MARCONI, Guglielmo, mar ko'ne, Italian inventor and electrical engineer : b. Marzabotto, near Bologna, Italy. 23 Sept. 1875. He was educated at the universities of Bologna and Padua, and so early as 1890 under took experiments in demonstration of his theory that the electric current readily passes through any substance, and when started in a given direction follows a direct course without the assistance of any sort of conductor. After various experiments in Italy, he finally in vented an apparatus for wireless telegraphy, which was successfully tested in both Italy and England by Sir Wilham Henry Preece, engi neer and electrician-in-chief of the English nostal-telegranh service. Marconi was the first to perfect the appliances used in space teleg raphy or radiography, and the first to patent the application of the electric waves discovered by Heinrich Hertz to the purposes of actual teleg raphy as distinguished from mere signaling. This remains true in spite of all the discussion respecting the originality of Marconi's work. It was he who combined the important elements of the wireless telegraph that had previously been invented, and to him the scientific triumph of so-called telegraphy is due. He came to the United States in 1899, there con tinued his experiments, and in 1900 employed his method in reporting the presidential election of that year. He had sent (27 March 1899) messages across the English Channel from the vicinity of Boulogne, France, to the South Fore land, England, 32 miles distant. In December 1901 he began his first experiments in transat lantic telegraphy without wires at Signal Hill, at the entrance to the harbor of Saint John's, N. F. He succeeoed with these because of an exceedingly sensitive magnetic detector, that was affected by the very faint etheric vibrations. When his success became apparent through his receiving and plainly distinguishing signals from the Poldhu Station, England, the Anglo American Cable Company, which holds a monop oly from Newfoundland, compelled him to with draw, and he selected another station at Table Head, on the east of Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island. On 25-26 Feb. 1902, Marconi, on his
way to the United States on board the steamship Philadelphia, received signals at a distance of 2,099 miles and worded messages at a distance of 1,551.5 miles. On 21 Dec. 1902 the first offi cial transatlantic telegrams were sent from Table Head. Marconi later (18 Jan. 1903) sent from the South Wellfleet station, Cape Cod, Mass., direct to Poldhu (3,000 miles), a mes sage from President Roosevelt to King Edward. In 1910 the Argentina station received messages of 5,600 miles transit, and since then South American stations have sent and received about 7,000 miles. The Italian government early in troduced the Marconi system on its warships. and granted an annual subsidy of $200,000. The English government also paid a royalty for the use of the system on its ships. On 18 Oct. 1907 the Marconi system between Nova Scotia and Ireland was formally opened for commercial service.
He has continued his experiments and in ventions, continually improving radiography and the methods employed. In 1906 his new persistent wave system was introduced, and devices developed for giving desired forms to the wave energy sent out. In 1910 his detector was radically improved, and he also brought into use a new receiver. A little later he de veloped a duplex by which messages could be sent and received at the same time by the same apparatus, without conflict, as is done in regular wire telegraphy. Mr. Marconi has received numerous honors, in Italy, England, America and also in Continental Europe. He divided the Nobel prize for physics with Ferdinand Braun in 1909. He has been decorated in Britain, Russia and Spain, and received the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy. The great universities of the world have showered de grees on him; Edison accepted official position in one of his companies; be was nominated a senator in the kingdom of Italy, and given the freedom of Rome. When Italy joined in the World War, he hastened to offer his services to his country, and was promptly placed in charge of its wireless service.