Guglielmo Marconi and Jay S. Walker: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Jay Walker.jpg|thumb|200px|Jay Walker (2008)]]
{{dablink|For the inventor of radio, see the competing claims in [[History of radio]] and the [[Invention of radio]].}}
'''Jay S. Walker''' (born 1956) is an [[United States|American]] [[entrepreneur]] who founded [[Priceline.com]] and [[Walker Digital]]. At one point Mr. Walker's net worth topped [[United States dollar|USD$]]4 billion, which was almost entirely Priceline.com [[stock]]. However, almost all of this was lost during the [[Dot-com bubble|dot-com crash]]. He earned a [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] in Industrial Relations from [[Cornell University]] in 1977, where he was a member of the [[Quill and Dagger]] society.
{{Infobox Scientist
| name = Guglielmo Marconi
| image = Guglielmo Marconi.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1874|4|25}}
| birth_place = [[Palazzo Marescalchi]], [[Bologna]], [[Italy]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1937|7|20|1874|4|25}}
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Italy]]
| known_for = [[Radio]]
| prizes = [[Nobel Prize for Physics]] (1909)
| religion = [[Roman Catholic]]
}}


Jay and his wife Eileen have two children, Evan and Lindsey, and have made their home in [[Ridgefield, Connecticut|Ridgefield]], [[Connecticut]] since 1990<ref>Rindfleisch, Mary. [http://ridgefieldctlibrary.blogspot.com/2007/07/each-june-ridgefield-library.html Ridgefield CT Library blog], 7/30/07</ref>. Walker's personal library occupies 3,600 square feet and features artifacts and models of space exploration, cryptography and James Bond films.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all|title=Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker's Library|last=Levy|first=Steven |date=9.22.08 |publisher=Wired}}</ref>
'''[[Marchese]] Guglielmo Marconi''' [gu{{IPA|ʎ}}e:lmo mar'ko:ni] (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an [[Italy|Italian]] inventor, best known for his development of a [[radio]]telegraph system, which served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies worldwide. He shared the 1909 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[Karl Ferdinand Braun]], "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".<ref name=NPbio>"''[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-bio.html Guglielmo Marconi: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909]''"</ref> Later in life, Marconi was an active [[Italian fascism|Italian Fascist]]<ref>Physicsworld.com, "''[http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/14/12/7 Guglielmo Marconi: radio star]''", 2001</ref> and an [[apologist]] for [[Fascism and ideology|their ideology]] (such as the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|attack by Italian forces in Ethiopia]]).


==Biography==
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Image:Guglielmo Marconi Memorial.JPG|thumb|Guglielmo Marconi Memorial in [[Washington, D.C.]] The memorial is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].]]
===Early years===
Marconi was born near [[Bologna]], [[Italy]], the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an [[Italian people|Italian]] [[landowner]], and his [[Irish people|Irish]] wife, Annie Jameson, granddaughter of the founder of the [[Jameson Irish Whiskey|Jameson Whiskey distillery]].<ref name=NPbio /> Marconi was educated in Bologna in the lab of [[Augusto Righi]], in Florence at the Istituto Cavallero, and, later, in Livorno. As a child Marconi did not do well in school.<ref>Robert McHenry, "Guglielmo Marconi," in ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 1993.</ref> Baptized as a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]], he was a member of the [[Anglicanism|Anglican Church]].

===Radio work===
During his early years, Marconi had an interest in science and [[electricity]]. One of the scientific developments during this era came from [[Heinrich Hertz]], who, beginning in 1888, demonstrated that one could produce and detect [[electromagnetic radiation]]&mdash;now generally known as "radio waves", at the time more commonly called "Hertzian waves" or "aetheric waves". Hertz's death in 1894 brought published reviews of his earlier discoveries, and a renewed interest on the part of Marconi. He was permitted to briefly study the subject under [[Augusto Righi]], a [[University of Bologna]] physicist and neighbour of Marconi who had done research on Hertz's work. Righi had a subscription to [[The Electrician]] where [[Oliver Lodge]] published detailed accounts of the apparatus used in his (Lodge's) public demonstrations of wireless telegraphy in 1894.

