Marconi – his life with images
Compiled and edited by Barbara Valotti and Mario Giorgi
Translators Ida Bertolini, Julia Manning
English language editing Kim Sawchuk
Graphic design ZonaUno - Andrea Magni
Printed by Centro Stampa Regione Emilia-Romagna
Images courtesy of
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Special Collections, Marconi Archives)
Fundação Portugal Telecom
Maurizio Bigazzi
Elettra Marconi
Francesco Paresce
Acknowledgments
Luna Pagani, Kim Sawchuk and Alberto Barisani
Working replicas of the original istruments (pages 5, 13 and 19) are from the
Bigazzi Collection, Museo Marconi
Publisher
Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi
Endorsed by
Comitato Nazionale per le celebrazioni del centenario del Premio Nobel a Guglielmo Marconi
Financial sponsor
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Regionale Emilia-Romagna
Contributors
Camera di Commercio di Bologna
Regione Emilia-Romagna
Copyright Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi 2010
Published by Andrea Carbone Publishing at Smashwords
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Table of contents
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Marconi travelled across the Atlantic more than eighty times, he made two world tours and visited dozens of countries, but what he did above all was to connect far distant places by his wireless systems of communication.
At twenty Marconi settled in London, at forty-five he chose to live on a yacht, and at fifty-three he settled in Rome. Yet, he never forgot his roots or the places where his invention took shape: Bologna and the Porrettana, Pontecchio and Villa Griffone.
When he was awarded the Nobel Prize at the age of thirty-five, he was already one of the most famous men in the world. Marconi’s biography is rich in drama and detail. In this reference guide we provide a brief chronology of his life in text and image, which invites you, the reader, to get closer to Marconi and his human and scientific adventures.
Gabriele Falciasecca
President, Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi
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Guglielmo Marconi is born on the 25th of April in Bologna to Giuseppe Marconi and Annie Jameson. Giuseppe, Marconi's father, is a fifty-year-old landowner originally from Capugnano, a small village nestled in the Appenines Mountains that straddle Tuscany and Emilia. Giuseppe lived and worked in Bologna for some time before Guglielmo is born and already has a son, Luigi, by his first wife Giulia de' Renoli, who died in 1858.
Guglielmo's mother, Annie Jameson, was born in the south of Ireland and belongs to an illustrious Scottish family, the Jamesons, who own a flourishing whisky distillery. She meets Giuseppe during an extended stay in Bologna where she is studying opera. They marry in 1864. They move to an apartment in the centre of Bologna but also spend time at their country residence Villa Griffone in Pontecchio. Annie is little more than thirty years old when Guglielmo is born. At the time of his birth, Annie and Giuseppe already have a nine-year-old son called Alfonso.
Villa Griffone becomes the official family residence. When the children are very young, Annie brings them to Bedford, England, on at least one occasion and later she takes them to milder climates, mostly in Tuscany. At first the winters are spent in Florence but then she favours Livorno where one of her sisters lives. She often brings the boys to the famous Porretta spa.
Guglielmo, apparently a sickly child, quickly learns to read and write in Italian thanks to his tutor Germano Bollini. His mother teaches him to read and write in English and to play the piano.
Between the ages of ten and fifteen, Guglielmo attends different schools as the family travels back and forth between Emilia and Tuscany. It is for this reason that he finds it difficult to adapt to a regime of regular study. Guglielmo grows up perfectly bilingual and although his peculiar accent provokes much teasing from his schoolmates, his bilingualism proves very useful for him in the future. He also develops a passion for natural phenomena and at the age of fourteen begins to show a marked interest in electricity. He reads extensively on the subject and carries out the experiments described in his books.
In the meantime, his life by the sea in Livorno fortifies his body and his spirit.
In order to encourage his technical leanings, his mother brings Guglielmo to Vincenzo Rosa a physics teacher at the Niccolini secondary school in Livorno. Rosa, an expert in electrotechnology, is interested in the electromagnetic waves discovered by Hertz. Rosa gives Guglielmo private lessons and brings him to his laboratory. Even after Rosa is transferred to another town, he continues to write to Guglielmo. Rosa is the only teacher that the Bolognese inventor mentions in his acceptance speech when he is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
These meetings with Rosa consolidate Guglielmo's interests and he avidly reads "L’Elettricità", a weekly science magazine. He decides to take part in a competition organized by the magazine for the creation of a new electrical battery. It is his first technological project, although he abandons it. It is likely that the results of his experiments were not satisfactory.
