
• British patent No. 7,777 (1900) "Improvements in
Apparatus for Wireless Telegraphy". Date of Appli-
cation 26 April 1900; Complete Specification Left,
25 February 1901; Accepted, 13 April 1901.
• British patent No. 10245 (1902)
• British patent No. 5113 (1904) "Improvements in
Transmitters suitable for Wireless Telegraphy". Date
of Application 1 March 1904; Complete Specifica-
tion Left, 30 November 1904; Accepted, 19 January
August 1905.
• British patent No. 21640 (1904) "Improvements in
Apparatus for Wireless Telegraphy". Date of Ap-
plication 8 October 1904; Complete Specification
Left, 6 July 1905; Accepted, 10 August 1905.
• British patent No. 14788 (1904) "Improvements in
or relating to Wireless Telegraphy". Date of Appli-
cation 18 July 1905; Complete Specification Left,
23 January 1906; Accepted, 10 May 1906.
nals", (using Ruhmkorff coil and Morse code key)
filed December 1896, patented July 1897
• U.S. Patent 624,516 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 627,650 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 647,007 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 647,008 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
4.3 Reissued (US)
• U.S. Patent 647,009 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 650,109 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 650,110 "Apparatus employed in wire-
less telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 668,315 "Receiver for electrical oscilla-
tions".
• U.S. Patent 760,463 "Wireless signaling system".
• U.S. Patent 792,528 "Wireless telegraphy". Filed 13
October 1903; Issued 13, 1905.
• U.S. Patent 676,332 "Apparatus for wireless telegra-
phy" (later practical version of system)
• U.S. Patent 757,559 "Wireless telegraphy system".
Filed 19 November 1901; Issued 19 April 1904.
• U.S. Patent 760,463 "Wireless signaling system".
Filed 10 September 1903; Issued 24 May 1904.
• U.S. Patent 763,772 "Apparatus for wireless teleg- 4.3 Reissued (US)
raphy" (Four tuned system; this innovation was pre-
dated by N. Tesla, O. Lodge, and J. S. Stone)
• U.S. Patent 786,132 "Wireless telegraphy". Filed 13
October 1903
• U.S. Patent 792,528 "Wireless telegraphy". Filed 13
October 1903; Issued 13 June 1905.
• U.S. Patent 884,986 "Wireless telegraphy". Filed 28
November 1902; Issued 14 April 1908.
• U.S. Patent 884,987 "Wireless telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 884,988 "Detecting electrical oscilla-
tions". Filed 2 February 1903; Issued 14 April 1908.
• U.S. Patent 884,989 "Wireless telegraphy".
• U.S. Patent 935,381 "Transmitting apparatus for
wireless telegraphy". Filed 10 April 1908; Issued 28
September 1909.
• U.S. Patent 935,382 "Apparatus for wireless telegra-
phy".
• U.S. Patent 935,383 "Apparatus for wireless teleg-
raphy". Filed 10 April 1908; Issued 28 September
1909.
• U.S. Patent 954,640 "Apparatus for wireless telegra-
phy". Filed 31 March 1909; Issued 12 April 1910.
• U.S. Patent 997,308 "Transmitting apparatus for
wireless telegraphy". Filed 15 July 1910; Issued 11
July 1911.
9
• U.S. Patent 1,102,990 "Means for generating alter-
nating electric currents". Filed 27 January 1914; Is-
sued 7 July 1914.
• U.S. Patent 1,148,521 "Transmitter for wireless
telegraphy". Filed 20 July 1908.
• U.S. Patent 1,226,099 "Transmitting apparatus for
use in wireless telegraphy and telephony". Filed 31
December 1913; Issued 15 May 1917.
• U.S. Patent 1,271,190 "Wireless telegraph transmit-
ter".
• U.S. Patent 1,377,722 "Electric accumulator". Filed
9 March 1918
• U.S. Patent 1,148,521 "Transmitter for wireless
telegraphy". Filed 20 July 1908; Issued 3 August
1915.
• U.S. Patent 1,981,058 "Thermionic valve". Filed 14
October 1926; Issued 20 November 1934.
• U.S. Patent RE11,913 "Transmitting electrical im-
pulses and signals and in apparatus, there-for".
Filed 1 April 1901; Issued 4 June 1901.
5 See also
• History of radio
• Jagadish Chandra Bose
• List of people on stamps of Ireland
• List of covers of Time magazine during the 1920s –
6 December 1926
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[2] Hong, p. 1
[3] "Guglielmo Marconi: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909".
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[4] Bondyopadhyay, P.K. (1998). “Sir J.C. Bose diode de-
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[5] Roy, Amit (8 December 2008). “Cambridge 'pioneer'
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[8] Atti della Accademia di scienze, lettere e arti di Palermo:
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[9] Sexton, Michael (2005) Marconi: the Irish connection
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[10] Alfonso, not Guglielmo, was a pupil at Bedford School;
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on the western corner of Ashburnham Road, and that the
elder brother of the renowned Marchese Marconi attended
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(Alfonso’s obituary)
[11] Bedfordshire Times. 23 July 1937, p. 9 (Marconi’s obitu-
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[12] Guglielmo Marconi (Fabrizio Bònoli, Giorgio Dragoni).
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[13] “Guglielmo Marconi and Early Systems of Wireless Com-
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[14] McHenry, Robert, ed. (1993). “Guglielmo Marconi”.
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[15] Corradi, Giuliano, “Guglielmo Marconi,” Guglielmo Mar-
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[16] Marconi, Maria Christina (2001) Marconi My Beloved.
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[17] Regal, Brian (2005) Radio: The Life Story of a Tech-
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[18] Hong, p. 19
[19] Guglielmo Marconi, padre della radio. Radiomar-
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[20] Hong, p. 22
[21] Marconi delineated his 1895 apparatus in his Nobel
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sevier Publishing Company, 1967: 196–222. p. 198.
[22] Hong, pp. 20–22
[23] Marconi, "Wireless Telegraphic Communication: Nobel
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[27] Solari, Luigi (February 1948) “Guglielmo Marconi e la
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[30] Helgesen, Henry N. “Wireless Goes to Sea: Marconi’s Ra-
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11
7 Cited sources
• Hong, Sungook (2001). Wireless: From Marconi’s
Black-Box to the Audio (PDF). Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-08298-5.
8 Further reading
Relatives and company publications
• Bussey, Gordon, Marconi’s Atlantic Leap, Marconi
Communications, 2000. ISBN 0-9538967-0-6
• Isted, G.A., Guglielmo Marconi and the History of
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dio – Tesla vs. Marconi
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1970.
12
• Brodsky, Ira. “The History of Wireless: How Cre-
ative Minds Produced Technology for the Masses”
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rel Publishing, 1981. Chapter 7, esp pp 69, re: pub-
lished lectures of Tesla in 1893, copied by Marconi.
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Obtainable in the United States. from Pendragon
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nication Co., 1950. LCCN 51040529 /L
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9 EXTERNAL LINKS
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richiesta provvisoria di brevetto, col numero 5028
e col titolo “Miglioramenti nella telegrafia e relativi
apparati” (Great Britain and France between 1896
and 1924)
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Foundations and academics
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/ Aldwych, London.
 13

Multimedia and books • Marconi, Guglielmo: Statue north of Meridian Hill

Park in Washington, D.C. by Attilio Piccirilli
• MarconiCalling – The Life, Science and Achieve-
ments of Guglielmo Marconi, part of the Marconi Other
Collection at the University of Oxford
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• Guglielmo Marconi documentary, narrated by

Walter Cronkite
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Transatlantic “signals” and radio

• Robert (Bob) White, Guglielmo Marconi – Aerial

Assistance with a Kite. Bridging the Atlantic By
Wireless Signal – 12 December 1901. Kiting, The
Journal of the American Kitefliers Association. Vol.
23, Issue 5 – Winter 2002. November 2001
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• Marconi and “wireless telegraphy” using kites

Keys and “signals”

• Sparks Telegraph Key Review An exhaustive listing

of wireless telegraph key manufacturers including
photos of most Marconi keys
• United States Senate Inquiry into the Titanic disaster
– Testimony of Guglielmo Marconi

Priority of invention

vs Tesla

• PBS: Marconi and Tesla: Who invented radio?

