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Italian electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi was the first to create a practical system for communicating over long distances using radio signals. News reports in issues of Scientific American from 1902 to 1903 recorded Marconi’s first successful transmissions and receptions of radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean. The magazine also presented a profile of Marconi, who was described as being plagued by the untiring pursuit of the “modern press.”
January 4, 1902
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The Scientific American is enabled to present to its readers the first photographs that have been taken of Marconi's station at Signal Hill, Newfoundland—a station which will hereafter be memorable as the first place where a transoceanic wireless message was received.
That the signals were received can hardly be doubted. Marconi himself has publicly stated that the signals were heard with certainty and distinctness. At the Signal Hill station a receiving wire was employed about 400 feet high, which was supported by a kite. At Cornwall, the transmitting station was provided with an apparatus which was much more powerful than that previously used for communicating at distances of 200 miles. Even with a transmitter of increased power, the signals were heard only with the aid of a most sensitive telephone receiver. Before leaving England, Marconi had made elaborate arrangements to transmit the letter S of the Morse alphabet at a certain time. From English reports it would seem that the letter was telegraphed many times without appreciably affecting the Newfoundland receiver, until the memorable Wednesday of December 11, 1901. But upon this point nothing definite is yet known. We must await the paper which Marconi has promised to read as soon as possible before some scientific society. Marconi has had unusual technical difficulties to contend with. His poles have worked very unsatisfactorily; and the balloons and kites have not given the results that he expected. In Newfoundland a pole 130 feet high has been erected with all possible care, and yet it will not be able to withstand one of the violent gales so prevalent at this time of the year along the Canadian Atlantic coast. When it is considered that the poles cost $1,200 each, how enormous is the expense of experimenting can easily be appreciated.
At present, Marconi is endeavoring to reduce the height of the masts. But until he has solved the problem of operating nearer to the surface, he will probably construct for the purpose of his work a tower of such size that it cannot be blown down. In the experiments of Thursday, December 12, the kite was lost within one minute after the receipt of the letter 'S.'
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The announcement of his success has earned for Marconi a popularity which is not the fortune of all inventors. The Canadian government has determined to stand by him in his fight against the Anglo-American Cable Company. Officials have honored him everywhere. At a dinner given to Marconi, Governor Boyle spoke glowingly of Marconi's achievement. Marconi replied: 'If my system of wireless telegraphy can be commercially established between different parts of the earth, the possibility of which I may state I have not the slightest doubt, it would bring about an enormous cheapening in the methods of communication at present existing. The system of submarine cables of to-day fulfills the demand of communication to a great extent. But the great cost of the cables themselves and their heavy working expenses place the existing method beyond the reach of a majority of the people inhabiting the various countries of the world. But could this new method be applied, I believe the cost of what we now call cabling to England might be reduced at least twentyfold. I do not see why, eventually, with the wireless system, this cost should not be reduced to one cent a word or less.… This colony of Newfoundland is the first in which a message was received by cable, across the ocean, and I am glad to say it has also been the first to receive a message across this same ocean without a cable.'
Although they have unlimited confidence in Marconi's ability and rely implicitly upon his honesty, many scientists are by no means convinced that transoceanic wireless telegraphy is certain. Edison believes that success would not have been attained, perhaps, if Marconi had attempted to transmit an entire sentence. Moreover, the receiver was not the ordinary apparatus, but a telephone of the most delicate construction, and most sensitive in operation. Even with this fine instrument the signals are said to have been barely distinguishable. When these facts are kept in view, the necessity of further and more elaborate experiments and the transmission of entire messages is apparent.
The Newfoundland work is of interest technically, not only by reason of the enormous distance involved, but also by reason of the fact that the ratio of mast height to distance was not maintained. From the reports it would seem that poles were used in Cornwall no greater in height than those commonly employed for the transmission of messages for 50 or 60 miles. The curvature of the earth, formerly considered a formidable obstacle, seems to have but little effect upon the transmitted waves. Between England and Canada there is a huge curve 100 miles high. The amount of electrical energy required varies as the square of the distance. Up to the time of these last experiments Marconi had succeeded in telegraphing some 400 miles. To telegraph 1,800 miles would necessitate the expenditure of energy twenty times as great. Whether this ratio held good in the case of the transatlantic signals remains to be seen.
January 3, 1903
It is now authoritatively announced by Marconi, himself, that wireless messages have been transmitted between the Old and the New World. Messages were sent from Lord Minto, Governor-General of Canada, and from Marconi, to King Edward. Messages were likewise sent to the King of Italy, by Marconi and by Commander Martino of the Italian cruiser 'Carlo Alberto'; other messages were from Dr. Parkin to the London Times, and from Richard Cartwright of Canada to the Times.