His mother arranges for Guglielmo to meet Augusto Righi, a well known physics professor at the University of Bologna. Professor Righi listens patiently as Guglielmo expounds his ideas. Not only does Righi offer explanations and clarifications, but he encourages the young Marconi to finish his studies and enroll at university.
When the winter holidays in Tuscany come to an end, Guglielmo ignores Professor Righi's advice to get his formal education and instead the boy intensifies his personal research and experiments. He contacts manufacturers of scientific instruments and suppliers of electrical materials in Florence, Livorno, Bologna and Milan and orders what he needs for his experiments. His father covers all his expenses and gradually one of the rooms on the upper floor of Villa Griffone becomes his permanent laboratory. At this time he continues his visits with Professor Righi at the villa in Sabbiuno and probably attends some of his university lectures.
During a holiday in Andorno he arranges to meet Rosa again. He increases his knowledge of Hertzian waves. During a walk to the Sanctuary of Oropa his ultimate goal becomes clear to him: to transmit a signal over a long distance without the aid of wires.
Guglielmo concentrates his efforts on this one problem and applies himself to systematic experimentation. He later confesses that he was shocked that no one had ever thought of this before. This is not strictly true: at the time many other scientists and technicians had made similar attempts, but no one had the vision to plan wireless transmissions that could overcome natural obstacles, such as mountains, trees, and the curvature of the earth.
Intuition, obstinacy and great manual and technical ability combine to allow Guglielmo to modify the devices he himself builds and tests. He improves the sensitivity of his coherer in his receiving apparatus and introduces the use of an antenna that is grounded to the earth in his innovative transmitting and receiving system. When all of these elements are in place, he leaves the laboratory to conduct his experiments in the open air, assisted by his brother Alfonso, Mignani, a local farmer, a carpenter named Vornelli and the Griffone caretaker Antonio Marchi. His use of the grounded antenna allows Marconi to increase, gradually, the distance a signal can travel. To test his system, he sends Alfonso and the others to the other side of Celestini Hill opposite Villa Griffone. The distance is no more than two kilometres but this large hill separates them. Guglielmo transmits a Morse signal into the ether. A rifle shot is fired back, confirming that the signal has been received overcoming this natural obstacle.
This astounding result incites the whole family into action. His father, mother and close friends debate the next steps to be taken. Various ideas are bandied about, but it is finally decided that London is the ideal destination for the young Marconi. Not only is it the heart of the vast British Empire, which is particularly interested in expanding its communication network, but it is also the home of his mother’s influential relatives, the Jamesons.
In February, Guglielmo arrives in London accompanied by his mother. Their cousin, the engineer Henry Jameson Davis, is there to welcome them. His help will prove to be of the utmost importance for Guglielmo. They contact the Italian Ambassador General Annibale Ferrero who is an old acquaintance of the Marconi family. Soon after Guglielmo meets William Preece, the Chief Engineer of the General Post Office, who quickly organizes a live demonstration with one apparatus placed on the roof of the Post Office communicating with a second apparatus placed on a roof more than a kilometre away.
In the meantime, Guglielmo applies for a patent for his invention under the title "Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus therefor".
After another demonstration on Salisbury Plain, at a distance of about four kilometres, Preece is convinced by Marconi's experiments. Preece gives two lectures on the subject of Marconi's system. After the lectures, Marconi's invention attracts the attention of the press and within a short time the name Marconi is automatically linked to the incredible developments and possibilities of radiotelegraphy.
In March, an experimental transmission takes place at a distance of fourteen kilometres across the Bristol Channel. The well-known German scholar Adolph Slaby is present. At the invitation of the Minister of the Italian Navy Benedetto Brin, Marconi returns to Italy and carries out demonstrations in Rome. His first is for the Ministry of the Navy and his second is at the Quirinale, the residence of King Umberto and Queen Margherita. A third demonstration takes places at Montecitorio. A few days later, by the sea of La Spezia Marconi transmits a signal from land to the Battleship San Martino at a distance of eighteen kilometres. The Italian experiments come to an end on July 18, and prove to be a great success.