• United States Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless
Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320
U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9–12 April 1943.
Decided 21 June 1943.
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dio – Tesla vs. Marconi

Personal

• Information about Marconi and his yacht Elettra

• I diari di laboratorio di Guglielmo Marconi (The di-
aries of laboratory Guglielmo Marconi.)
• Comitato Guglielmo Marconi International,
Bologna, Italy (Marconi’s voice)
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tion in Wall, NJ, InfoAge. (See also, Marconi Pe-
riod of Significance Historic Buildings.)
14 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text
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Derek Ross, Mav, Bryan Derksen, Andre Engels, Danny, DavidLevinson, Panairjdde~enwiki, Rsabbatini, Montrealais, Tedernst, Some-
one else, Renata, Shyamal, Mic, Ixfd64, GTBacchus, Delirium, Spliced, Looxix~enwiki, Ahoerstemeier, William M. Connolley, Bueller
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RayKiddy, Shizhao, Joy, Raul654, Dimadick, Riddley, Robbot, Pigsonthewing, Kizor, Securiger, Blainster, Timrollpickering, Mervyn,
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Gcanyon, Lacrimosus, Corti, D6, TheBlueWizard, Ta bu shi da yu, Imroy, Noisy, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Brutan-
nica, Psd, Xezbeth, Mani1, Martpol, MarkS, SpookyMulder, Bender235, ESkog, Pissipo, Sfahey, Kwamikagami, Hayabusa future, Tom,
Bobo192, Cymsdale, Kilclaren, Man vyi, Nk, JesseHogan, Knucmo2, Jumbuck, Danski14, Alansohn, Gary, TheParanoidOne, Anthony
Appleyard, Arcenciel, Ben davison, Jeltz, Craigy144, Leonardo Alves, Riana, AzaToth, Ksnow, Wtmitchell, Hadlock, Plainclothedman,
Wtshymanski, Mikeo, Gene Nygaard, Ghirlandajo, Richard Weil, Bastin, Smark33021, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Woohookitty,
FeanorStar7, Camw, Barrylb, Jaavaaguru, Scjessey, Gimboid13, DESiegel, Stefanomione, Palica, Emerson7, Graham87, Kbdank71, Edi-
son, Ketiltrout, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Lockley, MZMcBride, Tawker, Vegaswikian, Kazrak, Ghepeu, Sferrier, Bhadani, Matt Deres, Algebra,
FlaBot, Djrobgordon, GünniX, CaptainCanada, OrbitOne, Srleffler, OpenToppedBus, Smelendez, Gareth E. Kegg, Holmwood, Valen-
tinian, Butros, King of Hearts, Chobot, Jared Preston, Gwernol, HJKeats, YurikBot, Crotalus horridus, Sceptre, StuffOfInterest, An-
glius, Phantomsteve, RussBot, Sputnikcccp, Hack, Hede2000, Lexi Marie, SluggoOne, SpuriousQ, RadioFan2 (usurped), Chensiyuan,
Million Little Gods, Gaius Cornelius, CambridgeBayWeather, Rsrikanth05, Kimchi.sg, Shanel, NawlinWiki, Bachrach44, Voyevoda,
Tastemyhouse, Cholmes75, Dmoss, Jpbowen, Pyroclastic, PhilipC, Jbourj, Bucketsofg, Bota47, Tachs, Thomas H. White, Nick123,
Wknight94, Ms2ger, Homagetocatalonia, Hnatiw, OtherDave, Closedmouth, Jwissick, Pietdesomere, Whobot, JLaTondre, Curpsbot-
unicodify, Che829, Selkem, Meegs, Thomas Blomberg, NeilN, Huldra, Elliskev, Luk, Attilios, SmackBot, FocalPoint, Iacobus, Knowled-
geOfSelf, KocjoBot~enwiki, Discordanian, Ozone77, Frymaster, Canthusus, Carbonix, Gilliam, Hmains, Tolivero, Bluebot, Dahn, BabuB-
hatt, Liamdaly620, MalafayaBot, StevenCole, WikiFlier, Zinneke, Cassivs, Sbharris, Trekphiler, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Aleksan-
dar Šušnjar, Ww2censor, TheKMan, Athene noctua~enwiki, Whpq, Stevenmitchell, E bruton, Nakon, Dreadstar, Kismetmagic, Where,
DDima, Vina-iwbot~enwiki, SashatoBot, Aaronmack, Frade, HDarke, John, Carnby, Mike1901, J 1982, Jperrylsu, Shlomke, Henry Brad-
ford, Dicklyon, Aditreeslime, Waggers, Doczilla, Neddyseagoon, Jayzel68, Kanon6996, Citicat, Hu12, Paul Koning, Spark, Shoeofdeath,
Jamesonking, Delta x, Gil Gamesh, FairuseBot, Tawkerbot2, Chetvorno, CmdrObot, Dycedarg, Kburton@ptd.net, Drinibot, Karenjc,
Chicheley, Estnyboer, CMG, Yaris678, Cydebot, Aodhdubh, Fl, TrevorWright, DMeyering, Flowerpotman, R-41, MWaller, Studerby, Tri-
dent13, Fifo, Tawkerbot4, Codetiger, DumbBOT, Optimist on the run, Mtpaley, Omicronpersei8, CieloEstrellado, JamesAM, Thijs!bot,
Epbr123, Kayag, Kablammo, HappyInGeneral, Martin Hogbin, N5iln, Jimbo L, Count-Dracula, Oliver202, Headbomb, Missvain, Stu-
dio503, Bunzil, Mikeeg555, 00666, Eleuther, AntiVandalBot, RobotG, Kramden4700, Akradecki, Seaphoto, Sobaka, QuiteUnusual, Dawz,
SoumenRoy, Res2216firestar, JAnDbot, Harryzilber, Kaobear, Bernardmarcheterre, Robina Fox, Andonic, Greensburger, Trey314159,
Mrmdog, Juggernaut0102, Magioladitis, Connormah, VoABot II, JamesBWatson, Froid, Avicennasis, Mwalimu59, Eiyuu Kou, Loren-
zoB, Canyouhearmenow, DerHexer, Shakirashakira92, Bayboy4, Faelomx, PhantomS, MartinBot, Mmoneypenny, Arjun01, Anarchia,
R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Fconaway, Lilac Soul, RockMFR, J.delanoy, Geezenstacks, Rgoodermote, AAA!, Numbo3, SuperGirl, Jiuguang
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LeaveSleaves, Inventis, Jwy2k2, Tampasailor, Cremepuff222, Spinninghead, Wiae, Alakazam138~enwiki, Saturn star, Tennisnutt92, Enig-
maman, CoolKid1993, Falcon8765, Smileblame, Insanity Incarnate, Cbjohnny, Richc1977, FlyingLeopard2014, AHMartin, M.V.E.i.,
SieBot, Jeanettephair, Harriyott, Tresiden, Hertz1888, Boy1jhn, SE7, GrooveDog, Keilana, Niall9, MF-Warburg, Radon210, Nix D, A.
Carty, PolarBot, Mustluvkats94, Jimthing, Funnyhahaha, Antonio Lopez, Demack, ViennaUK, Techman224, Moletrouser, G.-M. Cu-
pertino, Spitfire19, Vojvodaen, Torchwoodwho, JEZZAP321, TSUBI, Dabomb87, RS1900, Faithlessthewonderboy, Loren.wilton, Mb-
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AusTerrapin, Niceguyedc, Blanchardb, OfficeBoy, Liempt, Shannon bohle, DragonBot, Excirial, Alexbot, Jusdafax, Solsticedhiver, Nucle-
arWarfare, AndyFielding, Sensai Dan, WellsSt, Nobody of Consequence, Audaciter, Thingg, Cardinalem, Pspprogo, Subash.chandran007,
Camboxer, Bletchley, Hotcrocodile, AgnosticPreachersKid, Bilsonius, 21stCenturyGreenstuff, Marconiwireless, Noctibus, Griffin3435,
Good Olfactory, Bridgetfox, Kbdankbot, Sobelone, Addbot, Proofreader77, AVand, Some jerk on the Internet, Broletto, AkhtaBot,
Ronhjones, Bender21435, CanadianLinuxUser, Cst17, Desyman44, Glane23, Favonian, FaithF, LemmeyBOT, AtheWeatherman, Zab-
maru, Lemonade100, Dr.woxford, ACM2, Tyw7, Mycatchip93, Mr.Xp, VASANTH S.N., Tide rolls, Lightbot, Darkblood1899, Ben
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Jayarathina, Capricorn42, Wperdue, Timmyshin, Davshul, Sante44, Tad Lincoln, Shojego, GrouchoBot, Patrick12211, Omnipaedista,
Shirik, RibotBOT, Yoganate79, Brutaldeluxe, Trafford09, NJam101, Cheerchicka 2012, A.amitkumar, Captain-n00dle, Aclassifier, Viet-
namvat, FrescoBot, Magnagr, Tobby72, VS6507, JuniperisCommunis, KokkaShinto, HJ Mitchell, Ripo20, Bob dole28, Froster69er1, Sea
King 27, WikiDude23, Pinethicket, I dream of horses, Brayalad, Anibar E, Plucas58, Hamtechperson, Geogene, Fat&Happy, Serols, Fu-
mitol, Jauhienij, TobeBot, Silent Billy, Mr Mulliner, Etincelles, Number579d, Oracleofottawa, Vrenator, Viktor Laszlo, Diannaa, Suffusion
of Yellow, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Dancinfoool!, Necroking1, Tanneryvillage, Whisky drinker, Axxxion, RjwilmsiBot, Altes2009, DexDor,
Meanstheatre, Grepman, Dfgsd45, Crazymarsman, Der Künstler, EmausBot, John of Reading, Michael Burlace, Immunize, Never give
in, Coolychris911, Racerx11, IncognitoErgoSum, RA0808, Dhawalvankar007, Tommy2010, Wonderation, Wikipelli, Dcirovic, K6ka,
C16sh, Hhhippo, Kkm010, PBS-AWB, Lemeza Kosugi, Fæ, MorbidEntree, Emily Jensen, Cooksmagooks, Ὁ οἶστρος, Wir9796, Frig-
otoni, Tolly4bolly, Akasseb, Paymanpayman, Ludovica1, KAWiggins, Donner60, Chewings72, Historydocumentation, ChuispastonBot,
Forever Dusk, TYelliot, DASHBotAV, Xonqnopp, ClueBot NG, Rich Smith, Mrmaryjanelova, Jonnycomp, LogX, Engradio, Movses-bot,
AveVeritas, Marconi1901, Snotbot, Frietjes, ScottSteiner, YellowFratello, Widr, Gizgalasi, Oddbodz, Helpful Pixie Bot, YborCityJohn,
Mhreid, Juro2351, PearlSt82, MusikAnimal, Josvebot, Mark Arsten, Helevorn, Maupertius, Majorbolz, JSWHU, Rococo1700, JZCL,
Wrath X, Jaqeli, Singhjeevan, Bagustris, Andrewgprout, Cloptonson, Cyberbot II, ChrisGualtieri, SD5bot, Drow69, JYBot, Jgdc47B,
10.2 Images 15

