Reference
- Guglielmo Marconi: Credo ReferenceItalian electrical engineer who saw the possiblity of using radio waves - long-wavelength electromagnetic radiation - for the transmission of information. He was the first to put such a service into operation on a commercial scale, and was responsible for many of the developments that made radio and telegraph services into major industries.
Streaming Media
- Tesla vs MarconiIn 1893, sending information across America is a time-consuming process. But two rival inventors have the same idea for improving things: wireless communication.
- ElettraThis remarkable story about the extraordinary life and inventions of Guglielmo Marconi, the father of wireless communication, is told by his daughter, Elettra.
Online Resources
- Guglielmo Marconi, Augusto Righi and the invention of wireless telegraphyOne of the major accomplishments of the late nineteenth-century applied physics was, as it is well known, the development of wireless telegraphy by Guglielmo Marconi, future Nobel laureate. In this paper, we will explore what scientific debt, if any, Marconi had toward another Italian physicist, internationally well known for his research on electromagnetic waves: Augusto Righi. This question will be pursued through a close analysis of Marconi’s first patent, of Righi’s scientific correspondence and of the specialized and popular press of the time. At the end of this analysis, which includes a brief survey of Marconi and Righi’s activity as senators of the Kingdom of Italy, we will better appreciate what Marconi took from contemporary scientists, what specific contributions he is responsible for and, ultimately, what Marconi and Righi thought of each other.
- Guglielmo Marconi and the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the upper atmosphereWhen, in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi managed for the first time to transmit the three points of the letter S, from Poldhu in Cornwall to St. John's in Newfoundland, across 3500 km of ocean, he not only gave the definitive demonstration of the spectacular possibilities his discovery offered in solving transoceanic communication problems, but also opened a new and fascinating research field on the electrical properties of the upper atmosphere. These studies, which are still in progress and which indeed gained new impulse particularly in the past few years, have made it possible to construct a general outline of the complex phenomena of atmospheric ionization, although there is still debate about fundamental points relating to the causes and the ways in which the phenomenon occurs.
- Guglielmo Marconi in FlorenceThis brief note traces the interaction of Guglielmo Marconi, Nobel Prize winner for Physics in 1909, with the city of Florence through a selection of documents and pictures.
Perspectives
Signor Marconi's Magic Box
The world at the turn of the twentieth century was in the throes of "Marconi-mania"-brought on by an incredible invention that no one could quite explain, and by a dapper and eccentric figure (who would one day win the newly minted Nobel Prize) at the center of it all. At a time when the telephone, telegraph, and electricity made the whole world wonder just what science would think of next, the startling answer had come in 1896 in the form of two mysterious wooden boxes containing a device one Guglielmo Marconi had rigged up to transmit messages "through the ether." It was the birth of the radio, and no scientist in Europe or America, not even Marconi himself, could at first explain how it worked...it just did. And no one knew how far these radio waves could travel, until 1903, when a message from President Theodore Roosevelt to the king of England flashed from Cape Cod to Cornwall clear across the Atlantic.Here is a rich portrait of the man and his era-and a captivating tale of science and scientists, business and businessmen. There are stories of British blowhards, American con artists-and Marconi himself: a character par excellence, who eventually winds up a virtual prisoner of his worldwide fame and fortune.
Marconi : the man who networked the world
The definitive biography of Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of global wireless communication.
Wireless Radio
In 1873 Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell first advanced the idea that there might be electromagnetic waves that were similar to light waves, a startling concept to the scientists of his day. About 13 years later, German physicist Heinrich Hertz demonstrated in his laboratory that electromagnetic radiation did indeed exist. But it was not until after Hertz's death that a young Italian named Guglielmo Marconi got the idea for a practical communications system based on Hertz's work. Marconi was surprised and disappointed that the Italian government was not interested in his newly discovered wireless communications system, and thus he took his equipment to England. From that point on, the wireless became identified with Britain. From these beginnings, wireless radio became the basis of a revolution that has resulted in the satellite communications of today. This history first looks at Marconi's invention and then explores its many applications, including marine radio, cellular telephones, police and military uses, television and radar. Radio collecting is also discussed, and brief biographies are provided for the major figures in the development and use of the wireless.