Marconi's cousin, Henry Jameson Davis, proposes that they form a company. Marconi, who has already refused a number of private offers and seems inclined to consolidate a direct relationship with the General Post Office, agrees after long and complex negotiations. On July 20, "The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company" is officially born. In 1900 it becomes "Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co". Marconi is the major shareholder and is named its technical director. Davis' many business connections allow him to put together the necessary capital, and he is appointed managing director. The capital raised amounts to one-hundred thousand pounds sterling in shares of one pound sterling each.
In May, Marconi patents his first tuned circuit. Part of the capital of the new company is used to perfect and to market this invention. A factory is opened in Chelmsford and in June the first paid ‘marconigram’ is sent. For some years the Company outgoings exceed the incomings much to the shareholders' chagrin.
Thanks to a sporting event, the new system obtains a certain popularity. In Ireland Marconi follows the Royal Yachting Club Regatta on board a steamboat and telegraphically transmits the results of the race to the Dublin Daily Express, which publishes the results before the return of the boats. A few days later Marconi is received by Queen Victoria who asks Marconi to establish wireless telegraphic contact between the Royal Residence on the Isle of Wight and the Royal Yacht on which the Prince of Wales is convalescing after injuring his knee. In sixteen days one hundred and fifty messages are successfully sent.
Marconi begins to collaborate with John Ambrose Fleming, Professor of Electrical Engineering at University College, London. The sailors of a ship that crashed into a floating beacon in the fogs of the English Channel on March 3, are the first survivors of a shipwreck saved thanks to wireless telegraphy. On March 27, the first radiotelegraphic connection takes place across the English Channel, at a distance of approximately fifty kms.
Marconi is invited to the United States to follow the America's Cup boat race. He follows the race and sends wireless messages every three minutes from the steamboat Ponce to the New York newspapers informing them of how the competition is proceeding. The success of the event gains Marconi world wide publicity. On the way back to Europe, Marconi posts a news sheet on board the ship with the messages received from land.
Marconi signs his first important contract. The British Admiralty commissions radiotelegraphic equipment and its maintenance for twenty-six ships and eight land bases. By this time wireless telegraphy is being regularly used beyond the visible horizon, even if officially the scientific community continues to maintain that the earth's curvature is an insurmountable barrier for the propagation of radio waves. In the meantime, on both sides of the ocean, alternative radiotelegraphic systems are being planned and built to compete with those created by the now internationally famous Marconi. The inventor therefore decides to attempt his most ambitious project to date: the leap across the Atlantic.
On April 25, The Marconi International Marine Communication Company is set up with the goal of managing an exclusive licence for all maritime use. After the company is established, Marconi files for a patent for his tuning device. In February 1901, he is granted patent number 7777. This device allows for the adjustment of wavelengths between his transmitting and receiving apparatus. Achieving ‘syntony’ solves an important technical problem as it gets rid of interference and it opens up the independent functionality between stations.
Work is begun on a large transmissions station in Poldhu on the tip of Cornwall, England, under Fleming's direction.
In February, Marconi offers the free use of his patent to the Italian military ministries and in the summer he receives the Matteucci medal, a prestigious physics prize awarded by Italy’s National Academy of Sciences the XL (of the Forty). This is the first time that the Italian academic world recognizes Marconi’s research.
The successful transmission from the Isle of Wight to Cape Lizard, approximately three-hundred kilometres of sea, consolidates Marconi's determination to secretly prepare his transatlantic endeavour. He pays little heed to the scepticism that surrounds him.
Marconi first establishes a receiving station in Cape Cod (USA) but then is obliged to transfer it to St. John's, Newfoundland, which at that time was a British territory. After a year of frenzied work and a series of accidents and delays, mostly due to difficult weather conditions, Marconi achieves his goal. On December 12, a weak signal from Poldhu arrives on the other side of the Atlantic. The three short taps that symbolize the letter "S" in Morse Code are received by Marconi: the era of long-distance radio-communication is born. Since his 1895 experiments, many had questioned whether Marconi was the first to have invented wireless telegraphy, including the volcanic and brilliant Nikola Tesla. However, until Marconi, no one had ever before attempted wireless communication across the ocean, between two distant shores. For all his life, Marconi recognizes this moment, and achievement, as the most important in his long career.
Despite the enthusiasm of the press, and a gala dinner in honour of Marconi held by the prestigious American Institute of Electrical Engineers, many experts still doubt that Marconi has actually succeeded in achieving wireless transatlantic communication. Marconi therefore sets off from England to New York on board the Philadelphia. During the crossing he receives messages - thousands of kilometres from Poldhu - in the presence of its Commander and First Officer. On this voyage he discovers the "night effect", a natural phenomenon that makes it easier to transmit during the night rather than during the day.
