| Marconi: Grandfather of Wireless |
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Part 1: History of The Italian Scientist Who Discovered The Radio
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"I'm interested in delving into a little more Italian history. I'd like to learn more about the Renaissance, the Middle Ages, Roman Empire..."
MONSTERGAMBA
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The media is abuzz about the future of the wireless 'Net. Recently AOL announced it was purchasing Tegic Communications, a maker of software that lets people access the Internet and send e-mail and instant messages with their cell phones. At the same time, Sprint PCS and IBM said they were teaming up on a plan which, according to Reuters, "will enable employees to use the Sprint PCS Wireless Web to get and send corporate e-mail, as well as access schedules and other personalized business information with Sprint PCS Internet-ready phones."
Forgotten Founder?
Al Gore, of course, claims he invented the Internet. A recent article in Business 2.0 had a long string of claimers to the throne. Then there's Bill Gates, who is seen as either the Messiah or the Anti-Christ of the Internet, depending on one's view.
What's lost in the onslaught of hype is that the true "grandfather of wireless communication," a man who won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy, is often forgotten.
Historical Memories
As Internet technology becomes more sophisticated the current trend is towards "wireless" connections. It was in the late 1800's, though, that the first successful wireless transmission of radio waves was accomplished by the Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi. By September 1895, Marconi had already built the equipment that transmitted electrical signals through the air, which marked the beginning of telegraphy, or radio.
One of the momentous inventions in the past century or so, wireless radio would become the true precursor to hand-held digital devices, telefonini (Italian cellular phones), and m–commerce. Unlike the digital goldrush of today, where venture capitals chase too few good ideas with pots of money, Marconi was not able to find financial backing in his home country for his new invention. British investors, though, did lend the Bologna native money, and so England became home to Marconi's fledgling broadcasting company, which soon evolved into the BBC.
Efforts to educate the public about Marconi's invention and his contributions to high technology include the Marconi Museum in Bedford, New Hampshire, as well as the historical Marconi Station, which is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. The first U.S. transatlantic wireless telegraph station was built here in 1901–1902 by Marconi. The first broadcast was beamed out from this site in 1903 when President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII of Great Britain exchanged greetings.
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