Aditya Mahar, Horation12, Mogism, Markdhewitt, Periglio, Jeremy507, Aries no Mur, Lugia2453, VIAFbot, Telfordbuck, Melanie0522,
Da6dfri, Alyssagpenick, SilverHawk156, LaurentianShield, Cornishfern, Ghinozzi-nissim, NariceA, Owain Knight, Kylo Ren, Science-
dude100, Ryanspleb, KnwonStealth, Bobby Martnen, Jonarnold1985, InfoDataMonger, Batmanlover9000, 115ash, Esplanade1, Anatelo,
Ndstead, Poopscoop1232, Zazauly, KasparBot, JeremiahY, Dilidor, 5millionangryhornets, Nosy thegazelle, GSS-1987, DatGuy, Allthe-
foxes, NgYShung, I7624240, Erickzr, Marco Chemello (Museoscienza), GreenC bot, Colour Voice 1000, HerrBürgi, Sdrockdahiya,
Shazyam123, CoolCoder and Anonymous: 1031

10.2 Images
• File:Alfred_Norton_Goldsmith_&_Guglielmo_Marconi_1922.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/
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e tecnologia L. da Vinci
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Wellcome_V0003849.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Published in Vanity Fair, 2 March 1905.

Original artist: Leslie Ward

• File:Guglielmo_Marconi_1901_wireless_signal.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Guglielmo_
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girl and i didn't like it</a>
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ing back over thirty years of radio”, Radio Broadcast magazine, Doubleday, Page, and Co., New York, Vol. 10, No. 1, November 1926, p.
31</a> on http://www.americanradiohistory.com Original artist: Guglielmo Marconi
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10.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
 Wireless telegraphy

A radio operator receiving a wireless telegraphy message using a

radio wave based Marconi magnetic detector c.1903
A US Army Signal Corps radio operator in 1943 in New Guinea
transmitting by radiotelegraphy

the more modern term "radiotelegraphy". The trans-

mission of speech (radiotelephony) began to displace
wireless telegraphy by the 1920s for many applications,
making possible radio broadcasting. Wireless telegra-
phy continued to be used for private point-to-point busi-
ness, governmental, and military communication, such as
telegrams and diplomatic communications, and evolved
into radioteletype networks. Continuous wave (CW) ra-
diotelegraphy is regulated by the International Telecom-
munication Union (ITU) as emission type A1A.
Today, due to more modern text transmission methods,
Morse code radiotelegraphy for commercial use has be-
Guglielmo Marconi, the father of wireless telegraphy, in 1901, come obsolete. On shipboard the computer and satellite
with one of his first wireless transmitters (right) and receivers linked GMDSS system has largely replaced Morse as a
(left) means of communication. Telegraphy is taught on a very
limited basis by the military.[4] A CW coastal station,
Wireless telegraphy is the transmission of electric teleg- KSM, still exists in California, run primarily as a museum
raphy signals without wires (wirelessly). It is now used as by volunteers,[5] and occasional contacts with ships are
a historical term for early radio telegraphy systems which made. Radio beacons, particularly in the aviation service,
communicated with radio waves, although when the term but also as “placeholders” for commercial ship-to-shore
originated in the late 19th century it was also used for systems, also transmit Morse but at very slow speeds.
a variety of other experimental techniques for communi- The US Federal Communications Commission does still
cating telegraphically without wires, such as photoelectric issue a lifetime commercial Radiotelegraph Operator Li-
and induction telegraphy.[1][2] cense. This requires passing a simple written test on
Wireless telegraphy came to mean Morse code trans- regulations, a more complex written exam on technol-
mitted by radio waves (electromagnetic waves), initially ogy, and demonstrating Morse reception at 20 words per
called "Hertzian waves", discovered by Heinrich Hertz in minute plain language and 16 wpm code groups. (Credit
1886. The first practical wireless telegraphy transmitters is given for amateur extra class licenses earned under the
and receivers were developed by Guglielmo Marconi be- old 20 wpm requirement.)[6] Wireless telegraphy is still
ginning in 1895. By 1910 communication by Hertzian used widely today by amateur radio hobbyists where it
waves was universally referred to as "radio",[3] and the is commonly referred to as radio telegraphy, continuous
term wireless telegraphy has been largely replaced by wave, or just CW. However its knowledge is not required

1
2 1 HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT

to obtain any class of amateur license. on-board telegraph service. During the Great Blizzard
of 1888, this system was used to send and receive wire-
less messages from trains buried in snowdrifts. The dis-
1 History of development abled trains were able to maintain communications via
their Edison induction wireless telegraph systems,[9] per-
haps the first successful use of wireless telegraphy to send
Further information: History of telecommunication
distress calls.
The most successful creator of an electromagnetic induc-
tion telegraph system was William Preece in the United
1.1 Ground and water conduction Kingdom. Beginning with tests across the Bristol Chan-
nel in 1892, Preece was able to telegraph across gaps of
A number of wireless electrical signaling schemes includ- about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles). However, his induction
ing electric currents through water and the ground were system required extensive lengths of antenna wires, many
investigated for telegraphy before practical radio systems kilometers long, at both the sending and receiving ends.
became available. The length of those sending and receiving wires needed
The original telegraph used two wires between two sta- to be about the same length as the width of the water or
tions to form a complete electrical circuit or “loop.” In land to be spanned. For example, for Preece’s station to
1837, however, Carl August von Steinheil of Munich, span the English Channel from Dover, England, to the
Germany found that by connecting one leg of the appara- coast of France would require sending and receiving wires
tus at each station to metal plates buried in the ground, of about 30 miles (48 kilometres) along the two coasts.
he could eliminate one wire and use a single wire for These facts made the system impractical on ships, boats,
telegraphic communication. This led to speculation that and ordinary islands, which are much smaller than Great
it might be possible to eliminate both wires and there- Britain or Greenland. In addition, the relatively short dis-
fore transmit telegraph signals through the ground with- tances that a practical Preece system could span meant
out any wires connecting the stations. Other attempts that it had few advantages over underwater telegraph ca-
were made to send the electric current through bodies bles.
of water, in order to span rivers, for example. Promi-
nent experimenters along these lines included Samuel F.
B. Morse in the United States and James Bowman Lind- 1.4 Electromagnetic wave (radio)
say in Great Britain, who in August 1854, was able to
demonstrate transmission across a mill dam at a distance Main article: Invention of radio
of 500 yards (457 metres).[7]
Telegraphic communication using earth conductivity was Wireless telegraphy dates as far back as Faraday in the
eventually found to be limited to impractically short dis- early 19th century, when it was discovered that radio
tances, as was communication conducted through water, waves could be used to send telegraph messages.
or between trenches during World War I. In the mid-1860s, James Clerk Maxwell predicted the ex-
istence of electromagnetic waves and showed that their
propagation speed is identical to that of light. After that,
1.2 Optical in reality, it required very little to demonstrate by exper-
iment the existence of such waves.
The first wireless voice telecommunication device, in-
vented in 1880, was the photophone, which carried voice
communications optically on a lightbeam transmitted to 1.4.1 Calzecchi-Onesti
a distant receiver.
By 1884, Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti in Fermo, Italy,
developed a primitive device that responded to radio
1.3 Electrostatic and electromagnetic
waves.[10] It consisted of a tube filled with iron filings,
Both electrostatic and electromagnetic induction were called a "coherer". This kind of device would later be de-
used to develop wireless telegraph systems that saw veloped to become the first practical radio detector. Writ-
limited commercial application. In the United States, ing in the Rendiconti of the Lombardy Institution[11] re-
Thomas Edison, in the mid-1880s, patented an electro- garding the discovery of the coherer, directs attention to
magnetic induction system he called “grasshopper teleg- his experiments made in 1884, before Branly had worked
raphy”, which allowed telegraphic signals to jump the on the subject. He further points out the part played by
short distance between a running train and telegraph Augusto Righi in wireless telegraphy.[12]
wires running parallel to the tracks.[8] This system was Calzecchi found that the conductivity of metal powder
successful technically but not economically, as there varied depending on the incidence of radio waves.[13]
turned out to be little interest by train travelers in an However, Calzecchi’s experiments were not widely
1.4 Electromagnetic wave (radio) 3