====Early experimental devices====
Marconi began to conduct experiments, building much of his own equipment in the attic of his home at the Villa Griffone in [[Pontecchio]], Italy. His goal was to use radio waves to create a practical system of "[[wireless telegraphy]]"&mdash;i.e. the transmission of telegraph messages without connecting wires as used by the [[electric telegraph]]. This was not a new idea&mdash;numerous investigators had been exploring wireless telegraph technologies for over 50 years, but none had proven commercially successful. Marconi ''did not'' discover any new and revolutionary principle in his wireless-telegraph system, but rather he assembled and improved an array of facts, unified and adapted them to his system.<ref>Williams, H. S., & Williams, E. H. (1910). ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=06W82x_i0PiNVhgY4to&id=ti8KAAAAIAAJ Every-day science]''. New York: Goodhue Company. Page 54.</ref> Marconi's system had the following components:<ref>Marconi delineated his 1895 apparatus in his Nobel Award speech. See: Marconi, "[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-lecture.html Wireless Telegraphic Communication: Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1909.]" Nobel Lectures. Physics 1901-1921. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967: 196-222. Page 198.</ref>

* A relatively simple [[oscillator]], or [[spark-gap transmitter|spark producing]] radio transmitter, which was closely modeled after one designed by Righi, in turn similar to what Hertz had used;
* A wire or capacity area placed at a height above the ground;
* A [[coherer]] receiver, which was a modification of [[Edouard Branly]]'s original device, with refinements to increase sensitivity and reliability;
* A [[telegraph key]] to operate the transmitter to send short and long pulses, corresponding to the dots-and-dashes of [[Morse code]]; and
* A telegraph register, activated by the coherer, which recorded the received Morse code dots and dashes onto a roll of paper tape.

Similar configurations using spark-gap transmitters plus coherer-receivers had been tried by others, but many were unable to achieve transmission ranges of more than a few hundred metres. This was not the case for all researchers in the field of the wireless arts, though.<ref>In 1895, [[Nikola Tesla]] was transmitting to a distance of {{convert|50|mi|km}} from New York City to West Point. See the PBS website, "[http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio.html Marconi and Tesla: Who invented radio?]" (ed. this is noted as having been accomplished in Leland's book concerning Tesla's "Work with Alternating Currents")</ref><ref>Leland I. Anderson, Priority in the Invention of Radio — Tesla vs. Marconi, Antique Wireless Association monograph, 1980, examining the 1943 decision by the US Supreme Court holding the key Marconi patent invalid (9 pages). (21st Century Books)</ref>

At first, Marconi could only signal over limited distances. In the summer of 1895 he moved his experimentation outdoors. After increasing the length of the transmitter and receiver antennas, and arranging them vertically, and positioning the antenna so that it touched the ground, the range increased significantly.<ref> This fact was known to many as, in 1893, Tesla stated in the widely known "[http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1893-02-24.htm On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena]" speech which was delivered before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, in February, and before the National Electric Light Association, St. Louis, in March, that "''One of the terminals of the source would be connected to Earth'' [as a electric ground connection ...] ''the other to an insulated body of large surface''".</ref> (Although Marconi may not have understood until later the reason, the "ground connections" allowed the earth to act as a [[waveguide]] [[resonator]] for the [[surface wave]] signal.<ref>Marconi did acknowledge this later in his Nobel Award speech. See: Marconi, "[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-lecture.html Wireless Telegraphic Communication: Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1909.]" Nobel Lectures. Physics 1901-1921. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967: 196-222. Page 206.</ref>) Soon he was able to transmit signals over a hill, a distance of approximately {{convert|1.5|km|mi}}. By this point he concluded that with additional funding and research, a device could become capable of spanning greater distances and would prove valuable both commercially and militarily.

