Guillermo Marconi, the father of radiotelegraphy

The son of the Italian landowner Giuseppe Marconi and the Irishwoman Annie Jameson, Guglielmo Marconi was born in Bologna on 25 April 1874.

Marconi studied at the university in his hometown, where he carried out the first experiments using electromagnetic waves in telegraphic communication.

With the idea of using electromagnetic waves to transmit signals across space, he built a device designed to connect the transmitter and receiver via an antenna. Thus, in 1886, he succeeded in transmitting the first radiotelegraphic message over a distance of 250 metres between the transmitter and the receiver.

Following these discoveries, he concluded that Hertzian waves do not travel in a straight line, but follow the curvature of the Earth. In 1890, he became interested in wireless telegraphy, eventually inventing a device in 1895 with which he managed to send signals several kilometres away thanks to a directional antenna.

Marconi founded the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company in 1897 after patenting this system in Great Britain.

In 1899, he established a link between England and France across the English Channel, and in 1901, he transmitted signals across the Atlantic Ocean between Poldhu, in Cornwall, and St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada.

His system was soon adopted by the Italian and British navies, and by around 1907, it had been perfected to such an extent that a transatlantic wireless telegraphy service was established for public use.

Marconi, an electrical engineer, entrepreneur and inventor, is known for being one of the leading pioneers of long-distance radio transmission, for the enactment of the Marconi Act, and for the development of the wireless telegraphy (W.T.) or radiotelegraphy system.

In 1909, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics alongside the German Karl Ferdinand Braun, in recognition of his contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy. He also won the Franklin Medal, served as president of the Italian Academy, and was made a marquis by King Victor Emmanuel III. He is inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Museum of Telecommunications and Broadcasting in Chicago, and in his honour, the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States presents the annual NAB (Marconi Radio Awards).

Marconi died in Rome on 20 July 1937 of a heart attack. Radio stations around the world observed two minutes’ silence in his honour.