There cannot be many people who were “losers” at school, failed to get into university, and then went on to win a Nobel Prize for Physics. But at least one did, and with good reason: he made radio happen. A lack of formal education, high-powered family connections and an unstoppable will to succeed helped Guglielmo Marconi to transmit the first radio signal across the Atlantic and launch the wireless-
communications industry. Guglielmo Marconi was born at Bologna, Italy, on April 25,
1874, the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an Italian country gentleman, and Annie
Рис. 3 Guglielmo
Marconi
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Jameson. He was educated privately at Bologna, Florence and Leghorn. Marconi's education was patchy1, not to say poor. Primary school was a disaster, and he was 12 before he got into a secondary school in Florence where he did badly. The following year, he started to attend more congenial technical school, but Marconi’s progress was still very modest. He never qualified for higher education, even with the help of a private physics tutor. (1)
But even as a boy he took a keen interest in physical and electrical science and studied the works of Maxwell, Hertz and
others. In 1895 he began laboratory experiments at his father's country estate at where he succeeded in sending wireless signals over a distance of one and a half miles. (2)
In 1896 Marconi took his apparatus to England and later that year he was granted the world's first patent for a system of wireless telegraphy. He demonstrated his system successfully in London, and across the Bristol Channel, and in July 1897 formed The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company Limited (in 1900 re-named Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Limited). In the same year he gave a demonstration to the Italian Government during which wireless signals were sent over a distance of twelve miles. In 1899 he established wireless communication between France and England across the English Channel. He erected permanent wireless stations at The Needles, Isle of Wight, at Bournemouth and later at the Haven Hotel, Poole, Dorset. (3)
Marconi’s first aim in perfecting communication without wires had been to break
the isolation of those at sea. The first life-saving possibilities of wireless communication were realized in 1899 when a wireless message was received from the East Goodwin lightship - which had been equipped with Marconi wireless apparatus. It had been rammed in dense fog by a steamship R.F. Matthews. A request was made for the assistance of a lifeboat. And in 1900 he took out his famous “7777”patent which documented a system for tuned coupled circuits and allowed simultaneous transmissions on different frequencies. Adjacent stations were now able to operate without interfering with one another and ranges were increased. On an historic day in December 1901, determined to prove that wireless waves were not affected by the curvature of the Earth, he used his system for transmitting the first wireless signals across the Atlantic between Cornwall, and Newfoundland, a distance of 2100 miles. (4)
Between 1902 and 1912 he patented several new inventions. In 1902, during a voyage in the American liner "Philadelphia", he first demonstrated "daylight effect" relative to wireless communication and in the same year patented his magnetic detector which then became the standard wireless receiver for many years. In December 1902 he transmitted the first complete messages to Poldhu from stations at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and later Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These early tests culminated in 1907 in the opening of the first transatlantic commercial service between Glace Bay and Ireland,
after the first short-distance public service of wireless telegraphy had been established
between Italy and Montenegro. In 1905 he patented his horizontal directional aerial and
in 1912 a "timed spark" system for generating continuous waves. (5)
During his war service in Italy from 1914 he returned to his investigation of short waves, which he had used in his first experiments. After further tests by his collaborators in England, an intensive number of trials, leading to the establishment of the beam system for long- distance telegraphy was conducted in 1923. Proposals to use this system as a means of Imperial communications were accepted by the British Government and the first beam station, linking England and Canada, was opened in 1926. (6)
In 1931 Marconi began research into the propagation characteristics of still shorter waves, resulting in the setting up in 1932 of the world's first microwave radiotelephone link between the Vatican City and the Pope's summer residence. Two years later he demonstrated his microwave radio beacon for ship navigation and in 1935, again in Italy, gave a practical demonstration of the principles of radar, the coming of which he had first foretold in a lecture to the American Institute of Radio Engineers in New York in 1922. (7)
He has been the recipient of honorary doctorates of several universities and many other international honors and awards, among them the Nobel Prize for Physics, which in 1909 he shared with Professor Karl Braun, the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, the John Fritz Medal and the Kelvin Medal. He was decorated by the Tsar of Russia with the Order of St. Anne; the King of Italy created him a plenty of different ranks and titles as well. (8)
Marconi's 1909 Nobel Prize was an extraordinary surprise for him - unlike the physicist he shared it with, Ferdinand Braun - Marconi was not, by his own admission, any kind of scientist, or even much of an inventor. He did not really make any fundamental discoveries, and radio was mostly a matter of assembling parts created by other people. But the vision which was needed to see the possibilities of a new communication era, and the unstoppable will to pursue this objective were all his own. According to his own words, he made the whole world see the importance of his inventions, approve and, more importantly, buy them. (9)
Marconi moved to Rome in 1935, never to leave Italy again. He died in the early hours of 20 July 1937 aged 63 and his body was laid to rest in the mausoleum in the grounds of Villa Griffone. In a fitting tribute3, wireless stations throughout the world fell silent for 2 minutes and the ether4 was as silent as it had been before Marconi. (10)
He left behind him a world that even before his death had come to regard radio as a commodity2, not a miracle. Britain even had an infant television service, broadcast via Marconi equipment. He also left behind a legion of detractors5 who correctly pointed out that others, such as Lodge and the Russian Alexander Popov, had sent wireless messages before Marconi got his patent. It does not really matter. What Marconi doubtless did invent was an entirely new science-based industry. We are used to being told that some new technology will change the world. Marconi's is one of the few that
did. (11)
(Adapted from the Internet sites)
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3 Read the text again and choose the correct option.
a) Guglielmo Marconi was the first who
1) assembled radio.
2) invented radio.
3) transmitted the first radio signal.
b) As a boy he liked to spend his free time
1) carrying out laboratory experiments.
2) studying with the help of a private tutor.
3) reading the works of famous scientists.
c) He received higher education
1) with the help of a private physics tutor.
2) on his own but it was very hard.
3) He never had any kind of a university degree.
d) He was granted his first patent for
1) magnetic detector.
2) a system of wireless telegraphy.
3) horizontal directional aerial.
e) A lot of people didn’t think he was a great scientist because
1) he was not the only person who sent wireless messages.
2) he was not the first person who sent wireless messages.
3) he never sent any wireless messages.
f) During his life Marconi considered himself to be
1) a successful industrialist and businessman.
2) a famous inventor.
3) an outstanding physicist.
4 Answer the following questions:
a) What was Marconi’s family background?
b) What kind of education did he get?
c) What sciences was he interested in as a boy?
d) What famous physicists influenced him greatly?
e) What was his first patent invention?
f) What important discovery did he make in 1900?
g) What were his main inventions and patents?
h) What was his attitude to his own Nobel Prize?