Finding limited interest in his work in Italy, in early 1896 at the age of 21, Marconi traveled to [[London]], [[England]], accompanied by his mother to seek support for his work. (Marconi spoke fluent English in addition to Italian.) While there, he gained the interest and support of [[William Preece]], the Chief Electrical Engineer of the British Post Office. The apparatus that Marconi possessed at that time was strikingly similar to that of one in 1882 by [[Amos Dolbear|A. E. Dolbear]], of [[Tufts College]], which used a spark coil generator and a [[Crystal detectors|carbon granular rectifier]] for reception.<ref>Alfred Thomas Story, ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=0_BNls1ruTf5Rr6WD5&id=qFMbsXGH8pYC The Story of Wireless Telegraphy]''. 1904. Page 58.</ref><ref>John J. O'Neill, ''Prodigal Genius:The Life of Nikola Tesla''. Ives Washburn, New York, 1944</ref> A series of demonstrations for the British government followed&mdash;by March, 1897, Marconi had transmitted Morse code signals over a distance of about {{convert|6|km|mi}} across the [[Salisbury Plain]]. On 13 May 1897, Marconi sent the first ever wireless communication over open sea. It transversed the [[Bristol Channel]] from [[Lavernock Point]] ([[South Wales]]) to [[Flat Holm]] Island, a distance of {{convert|6|km|mi}}. The message read "Are you ready".<ref>BBC Wales, "''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/historyhunters/locations/pages/3_1_flatholm.shtml Marconi's Waves]''"</ref>. The receiving equipment was almost immediately relocated to [[Brean Down Fort]] on the Somerset coast, stretching the range to {{convert|16|km|mi}}.

Impressed by these and other demonstrations, Preece introduced Marconi's ongoing work to the general public at two important London lectures: "Telegraphy without Wires", at the [[Toynbee Hall]] on 11 December 1896; and "Signalling through Space without Wires", given to the [[Royal Institute]] on 4 June 1897.

Numerous additional demonstrations followed, and Marconi began to receive international attention. In July 1897, he carried out a series of tests at [[La Spezia]] in his home country, for the Italian government. A test for Lloyds between [[Ballycastle]] and [[Rathlin Island]], [[Ireland]], was conducted on 6 July 1898. The [[English channel]] was crossed on 27 March 1899, from [[Wimereux]], [[France]] to [[South Foreland Lighthouse]], England, and in the fall of 1899, the first demonstrations in the United States took place, with the reporting of the [[America's Cup]] international yacht races at New York.

Marconi sailed to the United States at the invitation of the New York Herald newspaper to cover the [[America's Cup]] races off Sandy Hook, NJ. The transmission was done aboard the ''SS Ponce'' a passenger ship of the ''Porto Rico Line''.
<ref>{{Citation | last = Helgesen | first = Henry N. | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Wireless Goes to Sea: Marconi's Radio and SS Ponce | journal = Sea History | volume = | issue = Spring 2008| pages = 122 | date = | year = | url = | doi = | id = }}</ref>. According to the ''Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute'' by the [[United States Naval Institute]], the Marconi instruments were tested around 1899 and the tests concerning his wireless system found that the "[...] coherer, principle of which was discovered some twenty years ago, [was] the only electrical instrument or device contained in the apparatus that is at all new".<ref>United States Naval Institute, ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=0X69Ty10xaRE_L8yAr&id=egEjvWjbCQgC Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute]''. The Institute, 1899. Page 857.</ref>

====Transatlantic transmissions====
[[Image:Marconi at newfoundland.jpg|center|thumb|555px|Marconi watching associates raise kite antenna at St. John's, December, 1901]]
<div style="font-size:115%">{{rquote|right|See if you can hear anything, Mr. Kemp!<ref>Page, Walter Hines, and Arthur Wilson Page, The World's Work. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1908. Page 9625</ref>}}</div>

