We take our wireless devices for granted today. There are a lot of them after all. It has become a way of life, even a necessity. Do you even have a cable that you could hardwire a computer to your modem at home?
There was a time when wireless transmission was thought to be impractical and even impossible over long distances. It was believed that the transmissions would simply shoot out into space rather than being able to follow the curvature of the Earth. One man though set out to see if he could make it work.
Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi had been born in Italy in 1874 and educated in England. He developed an interest in science and electricity and wanted to develop an electric telegraph. Other scientists and inventors had been trying their hand to make this work for over 50 years by the time he started working on it in the early 1890s and certainly no one thought that he would make any progress. He decided to build on the 1888 discovery that electromagnetic waves could be detected and produced by Heinrich Hertz. These would come to be known as radio waves.
Communication through the air?
These radio waves were a curiosity but they were believed to be a form of light which could only travel along the line of sight. Sure they could potentially be used to communicate with a ship just offshore but certainly not much further than that it was reasoned and current communication methods were just as effective.
Marconi thought otherwise and began experimenting at his home in Italy with his butler. At 20 years of age most probably thought he was crazy. His first innovation was a storm alarm which could pick up electromagnetic waves that were generated by lightning which would ring an alarm bell. Marconi also built a transmitter and receiver that he could press a button on one side of the room and ring a bell on the other. He demonstrated this to his mother who convinced his father to finance his work.
By 1895 Marconi had developed a transmitter and receiver and was able to transmit a signal wirelessly over half a mile. His breakthrough came shortly thereafter when he discovered that he could increase his range by raising his antennae. Now his signal could travel 2-3 miles and over hills. (In actuality a Russian inventor had also been working on a radio telegraph and had been the first one to successfully demonstrate it) With this discovery he tried to get the Italian government interested but was unable to do so and packed up and headed to England. It helped that he spoke fluent English, had been educated in England and that his mother was British.
Taking wireless to the British and Americans
The British government was interested following a demonstration in 1896 where he sent a signal nearly 4 miles over land and after sending a signal across the Bristol Channel. He began to receive international recognition as he conducted numerous demonstrations for the British public. The government lightship service saw the potential and installed his devices along the coast of Dover at the South Foreland Lighthouse. In March 1899 a vessel ran aground and the wireless device was used to summon help.
Seeing the commercial value in what he was doing he started The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company which became known as the Marconi Company later on. Marconi traveled to the United States to demonstrate his invention where he helped to cover the America’s Cup. While these demonstrations were bringing him fame he set his sights on a greater challenge, to transmit across the Atlantic Ocean.
Trans-Atlantic transmission
Marconi wanted privacy to conduct his work and finding a location in England was easy. He set up in Poldhu in Cornwall. Finding a location in North America would be harder. Ideally Cape Spear, which is the easternmost point on the island of Newfoundland, would be best but it was too exposed to storms. A large hill outside of St. John’s was settled on instead that would become known as Signal Hill. At 140 feet high it overlooked St. John’s Bay and while he would not be isolated it would have to do.
Marconi set an appointed time each day where the team at Poldhu would transmit three dots, the Morse Code for the letter S. They were unaware as to what Marconi was doing across the ocean or even if he was set up. The weather was abysmal in late 1901 when the experiment started and for several days there was nothing. Marconi was battling storms and was struggling to keep his antennas high enough in the winds but on December 12 he finally heard the three dots through his headset at the appointed time. He announced the success to the world two days later.
Was success pure dumb luck?
He may very well have been lucky. The appointed time was during the daytime on both sides of the Atlantic which was the worst possible choice as the ionosphere absorbs the waves during daylight hours (he had no way of knowing this of course). Traveling the 2,200 miles across the ocean Marconi only heard the dots faintly but he heard them. Of course skeptics abounded.
Marconi set out to prove them wrong. Returning to Great Britain he set out again back across the ocean on a ship recording daily signals from Poldhu receiving them as far as 2,100 miles away. While not confirming his original experiment he did prove that long distance wireless communication was indeed possible.
He built on this in 1902 creating the world’s first radio message that crossed the Atlantic from Nova Scotia back to Poldhu. The following year a message of greeting was sent from US President Theodore Roosevelt to King Edward VII. The technology seemed to be proven and Marconi set about building transmitting stations all along the coasts to communicate with ships at sea.
Commercializing wireless transmissions
The first commercialization of wireless came in 1904 when ship lines could subscribe to a service that sent news to their ships so their passengers could stay up to date. A commercial service also started in 1907 to transmit between Great Britain and Canada.
The worth of Marconi’s invention was proven in 1912 when the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg. The Marconi operators on board the ship sent out wireless distress signals which brought help, albeit well after the vessel sunk but over 700 people were rescued that might not have been otherwise. Transmissions from the Titanic were even picked up in Newfoundland and Marconi himself interviewed the surviving transmitter Harold Bride when he arrived in New York. Marconi was hailed as a hero by the British government. Ironically Marconi had been offered passage on the Titanic but had taken another liner a few days before since that vessel had a stenographer and Titanic did not.
Marconi was knighted in Great Britain and was made a Senator in Italy. He was placed in charge of the Italian military’s wireless service during World War I. Following the war he joined the Fascist Party and became president of the Royal Academy and was a member of the Fascist Grand Council. Marconi died in 1937 following a series of heart attacks at the age of 63.
Think about everything that you have that uses wireless technology, from your smartphone to your laptop to your car radio. While they probably would have been invented at some point our world would look very different. Marconi was the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg of his time. A monument stands in his honor at Poldhu and Signal Hill in St. John’s is a national park. Sometimes it just takes a vision and some hard work to change the world (and maybe a little bit of luck).