25 APRIL .... the day of the father of the radio : MARCONI

I have to admit, I am very disappointed at the quality of the biographies on Marconi ( I have read). I have yet to see any of the caliber of what we see on Tesla for example.

No doubt Marconi was a complex and virtuous character. But we had a man who was both humanitarian and a Fascist (truly; look it up); a great supporter of women and a holder of a harem of 5 mistresses; an important inventor but more importantly a bundler of other inventions; a successful tycoon who flirted with going broke several times. This is a fascinating life, cut short.

I really, with true admiration, would like a glimpse at the real Marconi. Anyone have a high quality biography to suggest?

73
Chip W1YW

 

It is very interesting. I do not know the realities of life in the US and I can only guess why.
It is possible that in the US little translated books of others (not American) authors.
Here is the book I bought when I was 12 years old:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/30/65/bd/3065bd120c7c4dd9a70adcec869730b9.jpg
This is a book by the French author E. Iceberg, called: "Radio, Television?" "It's very simple!"
Here it is said about Marconi and about Popov and Tesla.

I have a Topic here: Movies about Radio.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/movies-about-radio.523035/#post-3845985

 

Wonderful article.

It is difficult to verify now, because: "one of the authors" - no name. But it could well be. If I lived in America at the time of Macartney (witch-hunting) and wrote in American magazine: Popov invented Radio! - What would they do to me? )))

Here is a wonderful article of a Russian radio amateur and a scientist (he has many patents in the field of radio engineering) RA3AAE:
http://news.cqham.ru/articles/detail.phtml?id=822
I'll give you one excerpt:
What does he (Popov)say about Tesla? He could not have known about these works! Of course, I knew, moreover, the Maritime Department, under the "reactionary" tsarist government, sent Popov, as a young and talented scientist, to America (USA!!!), to the World Electrical Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, so that he would be recruited there for a foreign mind-reason! Tesla was engaged in electric lighting of the exhibition, and showed his works there. Popov later wrote in his book "Wiring without wires" [1]:

"Tesla at the departure station picked up an insulated conductor on a high mast, equipped with a metal sheet at the top end, connected to the pole of a high-voltage and high-frequency transformer at the lower end of the wire, and the other pole of the transformer was connected to the ground. receiving station in the phone, plugged into the ground and high-lifted wire ... ".

Thus, Popov himself recognized the priority of Tesla. Elsewhere, he says directly that the task of transmitting signals without wires has been successfully solved by Tesla. Popov saw his task in the improvement and practical application of the system for the needs of the fleet, and there is absolutely nothing to blame him for.

 

We know about Popov.

Lightning detection is not wireless communication.

I do understand such bias, however:

Just last week I had a Russian Ph.D. (from Moscow University) ask for my autograph--fractal antennas are a staple part of telecom curriculum there. Here in the US, I can walk into an APS meeting and I'd be asked if I was lost, or looking for the Men's room.

Which is why I don't bother with IEEE talks at major conferences, and don't travel internationally to conferences anymore.

Oddly, the fewer I do, the more I get asked. Go figure.

 

Has anyone visited Villa Griffone? The Tomb? Is it worth a visit?

73
Chip W1YW

 

I think you studied somewhere


https://ru.pinterest.com/pin/495536765245339326/

This "спутник" was invented by you too?

 

Well, unless you can control the lightning with a telegraph key. Didn't the very first 'wireless' transmitters broadcast an extremely wide band static signal, created by jumping a spark across an air gap, akin to the static 'crashes' generated by lightning?

Dan KI4AX

 

Marconi was not a very nice person in reality! Read his biography and you might get a different opinion of this man!

 

Ha-ha-ha... This is a very precise remark! ( Proffesor do you hear this ?)
All first spark transmitters had the same spectrum as lightning.

 

Not relevant.

The point is that others preceeded Popov from a communications perspective.

 

You know, if Oliver Lodge didn't think that radio was the key to communicating with dead people, we wouldn't be talking about Marconi, or Tesla, or Popov at all.

Of course, some people actually think that Maxwell came up with the 4 Maxwell's equations, too ;-)

 

Indeed Tesla provided Marconi with essential information for wireless transmission, and Mr. JP Morgan was not happy as he saw that this would be an important moneymaker. Speaking of possible monopoly in the day, the Crosley biography (Two Brothers and a Business Empire That Transformed the Nation by David Stern, Michael A. Banks, Rusty McClure) provides a little insight how ABC, NBC, and CBS were created as legislative monopolies so that Marconi could not create his own radio corner thus being able to market and sell his own equipment, programming, etc. On the other hand there was nothing wrong with Marconi's enthusiasm, interest, and drive to push history to be that catalyst to make it happen.

 

"Marconi spent his last years in Italy. After coming to power fascism welcomed him and in 1923 joined the Fascist party.
June 17, 1929 King Victor Emmanuel III granted Marconi the hereditary title of the Marquis.
In 1930, Benito Mussolini appointed him head of the Royal Academy of Italy [it]. This post made him the precinct manager of fascist Italy - the Bolshevik Fascist Council."
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Маркони,_Гульельмо

Are we glorify here of the fascist should ?

 

Two weeks ago, I took the pictures in the garden of Villa Griffone
73
Andrea IN3HEZ

 

Graci!

Are those dipoles??