Around the [[turn of the century]], Marconi began investigating the means to signal completely across the Atlantic, in order to compete with the [[transatlantic telegraph cable]]s. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall and Clifden in Co. Galway. He soon made the announcement that on 12 December 1901, using a {{convert|152.4|m|ft|adj=on}} kite-supported antenna for reception, the message was received at [[Signal Hill (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Signal Hill]] in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St John's]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] (now part of [[Canada]]) signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at [[Poldhu]], [[Cornwall]]. The distance between the two points was about {{convert|3500|km|mi}}. Heralded as a great scientific advance, there was — and continues to be — some skepticism about this claim, partly because the signals had been heard faintly and sporadically. There was no independent confirmation of the reported reception, and the transmissions, consisting of the Morse code letter ''S'' sent repeatedly, were difficult to distinguish from atmospheric noise. (A detailed technical review of Marconi's early transatlantic work appears in John S. Belrose's work of 1995.)<ref>[http://www.ieee.ca/millennium/radio/radio_differences.html Fessenden and Marconi: Their Differing Technologies and Transatlantic Experiments During the First Decade of this Century]</ref> The Poldhu transmitter was a two-stage circuit.<ref> "''[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/74/28992/01305565.pdf Marconi and the History of Radio]''".</ref><ref>John S. Belrose, "[http://www.ieee.ca/millennium/radio/radio_differences.html Fessenden and Marconi: Their Differing Technologies and Transatlantic Experiments During the First Decade of this Century]". International Conference on 100 Years of Radio -- 5–7 September 1995.</ref> The first stage operated at lower voltage and provided the energy for the second stage to spark at a higher voltage. [[Nikola Tesla]], a rival in transatlantic transmission, stated after being told of Marconi's reported transmission that "Marconi [... was] using seventeen of [[List of Tesla patents|my patents]]."<ref>Margaret Cheney, ''Tesla, Man Out of Time'', New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981</ref><ref>Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, ''Tesla: Master of Lightning'', Barnes&Noble, 1999.</ref>

Feeling challenged by [[Scientific skepticism|skeptics]], Marconi prepared a better organized and documented test. In February, 1902, the [http://www.purplesky.co.uk/sources/photos/00061.jpg SS ''Philadelphia''] sailed west from Great Britain with Marconi aboard, carefully recording signals sent daily from the Poldhu station. The test results produced coherer-tape reception up to {{convert|2496|km|mi}}, and audio reception up to {{convert|3378|km|mi}}. Interestingly, the maximum distances were achieved at night, and these tests were the first to show that for [[mediumwave]] and [[longwave]] transmissions, radio signals travel much farther at night than in the day. During the daytime, signals had only been received up to about {{convert|1125|km|mi}}, less than half of the distance claimed earlier at Newfoundland, where the transmissions had also taken place during the day. Because of this, Marconi had not fully confirmed the Newfoundland claims, although he did prove that radio signals could be sent for hundreds of kilometres, despite some scientists' belief they were essentially limited to line-of-sight distances.

On 17 December 1902, a transmission from the Marconi station in [[Glace Bay]], Nova Scotia, Canada, became the first radio message to cross the Atlantic from North America. On 18 January 1903, a Marconi station built near [[Wellfleet, Massachusetts]] in 1901 sent a message of greetings from [[Theodore Roosevelt]], the President of the United States, to [[King Edward VII]] of the United Kingdom, marking the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States. However, consistent transatlantic signalling was difficult to establish.

Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea, in competition with other inventors. In 1904 a commercial service was established to transmit nightly news summaries to subscribing ships, which could incorporate them into their on-board newspapers. A regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service was finally begun on 17 October 1907<ref> The Clifden Station of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph System, Scientific American, Nov 23, 1907 </ref> between [[Clifden]] Ireland and [[Glace Bay]], but even after this the company struggled for many years to provide reliable communication.

====''Titanic''====
The two radio operators aboard the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']] were not employed by the [[White Star Line]] but by the Marconi International Marine Communication Company. Following the sinking of the ocean liner, survivors were rescued by the [[RMS Carpathia|''Carpathia'']]. When it docked in New York, Marconi went aboard with a reporter from the [[The New York Times|''New York Times'']].<ref>John P. Eaton & Charles A. Haas ''Titanic - Triumph and Tragedy, A Chronicle in Words and Pictures''. 1994</ref> On 18 June 1912, Marconi gave evidence to the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic regarding the marine telegraphy's functions and the procedures for emergencies at sea.<ref>Court of Inquiry ''Loss of the S.S. Titanic'' 1912</ref>

====Patent disputes====
:<div class="noprint">''Main articles: [[Invention of radio]] and [[History of radio]].</div>