reported.[13] He would later write Le mie esperienze e so-called Eiess spirals or Knochenhauer spirals. Hertz
quelle di Edoardo Branly: Sulla conduttività elettrica delle had been surprised to find that it was not necessary to
limature metalliche[14] (tr., “My experiences and those of discharge large batteries through one of these spirals in
Edward Branly: The electrical conductivity of metal fil- order to obtain sparks in the other; small Leyden jars am-
ings”). ply sufficed for this purpose, and even the discharge of a
small induction coil would do, provided it had to spring
across a spark gap. In altering the conditions, Hertz came
1.4.2 Heinrich Hertz upon the phenomenon of side-sparks, which formed the
starting point of his research. At first Hertz thought the
Between 1886 and 1888, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz[15] electrical disturbances would be too turbulent and irreg-
studied Maxwell’s theory and validated it through ular to be of any further use, but when he had discovered
experiment.[16] He demonstrated the transmission and the existence of a neutral point in the middle of a side-
reception of the electromagnetic waves predicted by conductor – and therefore discovered a clear and orderly
Maxwell, and he intentionally transmitted and received phenomenon – he felt convinced that the problem of the
radio. Hertz changed the frequency of his radiated waves Berlin Academy was now capable of solution. His am-
by altering the inductance or capacity of his radiating bition at the time did not go further than this. Hertz’s
conductor or antenna, and reflected and focused the elec- conviction was naturally strengthened by finding that the
tromagnetic waves, thus demonstrating the correctness of oscillations were regular.[18]
Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory of light.[17] Famously,
he saw no practical use for his discovery.
In his Ultra high frequency (UHF) experiments, Hertz
transmitted and received radio waves over short dis-
tances and showed that the properties of radio waves were
consistent with Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory. He
demonstrated that radio radiation had all the properties
of waves (now called electromagnetic radiation), and dis-
covered that the electromagnetic equations could be re-
formulated into a partial differential equation called the
wave equation.
He demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic radia-
tion (radio waves) in a series of experiments in Germany
during the 1880s. Hertz showed methods of producing,
detecting, and measuring these waves. It had been known
1887 experimental setup of Hertz’s apparatus.
for many years – from the predictions of Kelvin and Von
Helmholtz, and confirmed by the experiments of Fedder-
ssen – that in many cases an electric discharge is of an os-
cillatory character. In the years 1887-8, Lodge, Fitzger-
Hertz’s setup for a source and detector of radio waves
ald, and others were investigating the nature of these os- (then called Hertzian waves[19] in his honor) was the first
cillations, and the manner in which they are guided by
intentional and unequivocal transmission and reception of
conducting wires, when Hertz conceived the idea of in- radio waves through free space.[20] The first of the papers
vestigating the disturbances caused by such oscillatory
published ("On Very Rapid Electric Oscillations") gives,
discharges in the surrounding space. generally in the actual order of time, the course of the in-
Hertz used the damped oscillating currents in a dipole vestigation as far as it was carried out up to the end of the
antenna, triggered by a high-voltage electrical capacitive year 1886 and the beginning of 1887.[18]
spark discharge, as his source of radio waves. His detec- Hertz, however, did not devise a system for actual gen-
tor in some experiments was another dipole antenna con- eral use nor describe the application of the technology,
nected to a narrow spark gap, thereby creating a spark-gap and he seemed uninterested in the practical importance
transmitter. A small spark in this gap signified detection of his experiments. He stated that “It’s of no use what-
of the radio waves. When he added cylindrical reflec- soever ... this is just an experiment that proves Maestro
tors behind his dipole antennas, Hertz could detect radio Maxwell was right — we just have these mysterious elec-
waves about 20 metres (22 yards) from the transmitter tromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye.
in his laboratory at the Karlsruhe Technical High School. But they are there.”[21] Asked about the ramifications of
He did not try to transmit further because his aim was his discoveries, Hertz replied, “Nothing, I guess.” Hertz
proving electromagnetic theory, not developing wireless also stated, “I do not think that the wireless waves I have
communication. discovered will have any practical application”.[21] Hertz
In the collection of physical instruments in Karlsruhe, died in 1894, so the art of radio was left to others to im-
Hertz had found and used for lecture purposes a pair of plement into a practical form.
4 1
1.4.3 Branly
In 1890, Édouard Branly[22][23][24] demonstrated what
he later called the “radio-conductor,”[25] which Lodge in
1893 named the coherer, the first sensitive device for de-
tecting radio waves.[26] Shortly after the experiments of
Hertz, Dr. Branly discovered that loose metal filings,
which in a normal state have a high electrical resistance,
lose this resistance in the presence of electric oscilla-
tions and become conductors of electricity. This Branly
showed by placing metal filings in a glass box or tube and
making them part of an ordinary electric circuit. Ac-
cording to the common explanation, when electric waves
are set up in the neighborhood of this circuit, electro- Upon examination of the conditions necessary to produce
motive forces are generated in it which appear to make the phenomena, Branly found that:[31]
the filings move closer together, that is, to cohere, and
thus their electrical resistance decreases accordingly, Sir • The circuit need not be closed to produce the result.
Oliver Lodge termed this piece of apparatus a coherer.[27]
Hence the receiving instrument, which may be a telegraph
relay, that normally would not indicate any sign of current
from the small battery, can be operated when electric os-
cillations are set up.[28] Prof. Branly further found that
when the filings had once cohered, they retained their low
resistance until shaken apart, for instance, by tapping on
the tube.[29]
In "On the Changes in Resistance of Bodies under Dif-
ferent Electrical Conditions", he described how the elec-
trical circuit was made by means of two narrow strips of
copper parallel to the short sides of the rectangular plate,
and forming good contact with it by means of screws.
When the two copper strips were raised, the plate was
cut out of the circuit. He also used as conductors fine
metallic filings,[30] which he sometimes mixed with in-
sulating liquids. The filings were placed in a tube of
glass or ebonite and were held between two metal plates.
When the electrical circuit, consisting of a Daniell cell,
a galvanometer of high resistance, and the metallic con-
ductor, consisting of the ebonite plate, and the sheet of
copper, or of the tube containing the filings, was com-
pleted, only a very small current flowed; but there was a
sudden diminution of the resistance, which was proved by
a large deviation of the galvanometer needle when one or
more electric discharges were produced in the neighbour-
hood of the circuit. In order to produce these discharges,
a small Wimshurst influence machine was used, with or
without a condenser, or a Ruhmkorff coil. The action
of the electrical discharge diminished as the distance in-
creases; but Branley observed it easily, and without tak-
ing any special precautions, at a distance of several yards.
By using a Wheatstone bridge, he observed this action
at a distance of 20 yards, although the machine produc-
ing the sparks was working in a room separated from the
galvanometer and the bridge by three large apartments,
and the noise of the sparks was not audible. The changes
of resistance were considerable with the conductors de-
scribed. They varied, for instance, from several millions
of ohms to 2000, or even to 100, from 150,000 to 500
ohms, from 50 to 35, and so on. The diminution of resis-
HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
tance was not momentary, and sometimes it was found to
remain for 24 hours. Another method of making the test
was by connecting the electrodes of a capillary electrom-
eter to the two poles of a Daniell cell with a sulphate of
cadmium solution. The displacement of mercury which
took place when the cell was short-circuited, only took
place very slowly when an ebonite plate, covered with a
sheet of copper of high resistance, was inserted between
one of the poles of the cell, and the corresponding elec-
trode of the electrometer; but when sparks were produced
by a machine, the mercury was rapidly thrown into the
capillary tube owing to the sudden diminution in the re-
sistance of the plate.[31]
• The passage of an induced current in the body pro-
duces a similar effect to that of a spark at a distance.
• An induction coil with two equal lengths of wire was
used, a current is sent through the primary while
the secondary forms part of a circuit containing the
tube with filings and a galvanometer.[32] The two in-
duced currents caused the resistance of the filings to
vary.[33]
• When working with continuous currents, the pas-
sage of a strong current lowers the resistance of the
body for feeble currents.[34]
Summing up, he stated that in all these tests, the use of
ebonite plates covered with copper or mixtures of copper
and tin was less satisfactory than the use of filings; with
the plates, he was unable to obtain the initial resistance
of the body after the action of the spark or of the current,
while with the tubes and filings, the resistance could be
brought back to its normal value by striking a few sharp
blows on the support of the tube.[31]
The disadvantages of the coherer are its erratic sensitivity,
which may be much decreased by local discharges, such
as the spark discharges of the transmitter, and its re-
sponse to atmospheric disturbances or lightning dis-
charges. Consequently, the coherer cannot be relied upon
as a calling-up apparatus. With strong impulses of energy
in the receiver, it enables one to print the received mes-
sage, but for long-distance work, it is not as sensitive as
some other detectors that were developed in the inter-war
period before the roaring Twenties.[35]
1.4.4 Landell de Moura
Roberto Landell de Moura, a Brazilian priest and sci-
entist, went to Rome in 1878 and studied at the South
American College[36] and Pontifical Gregorian Univer-
sity, where he studied physics and chemistry. He com-
pleted his clerical training in Rome, graduating in theol-
ogy, and was ordained priest in 1886. In Rome, he started
1.4 Electromagnetic wave (radio) 5

studying physics and electricity. When he returned to 1.4.6 Marconi

Brazil, he conducted experiments in wireless in Campinas
and São Paulo (1892–1893).[37][38] In the "Porto Jornal da
Manha", he is said to have conducted between 1890 and
1894 wireless transmissions in telegraphy and telephony
over distances of up to 8 kilometres (5.0 mi).