The cable companies do everything possible to limit the spread of Marconi's new system, forcing him to abandon St. John's. Marconi does not lose heart and decides to set up a new station on Canadian territory at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
In June, Marconi is invited by the Italian Navy to board the battleship Carlo Alberto, which is travelling from England to Kronstadt
(St. Petersburgh), so that King Vittorio Emanuele III can attend the wedding of Tsar Nicholas II's son. During the voyage Marconi carries out more experiments. In Kronstadt he is introduced to the Tsar and to the Russian scientist Aleksandr Popov who declares Marconi the "father of radio". On the way back, after the Straits of Gibraltar, the Carlo Alberto receives a series of messages from Poldhu confirming that radio waves can travel over great continental regions without interference from the presence of mountain ranges.
In September, Marconi returns to Bologna where he is honoured in the "Archiginnasio". Greatly moved, he speaks for the first time about his work in front of the local authorities. A period of intense activity follows. In October he undertakes a second campaign of experiments on board the Carlo Alberto. He travels back to Canada and on December 21, he transmits the first intercontinental radio-telegrams from Glace Bay, his first permanent transmission station in North America, to the station at Poldhu. The messages are sent to the King of Italy and the King of England.
The Marconi Company builds its first powerful station in the United States in Cape Cod. The first radio message between the United States and Great Britain is sent by President Theodor Roosevelt to King Edward VII.
In May Marconi goes to Rome where he receives honorary citizenship. He holds a conference in Campidoglio in the presence of the Royal Family. It is decided to build a large power station in Coltano, near Pisa. Success goes hand-in-hand with ever increasing problems. Marconi finds himself dealing with delicate international affairs, the cable companies, and edgy shareholders. He finds himself in exhausting disputes over his patents and above all faces an industrial offensive from competing companies that offer alternatives to his system. The German government promotes the creation of Telefunken, the technical and commercial integration of the Slaby-Arco system (AEG) and the Braun system (Siemens-Halske). This leads to a commercial battle between the Marconi Co. and Telefunken and is accompanied by intense diplomatic activity on the part of the governments involved. Despite these attempts to break his monopoly and stronghold in the wireless industry, Marconi manages to sign contracts with the Italian Ministry of Post and Telegraph and the British Admiralty.
In August, the First International Radio Telegraphic Conference is held in Berlin in a climate that is evidently hostile to Marconi, who does not participate. Some delegates propose the establishment of a one-hundred miles limit on the transmission range between naval stations and coasts. Meanwhile, Marconi, on board the transatlantic liner Lucania, receives regular communications from Poldhu, Glace Bay and Cape Cod under the watchful eyes of passengers.
Marconi's father Giuseppe dies on March 26, while Marconi is in Bologna to receive his honorary degree from the Regia Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri. Although the degree had been awarded to Marconi in November 1902, the official ceremony had been delayed.
In May, Marconi comes to an arrangement with the Italian government that allows for the free use of his patents. This arrangement extends to the Italian Ministry Post and Telegraph, on the condition that the Marconi system is used exclusively in the stations.
In mid-November, Fleming manages to create a thermionic valve, the diode. Nobody really understands its exact use but Marconi immediately begins producing it in the factory in Chelmsford as a new receiver.
On March 16, in London, Marconi marries Beatrice O'Brien, daughter of the 14th Earl of Inchiquin, Ireland.
Marital bliss is soon disturbed by new business problems. The obstructionism of international high finance, with its interest in ensuring the profits of the cable companies are maintained, becomes increasingly obvious.
In October, work is begun on a new station in Clifden, Ireland.
In February, Marconi’s daughter Lucia is born in London but she lives only a few weeks. It is a difficult period for Marconi: violent attacks of malaria contracted on one of his many journeys render him bedridden for three months.
In Berlin, during the Second International Radio Telegraphic Conference, a comprehensive agreement is drawn up between many major countries. On this occasion the Marconi Company is accused of refusing to communicate with stations belonging to other companies, even in the case of shipwrecks. Despite numerous denials and clarifications, the shares of the Marconi Co. drop dramatically.
Lee de Forest’s triode valve or Audion, an evolution of Fleming’s diode, is invented. This makes transmission along a continuous wave possible. This ability to modulate and demodulate signals by means of a continuous wave creates the foundation for the long distance transmission of voices and images.