Marconi's work built upon the discoveries of numerous other scientists and experimenters. His "two-circuit" equipment, consisting of a spark-gap transmitter plus a coherer-receiver, was similar to those used by other experimenters, and in particular to that employed by [[Oliver Lodge]] in a series of widely reported demonstrations in 1894. There were claims that Marconi was able to signal for greater distances than anyone else when using the spark-gap and coherer combination, but these have been disputed (notably by [[Tesla]]).<ref>Marconi's late-1895 transmission of signals was for around a mile (1.6 km). This was small compared to Tesla's early-1895 transmissions of up to {{convert|50|miles|km}}. For more see "Nikola Tesla On His Work with Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power", Leland I. Anderson, Twenty First Century Books, 2002, pp. 26-27.</ref>

In 1900 [[Alexander Stepanovich Popov]] stated to the Congress of Russian Electrical Engineers that: "[...]'' the emission and reception of signals by Marconi by means of electric oscillations ''[was]'' nothing new. In America, the famous engineer [[Nikola Tesla]] carried the same experiments in 1893''."<ref>"''The Guglielmo Marconi Case; [http://www.mercury.gr/tesla/marcen.html Who is the True Inventor of Radio]''".</ref>

The [[National Fascist Party|Fascist regime]] in [[Italy]] credited Marconi with the first improvised arrangement in the development of radio.<ref> Gianni Isola, "Italian radio: History and Historiography"; Special Issue: ''Italian Media Since World War II''. ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', August, 1995</ref> There was controversy whether his contribution was sufficient to deserve patent protection, or if his devices were too close to the original ones developed by Hertz, Popov, Branley, Tesla, and Lodge to be patentable.

While Marconi did pioneering demonstrations for the time, his equipment was limited by being essentially untuned, which greatly restricted the number of ''spark-gap'' radio transmitters which could operate simultaneously in a geographical area without causing mutually disruptive interference. (Continuous-wave transmitters were naturally more selective and less prone to this deficiency). Marconi addressed this defect with a patent application for a much more sophisticated "four-circuit" design, which featured two tuned-circuits at both the transmitting and receiving antennas. This was issued as British patent number 7,777 on 26 April 1900. However, this patent came after significant earlier work had been done on electrical tuning by [[Nikola Tesla]] and [[Oliver Lodge]]. (As a defensive move, in 1911 the Marconi Company purchased the Lodge-Muirhead Syndicate, whose primary asset was Oliver Lodge's 1897 tuning patent. This followed a 1911 court case in which the Marconi company was ruled to have illegally used the techniques described under Lodge's tuning patent.) Thus, the "four-sevens" patent and its equivalents in other countries was the subject of numerous legal challenges, with rulings which varied by jurisdiction, from full validation of Marconi's tuning patent to complete nullification.

In 1943, a lawsuit regarding Marconi's numerous other radio patents was resolved in the United States. The court decision was based on the prior work conducted by others, including [[Nikola Tesla]], [[Oliver Lodge]], and [[John Stone Stone]], from which some of Marconi patents (such as {{US patent|763772}}) stemmed. The U. S. Supreme Court stated that,
<blockquote>The Tesla patent No. 645,576, applied for 2 September 1897 and allowed 20 March 1900, disclosed a four-circuit system, having two circuits each at transmitter and receiver, and recommended that all four circuits be tuned to the same frequency. [... He] recognized that his apparatus could, without change, be used for wireless communication, which is dependent upon the transmission of electrical energy.<ref>U.S. Supreme Court, "''[http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/popov/sentenza.html Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States]''". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9-12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943.</ref> </blockquote>
In making their decision, the court noted,
<blockquote>Marconi's reputation as the man who first achieved successful radio transmission rests on his original patent, which became reissue No. 11,913, and which is not here [320 U.S. 1, 38] in question. That reputation, however well-deserved, does not entitle him to a patent for every later improvement which he claims in the radio field. Patent cases, like others, must be decided not by weighing the reputations of the litigants, but by careful study of the merits of their respective contentions and proofs."<ref name = "xpcpyw">''Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States''.</ref> </blockquote>
The court also stated that,
<blockquote>It is well established that as between two inventors priority of invention will be awarded to the one who by satisfying proof can show that he first conceived of the invention''."<ref name = "xpcpyw"/></blockquote>