1.4.5 Tesla

During his visit to the Paris Exposition Universelle

in 1889 the Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla
learned of Hertz’s experiments with electromagnetic
waves using coils and spark gaps and proceeded to du-
plicate those experiments.[39][40] Tesla came to the con-
clusion that Maxwell and Hertz were wrong in their find-
ings that airborne electromagnetic waves (radio waves)
were being transmitted and instead attributed it to what
he called “electrostatic thrusts”,[41] with the real signals
being conducted by Earth currents.[42]
By 1891 he had developed various alternator appara-
tus that produced 15,000 cycles per second and devel-
oped his own very large air gapped coil, known now as
a Tesla coil.[43][44] Tesla’s primary interest in wireless
phenomenon was as a power distribution system.[45] By
1892 he was delivering lectures on high potential/high
frequency alternate currents”[46] and went on to demon-
strate “wireless lighting”[41] in 1893[47] including light-
ing Geissler tubes wirelessly. Tesla proposed this wireless
technology could not only deliver power but could also be
used for the telecommunication of information. In 1894,
Thomas Commerford Martin published "The Inventions,
Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla", detailing the Marconi Monument on the Isle of Wight, England
work of Tesla in the previous years.
Tesla (like many scientists of that time[48] ) thought, even By 1897, Guglielmo Marconi conducted a series of
if radio waves existed, they would probably only travel in demonstrations with a radio system for signalling for
straight lines making them useless for long range trans- communications over long distances. Marconi is said to
mission. His laboratory work and later large scale ex- have read, while on vacation in 1894, about the exper-
periments at Colorado Springs led him to the conclu- iments that Hertz did in the 1880s. Marconi also read
sion that a worldwide wireless system would have to parts of Thomas Commerford Martin’s book about the
use the Earth itself (via injecting very large amounts of inventions of Nikola Tesla and Scientific American.[54] It
electric current into the ground) as the means to con- was at this time that Marconi began to understand that ra-
duct the signal to overcome this limitation.[49] He pro- dio waves could be used for wireless communications.[55]
ceed to develop an earth-conductive (wireless) system Marconi’s early apparatus was a development of Hertz’s
similar to the ground conduction systems proposed ear- laboratory apparatus into a system designed for commu-
lier which he thought could achieve his goal of wire- nications purposes. At first, Marconi used a transmitter
less power transmission as well as communication.[50][51] to ring a bell in a receiver in his attic laboratory. He then
By 1900 Tesla had received financial backing of banker moved his experiments out-of-doors on the family estate
J. P. Morgan and other investors to try to implement near Bologna, Italy, to communicate farther. He replaced
his promised ideas of worldwide wireless telecommu- Hertz’s vertical dipole with a vertical wire topped by a
nication in his very large Wardenclyffe Tower wire- metal sheet, with an opposing terminal connected to the
less transmission project.[52] The project ran into many ground. On the receiver side, Marconi replaced the spark
problems including Guglielmo Marconi starting regular gap with a metal powder coherer, a detector developed
transatlantic transmission in 1903 with far less expensive by Edouard Branly and other experimenters. Marconi
equipment.[53] Financial backing dried up and Tesla had transmitted radio signals for about a mile at the end of
abandoned the project by 1906. 1895.[56]
6 1
By 1896, Marconi introduced to the public a device in
London and he filed a patent on his earliest system with
the British Patent Office on June 2, 1896. In 1897, Mar-
coni was awarded a patent for radio with British patent
No. 12,039,[57] Improvements in Transmitting Electri-
cal Impulses and Signals and in Apparatus There-for.
The complete specification was filed March 2, 1897.
This was Marconi’s initial patent for the radio, though
it used various earlier techniques of various other ex-
perimenters (primarily Tesla) and resembled the instru-
ment demonstrated by others (including Popov). During
this time, spark-gap wireless telegraphy was widely re-
searched. In July 1896, Marconi got his invention and
new method of telegraphy to the attention of Preece, then
engineer-in-chief to the British Government Telegraph
Service, who had for the previous twelve years inter-
ested himself in the development of wireless telegraphy
by the inductive-conductive method. On June 4, 1897,
Preece delivered his lecture, “Signalling through Space
without Wires”.[58][59] Preece devoted considerable time
to exhibiting and explaining the Marconi apparatus at
the Royal Institution in London, stating that Marconi
had invented a new relay which had high sensitivity and
delicacy.[60]
In 1896, Jagdish Chandra Bose went to London on a lec-
ture tour and met Marconi, who was conducting wireless
experiments for the British post office. In 1897, Marconi
founded the Marconi Company Ltd.. Also in 1897, Mar-
coni established the radio station at Niton, Isle of Wight,
England. Marconi’s wireless telegraphy was inspected
by the Post Office telegraph authorities; they made a se-
ries of experiments with Marconi’s system in the Bristol
Channel. In October 1897, wireless signals were sent
from Salisbury Plain to Bath, a distance of 34 miles.[61]
Marconi’s reputation is largely based on the formulation
of Marconi’s law (1897), and other accomplishments in
radio communications and commercializing a practical
system.
Muirhead Morse inker. Apparatus similar to that used
by Marconi in 1897
HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
Post Office Engineers inspect Marconi's equipment on
Flat Holm, May 1897
Other experimental stations were established at
Lavernock Point, near Penarth; on Flat Holm, off
Cardiff in the Bristol Channel, and at Brean Down, a
promontory on the Somerset side. Signals were obtained
between the first and last-named points, a distance of
approximately eight miles.[62] The receiving instrument
used was a Morse inkwriter[63][64] of the Post Office
pattern.[65][66]
In a famous 1910 murder case, the culprit (Dr. Hawley
Harvey Crippen) was apprehended with the assistance of
a transatlantic message sent by wireless telegraphy.
1.5 Period 1898–1902
The term wireless telegraphy came into widespread use
around the turn of the 19th century, when spark-gap
transmitters and primitive receivers made it practical to
send telegraph messages over great distances, enabling
transcontinental and ship-to-shore signalling. Before that
time, wireless telegraphy was an obscure experimen-
tal term that applied collectively to an assortment of
sometimes unrelated signalling schemes. In 1898, Tesla
demonstrated a radio-controlled boat in Madison Square
Garden that allowed secure communication[67][68] be-
tween transmitter and receiver.[69]
In 1899, Landell de Moura transmitted the human voice
from the College of the Sisters of St. Joseph,[70] high in
the district of Santana, Brazil, north of the capital city.
He also publicly demonstrated his invention on June 3,
1900. As the Jornal do Commercio[71] reported (June 10,
1900), “Last Sunday, on top of Santana in São Paulo,
Padre Landell de Moura has particular experience with
various devices of his invention. In order to demonstrate
some laws which he discovered in studying the propa-
gation of sound, the light and electricity through space,
which were crowned with brilliant success.” The exper-
iments were performed in the presence of the English
Vice Consul S. Paul, Percy Parmenter, Charles Lupton,
and other persons of high social position. Upon observ-
ing the experiments, Rodriguez Botet, giving news of the
trials, said he was not far from the moment of consecrat-
ing Landell de Moura as an author of radio discoveries.
Landell de Moura later received several patents on wire-
less technology.[72][73] He would later obtain U.S. Patent
775,337 for a wireless telephone.
1.6 Period after 1902
In 1898, Marconi opened a radio factory in Hall Street,
Chelmsford, England, employing around 50 people. In
1899, Marconi announced his invention of the “iron-
mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector” in a pa-
per presented at the Royal Society, London. In May,
1898, communication was established for Lloyd’s of Lon-
don between Ballycastle and the lighthouse on Rathlin
Island in the North of Ireland.[74] In July, 1898, the
Marconi telegraph was employed to report the results of
yacht races at the Kingston Regatta for the Dublin Express
newspaper. One set of instruments was set up in a room
at Kingstown, and another on board a steamer, the Flying
Huntress. The aerial conductor on shore was a strip of
wire netting attached to a mast 40 feet high. Several hun-
dred messages were sent and correctly received during the
progress of the races.[75]
At this time King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, had
the misfortune to injure his knee and was confined on
board the royal yacht Osborne in Cowes Bay.[76] Marconi
fitted up his apparatus on board the royal yacht by request,
and also at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, and kept up
wireless communication for three weeks between these
stations.[77] The distances covered were small; but as the
yacht moved about, on some occasions high hills were
interposed, so that the aerial wires were overtopped by
hundreds of feet, yet this was no obstacle to communica-
tion. These demonstrations led the Corporation of Trin-
ity House to afford an opportunity for testing the system
in practice between the South Foreland Lighthouse, near
Dover, and the East Goodwin Lightship, on the Goodwin
Sands. This installation was set in operation on Decem-
ber 24, 1898, and proved to be of value. It was shown that
when once the apparatus was set up, it could be worked
by ordinary seamen with very little training.
At the end of 1898 electric wave telegraphy established by
Marconi had demonstrated its utility, especially for com-
munication between ship and ship and ship and shore.[78]
The Haven Hotel station[79] and Wireless Telegraph Mast
was where much of Marconi’s research work on wireless
telegraphy was carried out after 1898.[80] In 1899, W. H.
Preece delivered a lecture on “Aetheric Telegraphy”, stat-
ing that the experimental stage in wireless telegraphy had
been passed in 1894 and inventors were then entering the
commercial stage.[81] Preece, continuing in the lecture,
detailed the work of Marconi and other British inven-
tors. The Marconi Company was renamed the Wireless
Telegraph Trading Signal Company in 1900. In 1899 he
transmitted messages across the English Channel. The
British Navy experiments with Marconi’s system in the
Anglo-Boer War from 1899-1902 were the first use of
operational wireless telegraphy in the field.[82]
In 1901, Marconi claimed to have received daytime
transatlantic radio frequency signals at a wavelength of
366 metres (820 kHz).[84][85][86] Marconi established a
wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Ross-
lare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901 to act as a link be-
tween Poldhu in Cornwall and Clifden in Co. Galway.
7
Marconi watching associates raise kite antenna at St. John’s, De-
cember 1901[83]
His announcement on 12 December 1901 stated that sig-
nals transmitted by the company’s new high-power sta-
tion at Poldhu, Cornwall were received at Signal Hill in
St John’s, Newfoundland (now part of Canada), using a
152.4-metre (500 ft) kite-supported antenna for recep-
tion. The message received was the Morse letter 'S' - three
dots. This has recently been contested, however, based on
theoretical work as well as a reenactment of the experi-
ment; it is possible that Marconi heard only random at-
mospheric noise, which was mistaken for a signal, or that
he heard a shortwave harmonic of the signal.[85][86] The
distance between the two points was about 3,500 kilome-
tres (2,200 mi).[87]
Marconi transmitted from England to Canada and the
United States.[88] In 1902, a Marconi station was estab-
lished in the village of Crookhaven, County Cork, Ireland
to provide marine radio communications to ships arriving
from the Americas. A ship’s master could contact ship-
ping line agents ashore to enquire which port was to re-
ceive their cargo without the need to come ashore at what
was the first port of landfall.[89] Ireland was also, due to
its western location, to play a key role in early efforts to
send trans-Atlantic messages. Marconi transmitted from
his station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada across the
Atlantic, and on 18 January 1903 a Marconi station[90]
sent a message of greetings from Theodore Roosevelt, the
President of the United States, to the King of the United
Kingdom, marking the first transatlantic radio transmis-
sion originating in the United States.
1.6 Period after 1902
In the early 20th century Jozef Murgas, the “Radio
Priest”,[91] conducted a great deal of revolutionary work
in wireless telegraphy. He established a laboratory in
Wilkes-Barre, in which he primarily investigated ra-
diotelegraphy. His article in the Tovaryšstvo magazine of
1900 shows that his radiotelegraphy studies had achieved
a high level. In 1904, he received his first two US patents:
the Apparatus for wireless telegraphy and The way of
transmitted messages by wireless telegraphy. Another 11
patents followed between 1907 and 1911. Based on the
first two patents, he created the Universal Ether Telegraph
Co., which organized a public test of Murgaš's transmit-
8 4 REFERENCES AND NOTES