The message to the King of England read as follows: 'To Lord Knollys, Buckingham Palace, London:
'On the occasion of the first wireless telegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean may I be permitted to present by means of this wireless message, transmitted from Canada to England, my respectful homage to his Majesty the King? Marconi.'
The message to the King from the Earl of Minto read:
'To his Majesty the King, London:
'May I be permitted by means of this wireless message to congratulate your Majesty on the success of Marconi's great invention, connecting England and Canada? Minto.'
The following message by wireless telegraphy was received from the King of Italy by Signor Marconi in reply to the inventor's transatlantic marconigram:
'I learn with the keenest pleasure of the great results you have achieved. They constitute a fresh triumph for you to the greater glory of Italian science. 'Victor Emmanuel.'
Marconi states that it was about a month ago that he succeeded in transmitting messages from Table Head to Cornwall. First, the messages were all in code and were simple queries, such as 'How is this?'
In many respects this achievement of Marconi is fully equal to that of Cyrus Field in opening communication between America and England by means of the submarine cable. But the distance covered by Marconi is greater than that over which the first submarine cable extended, by about 300 miles. So far as practical results are concerned, the Anglo-Italian inventor may well be regarded as the pioneer of commercial wireless telegraphy. Where others have failed he has succeeded.
January 31, 1903
On the night of January 18, Marconi succeeded in outdoing himself when he transmitted a message of greeting from President Roosevelt to King Edward directly from the Cape Cod station to Poldhu, England. The distance covered is greater by 600 miles than that over which messages have previously been sent.
The performance is all the more remarkable when it is considered that the message was sent without any previous attempt to establish communication by preliminary signals.
It was on Sunday, January 18, that President Roosevelt sent to Marconi, by the ordinary telegraph, a message for King Edward. The message read as follows:
'His Majesty King Edward VII., London, by Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy:
'In taking advantage of the wonderful triumph of scientific research and ingenuity which has been achieved in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy, I extend, on behalf of the American people, most cordial greetings and good wishes to you and to all the people of the British Empire. Theodore Roosevelt.
'Washington, D. C.'
Marconi's success came unexpectedly. After having busied himself all day in preparing his sending apparatus, he began to practise sending President Roosevelt's message without calling either the Poldhu or the Glace Bay station, contrary to the arrangements which he had made. Thinking that he might not be able to get the English station for a day or two, he decided to send the President's message by way of the Glace Bay station. Calling up the operator there he gave him the message with instructions to forward it to England. To Marconi's astonishment he received a reply from Glace Bay that the operator had been informed by the station at Poldhu that the message had been received directly from Cape Cod. There was not the slightest hitch in the process of sending. About four minutes were required to transmit the entire message.
King Edward replied to the message which he received from the President by cable as follows:
'Sandringham, January 19, 1903.
'The President, White House, Washington, D. C., America:
'I thank you most sincerely for the kind message which I have just received from you through Marconi's transatlantic wireless telegraphy. I sincerely reciprocate in the name of the people of the British Empire the cordial greetings and friendly sentiment expressed by you on behalf of the American nation, and I heartily wish you and your country every possible prosperity. 'Edward, R. and I.'
The King sent his message by cable for the reason that Marconi was adjusting his instrument for sending tests to England and did not wish to upset his plans by making any attempt at receiving from the other side of the ocean.
February 7, 1903
Only five years have passed since the general public first heard of Marconi. Scientists, to be sure, had known of him as a young man who was carrying on the work of Hertz and his immediate successors. When, however, Marconi made his first successful experiments in transmitting messages for short distances without wires, the newspaper men scented a good 'story,' and proceeded to write him up for a sensation-loving world in their best and most flaring style. He is now one of the most 'interviewed' of public men. Reporters hunt him; and when they drive him to cover, they haunt him. Hardly a day passes but he is talked at, questioned as to his work, and begged to give some exclusive bit of information. He has been photographed in all possible positions. He has been interviewed at all possible times, and sometimes at impossible times. Clearly Marconi has learnt that fame is its own punishment; and that he must submit to the delicate torments of the inquisition instituted by the modern press. No wonder that he leaves the impression of being intensely wearied by interviewers. At best he is but pleasantly unhappy with them.
When you meet him for the first time, you know that he is not a cordial man; and yet you feel that he will not rebuff you, that he will probably do for you what he can. His manner is that of chilly reserve. In the press he is referred to as 'the young Anglo-Italian' who has done some startling things which are not very clearly explained. 'Anglo-Italian' may be a designation accurate enough politically; it is hardly characteristic of the man as he appears in the flesh. Italian blood flows in his veins, it is true; but he is English for all that—English in his bearing, English in his dress, English in his speech, save for the least perceptible foreign intonation. Not the faintest spark of southern fire ever flares up within him. A cool, calculating man of the North, is this so-called Anglo-Italian.