The case was resolved in the U.S. Supreme Court by overturning most of Marconi's patents. At the time, the [[United States Army]] was involved in a patent infringement lawsuit with Marconi's company regarding radio, leading observers to posit that the government nullified Marconi's other patents to render moot claims for compensation (as, it is speculated, the government's initial reversal to grant Marconi the patent right in order to nullify any claims Tesla had for compensation). In contrast to the United States system, Mr. Justice Parker of the British High Court of Justice upheld Marconi's "four-sevens" tuning patent. These proceedings made up only a part of a long series of legal struggles, as major corporations jostled for advantage in a new and important industry.

====Continuing work====
<div style="font-size:115%">
{{rquote|left|Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace?<ref>William John Baker, "''History Of The Marconi Company 1874-1965''". 1996. 416 pages. Page 296</ref>}}</div>
Over the years, the Marconi companies gained a reputation for being technically conservative, in particular by continuing to use inefficient spark-transmitter technology, which could only be used for radiotelegraph operations, long after it was apparent that the future of radio communication lay with [[continuous-wave]] transmissions, which were more efficient and could be used for audio transmissions. Somewhat belatedly, the company did begin significant work with continuous-wave equipment beginning in 1915, after the introduction of the oscillating vacuum tube (valve). In 1920, employing a vacuum tube transmitter, the [[Chelmsford, England|Chelmsford]] Marconi factory was the location for the first entertainment radio [[Broadcasting|broadcast]]s in the United Kingdom&mdash;one of these featured Dame [[Nellie Melba]]. In 1922 regular entertainment broadcasts commenced from the [[Marconi Research Centre]] at [[Writtle]].

===Later years===
<div style="font-size:115%">
{{rquote|right|His Excellency the Senator Marchese Guglielmo Marconi, president of the Royal Academy of Italy, Member of the Fascist Grand Council}}</div>
In 1914 Marconi was made a Senator in the [[Italian Senate]] and appointed Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the UK. During [[World War I]], Italy joined the Allied side of the conflict, and Marconi was placed in charge of the Italian military's radio service. In 1924, he was made a ''[[marchese]]'' by King [[Victor Emmanuel III]].

Marconi joined the [[Italian fascism|Italian Fascist]] party in 1923. In 1930, Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] appointed him President of the [[Accademia d'Italia]], which made Marconi a member of the [[Grand Council of Fascism|Fascist Grand Council]].

Marconi died in Rome in 1937 at age 63 following a series of [[heart attacks]], and Italy held a state funeral for him. As a tribute, all radio stations throughout the world observed two minutes of silence. His remains are housed in the Villa Griffone at [[Sasso Marconi]], [[Emilia-Romagna]], which assumed that name in his honour in 1938.

==Personal life and other facts==
[[Image:Uk2pnd2001.jpg|thumb|right|120px|100th anniversary of Marconi's transatlantic wireless transmission, commemorated on a 2001 [[British two pound coin]].]]
;Family
* On 16 March 1905, Marconi married Beatrice O'Brien (1882–1976), daughter of Edward Donough O'Brien, 14th [[Baron Inchiquin]], [[Ireland]]. They had three daughters&mdash;one of whom lived only a few weeks&mdash;and a son. They divorced in 1924 and the marriage was annulled in 1927.
*On 15 June 1927, Marconi married Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali (1900–1994)&mdash;they would have a single daughter.
* Marconi's children were Degna (1908–1998), Gioia (1916–1996), Giulio (1910–1971), and Elettra (born 1930).
*Marconi had a brother, Alfonso, and a stepbrother, Luigi.