ting and receiving facilities in September 1905. The test 3 See also
was successful, but a storm destroyed the antenna masts
three months later, which led to the dissolution of the • AT&T Corporation originally American Telephone
company. and Telegraph Company
In 1906, Lee De Forest brought out a vacuum tube de-
• Electrical telegraph
vice which he called the "audion". This was a very sensi-
tive detector of electric oscillations. It consisted of three • Imperial Wireless Chain
electrodes in a vacuum tube; one of the electrodes could
be heated to incandescence with the result that it emitted
electrons (the Edison effect).
4 References and notes
American physicist Theodore Case, while studying at
Yale University, became interested in using modulated
General
light as a means to transmit and record speech. In 1914,
he opened the Case Research Lab to experiment with the
photo-electric properties of various materials, leading to • American Institute of Electrical Engineers. (1908).
the development of the Thallofide (short for thallium oxy- "Wireless Telephony — By R. A. Fessenden (Illus-
sulfide), a light-sensitive vacuum tube. The Thallofide trated.)", Transactions of the American Institute of
tube was originally used by the United States Navy in Electrical Engineers. New York: American Insti-
a top secret ship-to-ship infrared signaling system devel- tute of Electrical Engineers.
oped at Case’s lab with his assistant Earl Sponable. Case
and Sponable’s system was first tested off the shores of Citations
New Jersey in 1917, and attending the test was Thomas
Edison, contracted by the Navy to evaluate new technolo- [1] Maver, William Jr. (1903). American Telegraphy and En-
gies. The test was a success, and the U.S. Navy used the cyclopedia of the Telegraph: Systems, Apparatus, Opera-
system during and after World War I. This technology, tion. New York: Maver Publishing Co. p. 333.
in conjunction with de Forest’s Audion, was adapted af-
ter the war, as a means to record and play back optical [2] Steuart, William Mott; et al. (1906). Special Reports:
sound in motion pictures.[92] Another inventor, Charles Telephones and Telegraphs 1902. Washington D.C.: U.S.
Bureau of the Census. pp. 118–119.
A. Hoxie, invented a similar device, the Pallophotophone,
that also became a speech recorder, used by General Elec- [3] earlyradiohistory.us, UNITED STATES EARLY RADIO
tric to record President Calvin Coolidge in 1921 for radio HISTORY THOMAS H. WHITE, s e c t i o n 22, Word
broadcasts. Origins-Radio
When the United States entered World War I, private ra- [4] Morse code training moving to Goodfellow
diotelegraphy stations were prohibited, which put an end
to several pioneers’ work in this field. By the 1920s, there [5] Coast Station KSM
was a worldwide network of commercial and government
[6] TITLE 47—Telecommunication CHAPTER I—
radiotelegraphic stations, plus extensive use of radioteleg-
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
raphy by ships for both commercial purposes and passen- SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL PART 13—
ger messages. The ultimate implementation of wireless COMMERCIAL RADIO OPERATORS
telegraphy was telex, using radio signals, which was de-
veloped in the 1930s and was for many years the only [7] Fahie, J. J., A History of Wireless Telegraphy, 1838-1899,
reliable form of communication between many distant 1899, p. 29.
countries. The most advanced standard, CCITT R.44, au-
[8] (U.S. Patent 465,971, Means for Transmitting Signals
tomated both routing and encoding of messages by short
Electrically, US 465971 A, 1891
wave transmissions. (See telegraphy for more informa-
tion). [9] “Defied the storm’s worst-communication always kept up
by 'train telegraphy,'" New York Times, March 17, 1888,
page 8. Proquest Historical Newspapers (subscription).
Retrieved February 6, 2008.
2 Gallery [10] Tapan K. Sarkar, History of wireless. Page 262.

[11] Rendiconti, xxxix., p. 14.

• German troops erecting a wireless field telegraph
station during World War I [12] Nature, Volume 75, edited by Sir Norman Lockyer. Page
158.