For a successful inventor Marconi appears the least joyous of men. His features are melancholy in expression. They are those of a man fast approaching forty—not those of a man of twenty-eight. His face is impassive, his eye almost cold. When he smiles he half shuts his eyes, wrinkles the muscles of his cheek, and draws up the corners of his mouth. It is not a pleasant smile.
If you visit Marconi with the expectation that he will do the most of the talking, you will find that you are grievously mistaken. You must do the talking yourself. To be sure, he answers questions frankly and fully; but he will not converse voluntarily. You discover quickly enough that his reticence is the reticence of modesty. When he discusses the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy, he refers to it as 'our' system, not as 'my' system. He praises where praise is due, recognizing fully that it is not given to any one man to learn all the secrets of science, and that great results are attained usually by the co-operation of many minds working to a common end. He acknowledges fully and openly how important to himself has been the work of his predecessors, and even that of some of his contemporaries. 'The success of the experiments with which I have been engaged is the logical result of the work of myself and of my assistants in the last few years, and of scientific investigations of the latter part of the century,' he himself says. 'Revolutionize' is a word not included in the vocabulary which he uses to describe the possibilities of his invention. He frankly admits that it is not his purpose to render submarine cables useless; he is satisfied if he can successfully compete with them; or if he can only make them cut down their present rates.
And yet, he talks of his system with a certain air of easy confidence, which leads you to infer that if any man will ever succeed in outdoing the submarine cables, it is Guglielmo Marconi. It is not often that he prophesies; and when he does, you feel that he knows; or as he himself puts it, 'It is not my policy to make a statement before I am absolutely sure of the facts.' When he told the representative of the Scientific American that in a few months a regular transatlantic wireless telegraph service would be established, he said it in a way that left no doubt of the thing.
Although he is modest, he does not wrong himself by belittling his own work. He talks of his magnetic receiver almost objectively, as if it were the production of some other inventor's mind, which is all the more noteworthy because the instrument in question is, probably, the most valuable contribution to wireless telegraphic apparatus made since the invention of the coherer. He admits his receiver's great speed and its general merit, and expresses his opinion of its recent remarkable performance at Cape Cod in terms of mild approval, which are, however, not utterly devoid of a tinge of pleasure. It is difficult to picture Marconi's waxing enthusiastic even over a very great achievement. It is significant that the newspaper men who saw him after his wonderful feat at Cape Cod merely reported him to be in exceptionally good humor.
He has had unusual obstacles to contend with in the development of his ideas. There have been technical difficulties, of which he is now fortunately able to speak as things of the past. The reason for these difficulties he describes in a simple way without a trace of the pride that he probably feels in having overcome them. 'Any other machine,' he says, 'enables the inventor to shut himself up in a room and announce results when it is wise for him to do so. Wireless telegraphy is different, especially in the way that we labor. It is not a case of one machine here and one in England; but of half a machine here, and another half in England. And each of these machines must be adjusted, the one to the other.'
More formidable even than the inherent technical difficulties of space telegraphy itself was the opposition of the British telegraph and cable companies, who thought that their vested interests of $400,000,000 were endangered by the new means of communication. Officials of the telegraph and cable companies have blocked Marconi's onward course wherever they could. Subject to government control as the telegraph systems are, the authorities have been discourteously slow to grant privileges to Marconi. They allowed him to send messages to ships three miles from land, but when the vessels came within the two and one-half mile limit, communication was forbidden. When he is asked to tell something of these trials, he answers, not bitterly as one might expect in a man who has been sometimes balked, but smilingly, in amused toleration, as if the experience was to have been foreseen. He does not gloat over the failure of the companies; he simply says: 'I think this opposition has at least been ineffective.' If you question him as to the commercial success of his invention, he points for an answer to the sixty English warships, twenty-five Italian warships, and a score of Atlantic liners equipped with his apparatus.
Nice distinctions in giving credit for the purely scientific steps by which results in transoceanic communication without wires have been attained, are here out of place. It is pleasing to note, however, that the resolution of Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, tendering the thanks of Congress to Marconi for the good he has done mankind, shows that our own government is keenly alive to the permanent benefit which has accrued to it as well as to the world from Marconi's work. As he himself recognizes the merit of the labors of those who went before him, it is fitting that others should recognize the fact that his organizing talent has brought together a hundred contributory speculations and detached discoveries into harmonious relation, and has given us a system of wireless telegraphy, still susceptible of improvement in many respects, no doubt, but practical in the attainment of results scarcely deemed possible by present agencies.
Source: Reprinted with permission. Copyright © January 1902 and January and February 1903 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved.
Appears in
Telecommunications; Radio; Communication; Marconi, Guglielmo
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