;Miscellaneous
*When Marconi announced that he had discovered a principle through which he could send messages through air, his friends had him taken into custody and examined in a psychopathic hospital.
*Premier [[Benito Mussolini]] was Marconi's [[best man]] when he married his second wife in 1927.<ref>George P. Oslin, ''The Story of Telecommunications''. 1992. 507 pages. Page 294. </ref><ref>Gerald Sussman, ''Communication, Technology, and Politics in the Information Age''. 1997. Page 90.</ref>
* Marconi's Italian military service consisted of serving in the [[Italian Army]] (commissioned 1914 as Lieutenant) and the Italian Navy (Commander).
*The [[Bologna Airport]] (BLQ) is named after Guglielmo Marconi.
*A Marconi memorial statue stands on [[Telegraph Hill]] in [[San Francisco]].
*A section of the town of [[Copiague]], USA, was once named Marconiville after Guglielmo Marconi. On Great Neck Road there is an old gate which still reads "Marconiville".
*[[Marconi Stallions]], a [[football (soccer)|football]] club in Australia is named after Guglielmo Marconi.
* Villa Marconi, a retirement home located in [[Nepean, Ontario|Nepean]], [[Ontario]] is named after Marconi. The home has a large Italian population.
*The Dutch radio academy bestows the [[Marconi Awards]] annually for outstanding radio programmes, presenters and stations.
*The National Association of Broadcasters (US) bestows the annual [[NAB Marconi Radio Awards]] also for outstanding radio programs and stations.
*The Radio Hall of Fame (Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago) inducted Marconi soon after the inception of its awards.
*La Scuola D'Italia, a private Italian school in New York's Upper East Side, is named after Marconi.
*Marconi Avenue, a street on [[The Hill, St. Louis]] is named after Marconi. The neighborhood has a large Italian population.
*A commemorative [[British two pound coin#Special Issues|British two pound coin]] was released in 2001 celebrating the 100th anniversary of Marconi's first wireless communication.
*In 1915 a friend of his, Mrs. Mary Cummins Brown of New York, perished in the sinking of the British luxury liner ''[[RMS Lusitania]]'' off the Irish coast, a fact he commented upon two days later in ''[[The New York Times]]''

==Patents==
<div style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
===British Patents===
* [http://www.earlyradiohistory.us/1901fae.htm British patent No. 12,039,] Date of Application 2 June 1896; Complete Specification Left, 2 March 1897; Accepted, 2 July 1897 (later claimed by Oliver Lodge to contain his own ideas which he failed to patent)

===US Patents===
* {{US patent|0586193}} "''Transmitting electrical signals''", (using [[Heinrich Ruhmkorff|Ruhmkorff]] coil and [[Morse code]] key) filed December 1896, patented July, 1897
* {{US patent|0624516}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0627650}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0647007}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0647008}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0647009}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0650109}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0650110}} "''Apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0668315}} "''Receiver for electrical oscillations''".
* {{US patent|0760463}} "''Wireless signaling system''".
* {{US patent|0792528}} "''Wireless telegraphy''". Filed Oct 13, 1903; Issued 13, 1905.
* {{US patent|0676332}} "''Apparatus for wireless telegraphy''" (later practical version of system)
* {{US patent|0757559}} "''Wireless telegraphy system''". Filed Nov 19, 1901; Issued Apr 19, 1904.
* {{US patent|0760463}} "''Wireless signaling system''". Filed Sep 10, 1903; Issued 24 May 1904.
* {{US patent|0763772}} "''Apparatus for wireless telegraphy''" (Four tuned system; this innovation was predated by N. Tesla, O. Lodge, and J. S. Stone)
* {{US patent|0786132}} "''Wireless telegraphy''". Filed Oct 13, 1903
* {{US patent|0792528}} "''Wireless telegraphy''". Filed Oct 13, 1903; Issued Jun 13, 1905.
* {{US patent|0884986}} "''Wireless telegraphy''". Filed Nov 28, 1902; Issued Apr 14, 1908.
* {{US patent|0884987}} "''Wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0884988}} "''Detecting electrical oscillations''". Filed Feb 2, 1903; Issued Apr 14, 1908.
* {{US patent|0884989}} "''Wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0935381}} "''Transmitting apparatus for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Apr 10, 1908; Issued Sep 28, 1909.
* {{US patent|0935382}} "''Apparatus for wireless telegraphy''".
* {{US patent|0935383}} "''Apparatus for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Apr 10, 1908; Issued Sep 28, 1909.
* {{US patent|0954640}} "''Apparatus for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Mar 31, 1909; Issued Apr 12, 1910.
* {{US patent|0997308}} "''Transmitting apparatus for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Jul 15, 1910; Issued Jul 11, 1911.
* {{US patent|1102990}} "''Means for generating alternating electric currents''". Filed Jan 27, 1914; Issued Jul 7, 1914.
* {{US patent|1148521}} "''Transmitter for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Jul 20, 1908.
* {{US patent|1226099}} "''Transmitting apparatus for use in wireless telegraphy and telephony''". Filed Dec 31, 1913; Issued 15 May 1917.
* {{US patent|1271190}} "''Wireless telegraph transmitter''".
* {{US patent|1377722}} "''Electric accumulator''". Filed Mar 9, 1918
* {{US patent|1148521}} "''Transmitter for wireless telegraphy''". Filed Jul 20, 1908; Issued Aug 3, 1915.
* {{US patent|1981058}} "''Thermionic valve''". Filed Oct 14, 1926; Issued Nov 20, 1934.
</div>

