The Bridge - Issue 2, 2019 - 27

History Spotlight

Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was an inventor,
engineer, and entrepreneur of Italian and Irish
descent. Based on the early research of Heinrich
Hertz and others, he began developing technology
for wireless communication. After initial successes in
his home country of Italy, he moved to the United
Kingdom, where he demonstrated increasingly more
capable long-distance communication systems.
He made fundamental contributions toward
understanding radio communication and developing
commercial radio technology.
Fig 2. Marconi in 1903 with the future King George and Queen Mary at
the Poldhu wireless station, Cornwall, England. From the Smithsonian
Traveling Exhibit.

Fig 1. Guglielmo Marconi (undated). Courtesy of the IEEE History Center

By 1899, Marconi had demonstrated radio
transmission across the English Channel, at a time
when many believed that only local or short-range
radio transmission was possible. Marconi addressed
the technical challenge of radio communication
across the Atlantic by establishing a high-power
transmission station at Poldhu, a location on the
southwestern coast of England. The figure shows
the scale of this transmitter facility. In 1901, Marconi
reported the first Transatlantic communication of the
letter "s" in Morse code. He rapidly commercialized
the developing technology by providing a variety
of services especially in support of maritime
communication. In later years, his companies were
involved with broadcast communication systems.

In addition to his business success through
communication patents and companies, he shared
the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Braun "in
recognition of their contributions to the development
of wireless telegraphy." In addition he received the
Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute and the
third Medal of Honor awarded by the Institute of
Radio Engineers (IRE). A summary of his career is
given in J. E. Brittain, "Electrical Engineering Hall of
Fame: Guglielmo Marconi," Proceedings of the IEEE,
92(9), 1501-1504, 2004.
The Marconi Society was founded by Marconi's
daughter to encourage advances in communication
technology (see marconisociety.org). Marconi's
legacy has been commemorated further through
IEEE Milestones such as the following:
Marconi's Early Experiments in Wireless
Telegraphy, Italy, 1895
Transmission of Transatlantic Signals, Poldhu,
England, 1901
The IEEE Milestone program is administered by the
IEEE History Center, IEEE History Committee and
honors significant achievements in the history of
electrical and electronics engineering.

HKN.ORG

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http://www.sweptlaser.com/ http://www.marconisociety.org/ https://www.ethw.org/Milestones:Marconi's_Early_Experiments_in_Wireless_Telegraphy,_1895 https://www.ethw.org/Milestones:Marconi's_Early_Experiments_in_Wireless_Telegraphy,_1895 https://www.ethw.org/Milestones:Transmission_of_Transatlantic_Radio_Signals,_1901 https://www.ethw.org/Milestones:Transmission_of_Transatlantic_Radio_Signals,_1901 https://www.w6bhz.org/content/licensing https://hkn.ieee.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/

The Bridge - Issue 2, 2019

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