On Christmas Eve, Reginald A. Fessenden broadcasts sound (words and music) over the radio waves for the first time.
On October 18, Marconi’s next ambitious transatlantic project is completed. The first regular radiotelegraphic public service between Europe and America begins with an exchange of official messages between the King of England (from London via Clifden) and the Governor Ge
An international agreement for telecommunications is instituted and ratified by Great Britain and Germany. Amongst other things, a new international signal for distress is adopted, the SOS, chosen for technical reasons. Commercially speaking, this agreement limits the Marconi Company's practical monopoly, which was achieved because of the company’s superior technological and planning abilities.
On September 11, Marconi's daughter, Degna, is born in London.neral of Canada (from Ottawa via Glace Bay).
An important rescue at sea, made possible by Marconi’s wireless, takes place on January 23. Thick fog causes the Republic, a transatlantic liner of the White Star Line, to collide with the Italian ship Florida off the coast of New York. The wireless operator Jack Binns stays at his post and for fourteen long hours sending CQD signals. Three steamboats come to the rescue saving approximately seventeen-hundred passengers and crew members from certain death.
Marconi is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics together with the German physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the developments of wireless telegraphy". Marconi had been previously nominated in 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1908, but it is probable that the Republic episode played a role in the decision to finally grant him this award. Initially, Marconi is tempted to refuse the "half-prize", but he decides to accept for as a self-taught person official recognition of his intellectual achievements are crucial. On December 10, he attends the ceremony in Stockholm and the day after he delivers the Nobel Lecture.
Radiotelegraphy once again dominates the front pages of the British press when the infamous murderer Hawley Crippen is captured thanks to a ‘marconigram’ sent by the captain of the Montrose, sailing from Anverse, Belgium, to Montreal, Canada. The missive informs the police that Crippen is on board. The famous criminal is arrested before leaving the ship.
On May 31, Marconi’s son Giulio is born in Villa Griffone.
In autumn, Marconi sets off on another voyage on the transatlantic liner the Principessa Mafalda headed for Buenos Aires, Argentina. The experiments he carries out on board are extraordinary: Marconi manages to transmit and receive at a distance of ten thousand kilometres.
The ban on communications between different systems effectively comes to an end in January when the DEBEG is formed. This German company's major shareholder is Telefunken, but Marconi Co. and a Belgian firm participate to assist in the management of the radiotelegraphic equipment of the German Merchant Navy.
On November 19, after years of bureaucratic delays and in the presence of Vittorio Emanuele III, the Radio Centre of Coltano is officially inaugurated with a transmission to Glace Bay. The station makes communication on a daily basis with Eastern Africa possible. The waves cross the vast expanse of the desert, an obstacle that had been considered insurmountable.
While headed to India on board the Medina, the British King George V uses the wireless to set up a mobile office: he receives information, communicates his decisions and even bestows long-distance honours.
The transatlantic liner Titanic, belonging to the White Star Line, is considered to be the first truly "unsinkable" ship. On April 14, on her maiden voyage from England to New York, the ship hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic waters. The ship is badly damaged and begins to sink quickly in the middle of the night and in the middle of the ocean. An English merchant ship, with no wireless equipment on board, passes close-by without noticing a thing. However, thanks to the determination of the wireless operators, in particular John Phillips who gives his life, distress signals are sent and the exact position of the ship is received by two other ships that arrive the next day. Seven-hundred people are rescued, one-third of the passengers on board. The survivors are taken to New York where they gather under Marconi's hotel window to express their gratitude.
On May 12, Marconi is invited to Lisbon for a conference. He begins negotiations with the Portuguese government for the installation of a large number of transmission stations.
In June the Third International Radio Telegraphic Conference is held in London and a new convention is signed making the monopoly or semi-monopoly of radio-communications unfeasible.
On September 25, while travelling with his wife and a friend from Coltano to Genova near The Bracco Pass (La Spezia), Marconi loses his right eye in a serious car accident and undergoes a period of convalescence.
The Marconi Company presents a detailed project called "The Imperial Wireless Scheme" to the British government that proposes the creation of eighteen long-distance wireless stations. The British government decides that the stations will be the property of the state and that the Marconi Co. be paid a percentage of the profits. Rumors of the impending agreement cause Marconi stock to rise and the newspapers accuse the company of speculating on the financial markets. This becomes known as "The Marconi Scandal".
