Guglielmo Marconi

Born

1874 · Bologna, Italy

Roots

Italian father, Irish mother of the Jameson whiskey family

Family

Affluent

Landowner father; his Irish mother backed the experiments and took him to England.

Education

Private tutors; failed the University of Bologna entrance exam

Started with

An attic lab

Experiments on his father's estate; when Italy showed no interest, his mother's connections opened London.

Affiliations & societies

National Fascist PartyDocumented

Joined in 1923; Mussolini later made him president of the Royal Academy of Italy and a Grand Council member.

Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1. 1894 · age 20
   The attic at Villa Griffone

   Reads of Hertz's death and begins wireless experiments; a rifle shot over the hill confirms the first out-of-sight transmission.

2. 1896 · age 21
   London

   Files the first wireless-telegraphy patent; the Post Office's chief engineer sponsors demonstrations.

3. 1901 · age 27
   Across the Atlantic

   Receives the letter "S" in Newfoundland from Cornwall, against predictions that the Earth's curvature made it impossible.

4. 1909 · age 35
   Nobel Prize in Physics

   Shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun.

5. 1912 · age 38
   Titanic

   Survivors owe their rescue to wireless; Marconi operators stayed at their keys.

6. 1937 · age 63
   Dies in Rome

   Radio stations worldwide observe two minutes of silence.