• German officers and troops manning a wireless field [13] Bulletin By Société française des électriciens, Société inter-
telegraph station during World War I nationale des électriciens. Pg 19-20

[14] Rendicontidel R. Ist. Lomb, di te, e lett., Series II, Vol.
XLIV. 1911.
[15] Hertz, H. (1893). Electric waves: Being researches on the
propagation of electric action with finite velocity through
space. Dover Publications.
[16] Massie, W. W., & Underhill, C. R. (1911). Wireless
telegraphy and telephony popularly explained. New York:
D. Van Nostrand.
[17] Transactions, Volume 27, Part 1 By American Institute of
Electrical Engineers.
[18] Electric waves; being research on the propagation of elec-
tric action with finite velocity through space by Heinrich
Rudolph Hertz, Daniel Evan Jones 1 Review Macmillan
and co., 1893. Pages1 - 5.
[19] "Hertzian Waves (1901)". Retrieved 2008-08-11.
[20] “Hertz wave”. Tfcbooks.com. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
[21] Eugenii Katz, "Heinrich Rudolf Hertz". Biographies of Fa-
mous Electrochemists and Physicists Contributed to Under-
standing of Electricity, Biosensors & Bioelectronics.
[22] Variations of Conductivity under Electrical Influences, By
Edouard Branly. Minutes of proceedings of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, Volume 103 By Institution of Civil En-
gineers (Great Britain) Page 481 (Contained in, Comptes
rendus de I'Acade'mie des Sciences, Paris, vol. cii., 1890,
p. 78.)
[23] On the Changes in Resistance of Bodies under Different
Electrical Conditions. By E. Branly. Minutes of proceed-
ings, Volume 104 By Institution of Civil Engineers (Great
Britain). 1891. Page 416 (Contained in, Comptes Rendus
de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, 1891, vol. exit., p. 90.)
[24] Experiments on the conductivity of insulating bodies, By
M. Edouard Branly, M.D. Philosophical magazine. Tay-
lor & Francis., 1892. Page 530 (Contained in, Comples
Rendus de l' Academic des Sciences, 24 November 1890
and 12 January 1891, also, Bulletin de la Societi interna-
tionals d'electriciens, no. 78, May 1891)
[25] Increase of Resistance of Radio-conductors. E. Branly.
(Comptes Rendus, 130. pp. 1068-1071, April 17, 1900.)
[26] “Wireless Telegraphy”. Modern Engineering Practice.
VII. American School of Correspondence. 1903. p. 10.
[27] although Dr. Branly himself termed it a radio-conductor.
[28] Maver’s wireless telegraphy: theory and practice By
William Maver (jr.)
[29] United States Naval Institute (1902). Proceedings: Vol-
ume 28, Part 2. Page 443.
[30] Branly’s filings used, were iron, aluminium, antimony,
cadmium, bismuth, &c
[31] Minutes of proceedings, Volume 104 By Institution of
Civil Engineers (Great Britain)
9
[32] Before closing the circuit a test is made to see that the
current at make and break gives the same deviation on the
galvanometer. The filings are then placed in the secondary
circuit, and the primary opened and closed at regular in-
tervals
[33] These deviations were obtained with an induction coil
without core. The results obtained with a core were al-
most identical.
[34] A circuit was used consisting of a battery, the body to be
tested, and a galvanometer; the electromotive force of the
battery used was 1 volt at first, then 100 volts, and then
again 1 volt.
[35] Text-book on wireless telegraphy, Volume 1 By Rupert
Stanley. Pg 299.
[36] Collegio Pio-Latino-Americano Pontificio
[37] Dias, A., & Raposo, L. (1907). The Brazil of to-day: A
book of commercial, political and geographical informa-
tion on Brazil; impressions of voyage, descriptive and pic-
turesque data about the principal cities, prominent men
and leading events of our days, with illustrations and statis-
tics. Nivelles: Lanneau & Despret, printers.
[38] Arthur Dias, in his book The Brazil of To-day, refers to
Landell de Moura, describing, among other things, the
following:
[...] as soon as they arrived in São Paulo
in 1893, began making preliminary experi-
ments in order to achieve its purpose of con-
veying the voice of humans to a distance of
8, 10 or 12 miles, without wires.
[39] James O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla,
page 86
[40] Marc Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
- page 1721
[41] W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age,
page 127
[42] Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master
of Lightning, page 66
[43] "Nikola Tesla". ieeeghn.org
[44] U.S. Patent 447,921, Tesla, Nikola, “Alternating Electric
Current Generator”.
[45] Radio: Brian Regal, The Life Story of a Technology, page
22
[46] note:Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Poten-
tial and High Frequency" before the Institution of Elec-
trical Engineers of London where he introduced his high
frequency experiments with his “Tesla coil”. He repeated
this presentation at the Royal Institution and at the Société
Française de Physique in Paris. (Tesla: man out of time By
Margaret Cheney. page 357)
[47] note: at St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla public demonstration
called, "On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena",
(Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume 136 By Persifor
Frazer, Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa)
10
[48] Brian Regal, Radio: The Life Story of a Technology, page
22
[49] earlyradiohistory.us, Thomas H. White, Nikola Tesla:
The Guy Who DIDN'T “Invent Radio”, November 1,
2012
[50] Sungook Hong, Wireless: From Marconi’s Black Box to
the Audion, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press
in 2001
[51] Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age,
page 5
[52] Brian Regal, Radio: The Life Story of a Technology, page
23
[53] Margaret Cheney , Tesla: Man Out of Time, 2011 - pages
203 - 208
[54] The Wireless age. (1914). N.Y. [New York] City:
Macroni Pub. Corp'n (Wireless Press). “Wireless as a
Commercial Fact, From the Inventor’s Testimony in the
United States Court in Brooklyn. G. Marconi, Part III”.
Page 75.(cf. “I read parts of a book by Martin, entitled
"Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla,”
published in 1894”.)
[55] Henry M. Bradford, "Marconi’s Three; Transatlantic Ra-
dio Stations In Cape Breton”. Read before the Royal Nova
Scotia Historical Society, 31 January 1996. (ed. the site
is reproduced with permission from the Royal Nova Scotia
Historical Society Journal, Volume 1, 1998.)
[56] Marconi’s Three; Transatlantic Radio Stations In Cape Bre-
ton.
[57] Date of Application 2 June 1896; Complete Specification
Left, 2 March 1897; Accepted, 2 July 1897
[58] WH Preece, “Signalling through Space without Wires,”
Proc. Roy. Inst. Lond., 1897, vol. xv. p. 467.
[59] Report of the Board of Regents By Smithsonian Institu-
tion. Board of Regents, United States National Museum,
Smithsonian Institution. 1899. Pg 249+
[60] The principles of electric wave telegraphy By Sir John
Ambrose Fleming Pg. 429
[61] Wireless telegraphy and telephony without wires By
Charles Robert Gibson. Pg 79
[62] Signals were also exchanged between Lavernock Point and
the Flat Holm.
[63] Also known as a "Morse Inker".
[64] James Erskine-Murray (1907). A handbook of wireless
telegraphy: its theory and practice, for the use of electrical
engineers, students, and operators. Crosby Lockwood and
Son. Page 39
[65] Marconi Receiver (Early Form), described from “Elec-
trician” Primer No. 67, had an Aerial Wire, an Earth
Wire, a Coherer, a Tapper, Choking Coils, a Dry Cell,
a Relay, Battery, Shunts, and a Morse Inkwriter. The co-
herer consisted of silver electrodes contained in a vacuum
4 REFERENCES AND NOTES
tube (4 millimeters), the electrodes being separated by a
thin layer composed of nickel and silver filings (nickel,
96 per cent.; silver, 4 per cent.).(The Electrical review,
Volume 40. IPC Electrical-Electronic Press, 1897. Page
715.)
[66] Marconi’s coherer consists of silver electrodes contained
in a vacuum tube (4 millimeters), the electrodes being sep-
arated by a thin layer composed of nickel and silver filings
(nickel, 96 per cent.; silver, 4 per cent). The resistance
of this is enormously reduced when electric waves imping
upon the tube, and upon the resistance falling, a battery,
in circuit with a Morse “inker,” is able to work that instru-
ment and record the signals sent out by the transmitter. In
series with the Morse “inker” there is an electromagnetic
“tapper” which restores the high resistance of the metal-
lic mixture as soon as the signal has been received. Mr.
Marconi’s transmitter is of the Right pattern; that is to say,
an induction coil causes sparks to pass between a succes-
sion of hollow metallic spheres, the middle ones of which
arc partly immersed in vaseline oil. With a view, it would
seem, of increasing the capacity (although the inventor
says it is with a view of clearing intervening obstacles and
thus obtain a free passage for his waves), he connects elec-
trically to his transmitter either a metallic cone at the top
of a pole, 100 feet high, or to a kite. (The Electrical world,
Volume 29 Page 822.)
[67] Tesla, N., & Anderson, L. I. (1998). Nikola Tesla: guided
weapons & computer technology. Tesla presents series,
pt. 3. Breckenridge, Colo: Twenty First Century Books.
[68] Tesla, N., & Anderson, L. I. (2002). Nikola Tesla on
his work with alternating currents and their application to
wireless telegraphy, telephony, and transmission of power:
an extended interview. Tesla presents series, pt. 1. Breck-
enridge, Colo: Twenty-First Century Books.
[69] The schematics are illustrated in U.S. Patent 613,809 and
describes “rotating coherers”.
[70] Santana High School (Brazil) today
[71] Journal of Commerce, a Brazilian economic newspaper
(list of newspapers in Brazil)
[72] U.S. Patent 771,917 and U.S. Patent 775,337.
[73] U.S. Patent 775,846 claims a set of Hertz wave antennae,
a source of cathodic waves, and a source of actinic waves,
means whereby the changes of a pre-arranged code may
be impressed upon one or more sets of the waves, and
means to direct them toward a distant station.
[74] The distance being 7-5 miles.
[75] The distances were from 5 to 20 miles.
[76] Earlier, in 1885, a wired telephonic system was estab-
lished here also. See, The Electrical review, Volume 17.
Pg 81
[77] The shore mast was 105 feet high, and the wire on board
the yacht 83 feet high.