The House of Commons meets to debate the accusation of speculation against the Marconi Co. The House absolves the company of all wrong-doing.
On December 30, Marconi is named Senator of the Kingdom of Italy under Category 20, reserved for "those who have brought fame to their country through services rendered or personal merit".
Francesco Saverio Nitti, who had put Marconi's name forward, involves him in the creation of the Italian Bank of Sconto, an important financial institution for the mobilization of industry in the event of Italy's entry into war. Marconi becomes president of the bank
Italy enters the First World War. Marconi returns from the USA, joins the Italian army, and becomes a lieutenant with the Airship Engineers. An officer in the army, he serves with the Radiotelegraphic Institute of the Navy. He is named a Corvette Captain. In 1920 he becomes Frigate Captain and in 1931 he is awarded the rank of Captain. By 1936 he achieves the rank of ‘Contrammiraglio’.
Marconi inspects the radiotelegraph mobile units located at the Front. He gathers funds for the construction of new stations and the modernization of the instruments in use. He encourages the use of wireless telegraphy in aviation.
On April 10, Marconi's daughter, Gioia Jolanda, is born in London. Marconi begins to feel the need to change his research direction. Long wave technology had come to a dead end. From this point on he would begin experimenting the use of shortwaves.
David Sarnoff sends a memo to the director of American Marconi Co. proposing a kind of "music-box" in every house. The proposal is ignored but becomes the first rough draft for the radio. Sarnoff himself will become one of the main figures in the birth of the commercial broadcast radio in the 1920s in America.
Unable to leave Italy, Marconi sends for his wife and children to come to Rome. They move out of London, which is threatened by German zeppelins.
Marconi takes part in the Italian mission to the United States, led by Francesco Saverio Nitti, in the spring. The successful outcome of the mission leads the Italian Prime Minister to offer Marconi the post of Italian High Commissioner in the United States. However, Marconi's conditions are so strict that the whole plan falls through.
On November 5, Marconi, who is the director of the Gianicolo radio station in Rome, receives a marconigram informing that the Kaiser has abdicated.
The war impedes and complicates Marconi’s technical and commercial relations with the Italian government to such an extent that tensions and financial disputes will arise.
In June, Marconi is called upon by the Government to become a member of the Italian Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference.
Marconi buys a yacht confiscated during the war and calls it Elettra. He installs a modern thermionic valve station on the yacht. This allows Marconi to indulge in his lifelong passion for the sea and to carry out his experiments anytime and anywhere he wishes from his mobile laboratory.
In April, he resigns from his post as a member of the Italian delegation because of serious disagreements with the Government. In particular, the "Fiume issue" leads him also to disassociate himself from Nitti, his political mentor.
In May, Marconi re-establishes relations with Portugal and carries out broadcasting experiments on board the Elettra, which is sailing in the Atlantic, establishing communication between the yacht and Monsanto (Lisbon).
On June 3, Marconi's mother Annie dies.
On June 15, Dame Nellie Melba’s concert is broadcast from Chelmsford, using Marconi equipment. This is radio's first official broadcast.
On September 22, Marconi arrives in the port of Fiume on his yacht Elettra and is welcomed as a brother by the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio. Despite the wishes of the Italian government, Marconi leaves the next day without attempting to dissuade D’Annunzio from his protests.
On December 15, the first radiotelegraphic and radiotelephonic contact is established between Switzerland and England. A station in Geneva is set up in fifteen days and connected to the building of The League of Nations.
The Società Marconi Italia is set up and requests licences for twelve radiotelegraphic stations. It must, however, face stiff competition from the Società Italia Radio, an offshoot of the French C.G.T.S.F, and Radio Elettrica, a branch of Telefunken.
The B.B.C. (British Broadcasting Corporation) is born and serves as a model for all European broadcasters to follow. The Marconi Company is one of the founding partners.
Marconi enters into a new dispute with the Italian government over its actions, including the confiscation of Marconi's property in Italy, after the failure of the Italian Bank of Sconto.
On June 20, in an important conference held in New York at the Institute of Radio Engineers, Marconi talks about shortwave transmissions and gives a practical demonstration announcing that he is confident that this system will become widespread. On the same occasion he describes a long series of tests already carried out and foresees the advent of a radio-localization device, later known as radar.
On September 14, an agreement is signed between the Portuguese Government and the Marconi Company to cover the radiotelegraphic network between Portugal and its colonies in Africa, Asia and Indonesia.
