Gulgielmo Marconi(left) with his family.
Permission requested through [email protected].
HOME PAGE HISTORY INVENTIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY LINKS AFTER LIFE
Guglielmo Marconi was born close to Bologna in 1847. His mother was Irish and his father Italian. He never attended school regularly but did complete the 5th grade when he was 12. He attended tecnical instutes but never long enough to graduate. His mother, however, arranged private classes to study science for him.(5)
He attended the Livorno Technical Institute, which was where he was first inspired to experiment with radio waves. He read a magazine article that suggested the possiblility of using radio waves to communicate without wires.(6)
When he was 16 he invented the first instrument to indicate lightning in a nearby area.During a lightning storm he was able to make a bell ring well lightning struck, even though it was miles away.(5)
After experimenting, he was able to prove that it was possible to transmitt and receive electromagnetic waves without wires.His first radio transmission was over a distance of two miles, with a hill in between the sending and transmission point.This proved that radio signals passed over and around obstacles.(5)
In 1896, at the age of 22, he moved to England to further his inventions and experiments. While here, he established the firsth radio communications company called the Marconi Company at the age of 23.(5)
In 1897, Marconi established the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company Limited, which, paved the path for the world's first radio factory in Chelmsford, England in 1898.(3)
Some people critizied Marconi's work saying his inventions were ridiculous. However, other people were estatic. Marconi didn't let anyone fase him and kept on experimenting. Then, in December 1902, he sent the first transatlantic message. In 1903, he built a station in Wellfleet, Massachusetts for the transmission of east to west transatlantic messages.Marconi went on to win the Nobel Prize in physics in 1909.(5)(6)
With the development of aviation, Marconi experimented with radio beacons to guide pilots to follow safe air routes. Discovering it was possible to concentrate large quantities of energy with the emmission of microwaves let to practical use in the development of microwave ovens and the use medical equipment to treat several diseases.(5)
After all his great accomplishments, Marconi died on July 19, 1937 when all radio stations stop transmission simultaniously for two minutes to honor him.(5)
The BBC was established in 1922, but Marconi had achieved his goal of turning Hertz's laboratory demonstration into realistic means of communication.(3)