[78] A summary of his work on wireless telegraphy up to the
beginning of 1899 is given in a paper read by Marconi to
the Institution of Electrical Engineers on March 2, 1899.
See Journal of the li st. Elee. Eng., 1899, vol. 28, p. 273.
[79] Sandbanks, Poole
[80] The principles of electric wave telegraphy By Sir John
Ambrose Fleming. Page 431−432.
[81] Journal of the Society of Arts, Volume 47 By Society of
Arts (Great Britain). 1899. Page 519+
[82] "Milestones:First Operational Use Of Wireless Telegra-
phy, 1899-1902”. IEEE Global History Network. IEEE.
Retrieved 29 July 2011.
[83] Wireless telegraphy: its origins, development, inventions,
and apparatus By Charles Henry Sewall, pg 144
[84] Henry M. Bradford, "Marconi in Newfoundland: The
1901 Transatlantic Radio Experiment"
[85] Henry M. Bradford, Did Marconi Receive Transatlantic
Radio Signals in 1901? - Part 1. Wolfville, N.S.
[86] Henry M. Bradford, Did Marconi Receive Transatlantic
Radio Signals in 1901? Part 2, Conclusion: The Trans-
Atlantic Experiments. Wolfville, N.S.
[87] Heralded as a great scientific advance, there was—and
continues to be—some skepticism about this claim, partly
because the signals had been heard faintly and sporadi-
cally.
[88] In December, 1902, he established wireless telegraphic
communication between Canada (Cape Breton) and Eng-
land, the first message inaugurating the system being
transmitted from the Governor General of Canada to King
Edward VII, and a few weeks later a message inaugurating
wireless connection between America (Cape Cod, Mas-
sachusetts) and Cornwall, England was transmitted from
the President of the United States to the British King.
(Encyclopaedia of ships and shipping edited by Herbert
B. Mason. The Shipping Encyclopaedia, 1908.)
[89] “Marconi at Mizen Head Visitor Centre Ireland Visitor
Attractions”. Mizenhead.net. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
[90] built in Wellfleet, Massachusetts in 1901
[91] Washburn, D. E. (1980). The peoples of Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, Pa.: Univ. Center for International Studies.
Page 193.
[92] Fielding, Raymond (1967). A Technological History of
Motion Pictures and Television: An Anthology from the
Pages of “The Journal of the Society of Motion Pictures
and Television”. University of California Press. p. 179.
ISBN 0-520-03981-5.
5 Further reading
Listed by date [latest to earliest]
11
• Sarkar, T. K., & Baker, D. C. (2006). History of
wireless. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience.
• Hugh G. J. Aitken, Syntony and Spark: the Origins
of Radio, ISBN 0-471-01816-3. 1976.
• Elliot N. Sivowitch, A Technological Survey of
Broadcasting’s Pre-History, Journal of Broadcasting,
15:1-20 (Winter 1970-71).
• Colby, F. M., Williams, T., & Wade, H. T. (1930).
"Wireless Telegraphy", The New international en-
cyclopaedia. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.
• "Wireless telegraphy", The Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica. (1922). London: Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Stanley, R. (1919). Text-book on wireless telegra-
phy. London: Longmans, Green
• Miessner, B. F. (1916). Radiodynamics: The wire-
less control of torpedoes and other mechanisms.
New York: D. Van Nostrand Co
• Thompson, S. P. (1915). Elementary lessons in
electricity and magnetism. New York: Macmillan.
• Stanley, R. (1914). Text book on wireless telegra-
phy. London: Longmans, Green.
• Ashley, C. G., & Hayward, C. B. (1912). Wireless
telegraphy and wireless telephony: an understand-
able presentation of the science of wireless trans-
mission of intelligence. Chicago: American School
of Correspondence.
• Massie, W. W., & Underhill, C. R. (1911). Wireless
telegraphy and telephony popularly explained. New
York: D. Van Nostrand.
• Captain S.S. Robison(1911). Developments in
Wireless Telegraphy. International marine engi-
neering, Volume 16. Simmons-Boardman Pub. Co.
• Bottone, S. R. (1910). Wireless telegraphy and
Hertzian waves. London: Whittaker & Co.
• Erskine-Murray, J. (1909). A handbook of wireless
telegraphy: its theory and practice, for the use of
electrical engineers, students, and operators. New
York: Van Nostrand.
• Twining, H. L. V., & Dubilier, W. (1909). Wireless
telegraphy and high frequency electricity; a man-
ual containing detailed information for the construc-
tion of transformers, wireless telegraph and high fre-
quency apparatus, with chapters on their theory and
operation. Los Angeles, Cal: The author.
• The New Physics and Its Evolution. Chapter VII: A
Chapter in the History of Science: Wireless teleg-
raphy by Lucien Poincaré, eBook #15207, released
February 28, 2005. [originally, published: New
York, D. Appleton and Company. 1909].
12 6 EXTERNAL LINKS

• Fleming, J. A. (1908). The principles of electric • James Bowman Lindsay A short biography on his
wave telegraphy. London: New York and Co. efforts on electric lamps and telegraphy.

• Simmons, H. H. (1908). "Wireless telegraphy", • Sparks Telegraph Key Review

Outlines of electrical engineering. London: Cassell
and Co. • Principles of Radiotelegraphy (1919)

• Murray, J. E. (1907). A handbook of wireless teleg-

raphy. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co.; [etc.].

• Mazzotto, D., & Bottone, S. R. (1906). Wireless

telegraphy and telephony. London: Whittaker &
Co.

• Collins, A. F. (1905). Wireless telegraphy; its his-

tory, theory and practice. New York: McGraw Pub.

• Sewall, C. H. (1904). Wireless telegraphy: its ori-

gins, development, inventions, and apparatus. New
York: D. Van Nostrand.

• Trevert, E. (1904). The A.B.C. of wireless teleg-

raphy; a plain treatise on Hertzian wave signaling;
embracing theory, methods of operation, and how
to build various pieces of the apparatus employed.
Lynn, Mass: Bubier Pub.

• Fahie, J. J. (1900). A history of wireless telegraphy,

1838-1899: including some bare-wire proposals for
subaqueous telegraphs. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood
and Sons.

• Telegraphing across space, Electric wave method.

The Electrical engineer. (1884). London: Biggs &
Co.

• American Institute of Electrical Engineers. (1884).

Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers. New York: American Institute of Elec-
trical Engineers. (ed., Contains Radio Telephony —
By E. B. Craft and E. H. Colpitts (Illustrated). Page
305)

6 External links
• John Joseph Fahie, A History of Wireless Telegra-
phy, 1838-1899: including some bare-wire proposals
for subaqueous telegraphs, 1899 (first edition).

• John Joseph Fahie, A History of Wireless Telegra-

phy: including some bare-wire proposals for sub-
aqueous telegraphs, 1901 (second edition).

• John Joseph Fahie, A History of Wireless Telegra-

phy: including some bare-wire proposals for sub-
aqueous telegraphs, 1901 (second edition, in HTML
format).

• Alfred Thomas Story, The Story of Wireless Teleg-

raphy, 1904
 13

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text
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^demonBot2, Flyer22 Reborn, Baxter9, Seth Whales, Loren.wilton, ClueBot, Mild Bill Hiccup, Purplehead417, Superherogirl7, Soc-
cerstar132, Ereunetes, Fgnievinski, Fluffernutter, LaaknorBot, 5 albert square, Tide rolls, Lightbot, Pageturners, Legobot, Luckas-bot,
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BG19bot, PearlSt82, Badon, David.moreno72, Comatmebro, CarrieVS, Khazar2, Srinubabuau6, Webclient101, GeeBee60, Monkbot,
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• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
• File:Post_Office_Engineers.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Post_Office_Engineers.jpg License:
CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Cardiff Council Flat Holm Project Original artist: Cardiff Council Flat Holm Project
• File:SCR188.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/SCR188.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http:
//www.army.mil/cmh/photos/WWII/ErlyYrs/SC180791.jpg Original artist: Photograph was taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, photo
number: GHQ SWPA SC 43 5901 by T/4 Harold Newman.
• File:Telecom-icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Telecom-icon.svg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: Vectorized by User:Booyabazooka from original small PD raster image File:Telecom-icon.jpg Original artist: Vectorized by
User:Booyabazooka from original small PD raster image File:Telecom-icon.jpg

7.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0