Marconi publicly adheres to fascism. His decision is based on a combination of fervent nationalism and personal disappointments in the fields of politics and diplomacy. He is also favourably impressed by the changes Mussolini has brought about in Italian life. Marconi soon becomes a symbol of the "genio italico" (The Italian Genius) and is given important positions in the regime. However, Marconi maintains a certain detachment from all the regime represents because, as his daughter Degna has written in her biography: "He is a man who straddles two centuries and two homelands".
The Italian Minister of Post and Telegraph, Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò, awards a licence for radio stations in Italy to Italo-Radio, a company in which the French and the German companies have shares but the Marconi Co. does not. Marconi does not want a minor role and in addition he judges the instruments to be totally inadequate in light of his next innovation tested on board the Elettra during a long summer cruise in the south Atlantic: the shortwave beam system.
After years of tensions and irreconcilable differences Marconi and his wife Beatrice divorce.
In June, the British Government negotiates an agreement for the radiotelegraphic and radiotelephonic connection (Imperial Wireless Chain) between London and its colonies Canada, South Africa, India and Australia via Marconi's shortwave band. On May 30, Marconi broadcasts a human voice from England to Australia for the first time. In September, a new agreement is drawn up for the Italian radiotelegraphic services by Minister of Communications, Costanzo Ciano, which excludes French and German companies. Marconi's demands are not met, however, and he does not become president of Italo-Radio.
In December, the Compagnia Marconi is awarded exclusive rights to the radio broadcast service by the Unione Radiofonica Italiana (EIAR from 1927), which is in part controlled by Marconi.
In February, Godfrey Isaacs, the driving force of the Marconi Company's ascent to commercial and financial success, resigns due to ill health. From this point on, the company remains an important presence in the radio-communications market but will not always make the best decisions.
In a speech held in June in Bologna's great hall of the "Archiginnasio" for the 30th anniversary of wireless telegraphy, Marconi divides his career into three ten-year phases: 1896-1906, with the invention and development of the radiotelegraphic system that bears his name; 1906-1916, a period when improvements are made possible because of Fleming's thermionic valve; 1916-1926, with the substitution of the long wave system by the shortwave band, that finally solves the problem of achieving regular radio-communication, night or day, between the antipodes.
In April, the Court of the Sacra Rota annuls the marriage between Beatrice O'Brien and Marconi on the grounds of absence of assent leaving Marconi free to marry Maria Cristina Bezzi Scali, a woman of Roman nobility.
On September 1, Marconi is appointed President of the National Research Council.
In Italy the radical transformation of the radio and electric communications sector is completed. It becomes oligopolistic with a majority share held by the Marconi companies (Italo-Radio, Radiofono, Radionazionale, SIRM).
In November, Marconi suffers a series of heart attacks, first on board a ship returning from New York and then again in London. He is diagnosed with "angina pectoris", and will be forced to undergo treatment and periods of rest.
The airship Italia, commanded by Umberto Nobile, carries out an expedition to the North Pole. During the second flight it crashes. Its wireless operator, Giuseppe Biagi, builds an antenna and somehow powers the small transmitter that Marconi had recommended and personally given to the expedition members. An SOS is transmitted and received by an unknown amateur shortwave radio operator in north Russia. After numerous attempts, Biagi is able to guide a plane towards their "red tent". The rescue operations are very difficult and six members of the rescue team lose their lives including the famous Edmund Amundsen, as the whole world witnesses the events with bated-breath. This episode marks the definitive use of shortwave radio in civilian and military aviation.
A merger takes place between one of the main cable companies (The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Company) and the Marconi’s Wireless Company. The thirty-year long tough conflict is over.
On June 17, Marconi is created a Marquis by His Majesty the King of Italy. In September he visits Portugal for the third and last time.
March 26: Marconi turns on the lights of the Radio and Electrical Exhibition at the Sydney Town Hall, Australia, via a radio signal from from the yacht Elettra, which is anchored in the port of Genoa - a distance of twenty-two thousand kilometers.
Coltano, becomes the first high-power shortwave radio centre at the service of ships everywhere.
On July 20, Marconi's daughter, Maria Elettra, is born at Villa Odescalchi in Civitavecchia.
On September 19, Marconi is named as President of the Royal Academy of Italy and therefore, by right, becomes a Member of the Great Council of Fascism.
Although most of his technical, industrial and commercial activities are in England, Marconi’s public and private life increasingly tie him to Italy.
On February 12, Pope Pius XI inaugurates the radio station of the Vatican City, designed and built by Marconi.
On October 12, from Rome via Coltano, Marconi turns on the lights of the Statue of the Redeemer on Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro.
In August, the largest radiotelephonic service in the world is realized using Marconi equipment. Over ten-thousand miles away of distance is covered between the Conte Rosso, sailing in the China Sea and Coltano station, Italy.
Marconi travels the world and visits many different places including Chicago, San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, China and India all of which honour him as "the father of radio".
October 2 is declared Marconi Day in America to honour the Italian inventor.
Marconi is named President of the Institute of the Italian Encyclopaedia. An experiment in "blind navigation" is carried out. The Elettra enters the port of Sestri Levante guided solely by a radio with no compass and no visibility from the coast.
In May, Marconi arrives in Bologna where celebrations take place at The "Littoriale" (today known as Dall’Ara Stadium). Marconi receives an honorary degree in physics in the Great Hall at the University of Bologna. In September, Marconi and his wife visit Gabriele D’Annunzio at the Vittoriale.
At the National Congress of Electro-radiobiology, in Venice, Marconi delivers a speech on microwaves and introduces a new application for radiowaves in the health sector (afterwards called "marconitherapy"). After the speech, Marconi has another attack and faces yet another period of convalescence.
In light of military operations in Eastern Africa a radiotelephonic link between Rome and Asmara (Eritrea) is established.
On April 15, Marconi carries out some experiments at Torre Chiaruccia (Civitavecchia) on the phenomenon of microwave reflection. This experiment paves the way for the perfection of radar by the British. After his experiments with long waves and short waves, the testing of microwaves become Marconi's new goal.
In September, Marconi visits Brazil. It will be his last transoceanic voyage. The economic sanctions imposed on Italy by the international community as a result of the war in Ethiopia strike a serious blow to Marconi's business interests. He is obliged to approve Italy's actions, damaging his relations with the British Government. This, in turn, complicates the financial relations between his network of companies, which have their roots in the United Kingdom. It is highly probable that Marconi talked in person to Mussolini in an attempt to dissuade him from entering into a conflict with the British in the Mediterranean.
Marconi suffers an enormous humiliation in London. The General Manager of the BBC, John Reith, refuses to broadcast Marconi's speech that explains the Italian position on the Eastern African question.
On a train back to Rome Marconi has a heart attack. He will not leave the Capital again.
At the request of British physicist J.J. Thompson, Marconi decides to help Heinrich Hertz's daughter to leave Germany for England because of growing anti-semitism. Marconi never agreed with Nazi racial policy and while in England he made donations to Zionist organizations. Marconi is troubled as Italy's relations with Germany grow stronger.
On April 24, Marconi’s brother dies.
On November 2, the first regular television service in the world is opened. After a brief period of experimentation with systems John Logie Baird's mechanical system and Marconi's electronic system, the BBC adopts Marconi-EMI's electronic television system (in February 1937).
On March 11, Marconi sends a radio message to The Chicago Tribune Forum which sets out a scientific legacy for radiocommunications. In this message he clearly foresees future technical developments and underlines the ecumenical vocation of wireless communications as an instrument of peace and union between people.
July 20: Guglielmo Marconi suffers a heart attack and dies in his apartment on Via Condotti in Rome.
Amongst the many tributes received, one in particular stands out: in his honour radio stations all over the world simultaneously interrupt their broadcasts for two minutes. The ether becomes silent just as it was before Marconi's invention.
After a solemn funeral procession, thousands of people file past Marconi's coffin in the Great Hall of Honour of the Farnesina Palace to pay him homage. Marconi’s body is then taken to Bologna to the Marconi family tomb.
On March 7, a Royal Decree is issued, changing the name of "Sasso Bolognese" (until 1935 Praduro e Sasso) to "Sasso Marconi".
Another Royal Decree is issued on March 28, commemorating April 25, the day of Marconi’s birthday, as a "civilian and solemn day".
On October 6, with great ceremony, Marconi's remains are taken from the Cemetery of the Certosa to the Mausoleum built to his memory. Designed by Marcello Piacentini, the mausoleum is situated at the foot of Villa Griffone, the place where Marconi, at the age of twenty-one, began his extraordinary adventure in the world of wireless communications.