==See also==
*[[Invention of radio]]
*[[List of people on stamps of Ireland]]
*[[Jagdish Chandra Bose]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
<div style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
;Relatives and company publications
* Marconi, Degna, ''My Father, Marconi'', James Lorimer & Co, 1982. ISBN 0-919511-14-7
* Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, ''Year book of wireless telegraphy and telephony'', London : Published for the Marconi Press Agency Ltd., by the St. Catherine Press / Wireless Press. LCCN 14017875 sn 86035439

;Other
* Ahern, Steve (ed), [http://www.allenandunwin.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781741149128 ''Making Radio''] (2nd Edition) Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006.
* Aitken, Hugh G. J., ''Syntony and Spark: The Origins of Radio'', New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976. ISBN 0-471-01816-3
* Aitken, Hugh G. J., ''The Continuous Wave: Technology and American Radio, 1900-1932'', Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-691-08376-2.
* Anderson, Leland I., [http://www.tfcbooks.com/mall/more/431pir.htm Priority in the Invention of Radio — Tesla vs. Marconi]
* Baker, W. J., ''A History of the Marconi Company'', 1970.
* Clark, Paddy, "Marconi's Irish Connections Recalled," published in ";100 Years of Radio," IEE Conference Publication 411, 1995.
* Coe, Douglas and Kreigh Collins (ills), ''Marconi, pioneer of radio'', New York, J. Messner, Inc., 1943. LCCN 43010048
* Garratt, G. R. M., ''The early history of radio: from Faraday to Marconi'', London, Institution of Electrical Engineers in association with the Science Museum, History of technology series, 1994. ISBN 0-85296-845-0 LCCN gb 94011611
* Geddes, Keith, ''Guglielmo Marconi, 1874-1937'', London : H.M.S.O., A Science Museum booklet, 1974. ISBN 0-11-290198-0 LCCN 75329825 (''ed''. Obtainable in the U.S.A. from Pendragon House Inc., Palo Alto, California.)
* Hancock, Harry Edgar, ''Wireless at sea; the first fifty years: A history of the progress and development of marine wireless communications written to commemorate the jubilee of the Marconi International Marine Communication Company, Limited'', Chelmsford, Eng., Marconi International Marine Communication Co., 1950. LCCN 51040529 /L
* Hong, Sungook, ''Wireless: From Marconi’s Black-Box to the Audio,'' Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. ISBN 0-262-08298-5.
* Janniello, Maria Grace, Monteleone, Franco and Paoloni, Giovanni (eds) (1996), ''One hundred years of radio: From Marconi to the future of the telecommunications''. Catalogue of the extension, Venice: Marsilio.
* Jolly, W. P., ''Marconi'', 1972.
*Kinzie, P. A., ''[http://www.azarc.org/journal_articles/17.1_2000_Spring/Marconi_was_not_Alone.pdf Early Wireless: Marconi was not Alone]'', azarc.org.
* Larson, Erik, ''Thunderstruck'', New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-8066-5 A comparison of the lives of [[Hawley Harvey Crippen]] and [[Marconi]]. Crippen was a murderer whose Transatlantic escape was foiled by the new invention of shipboard radio. Marconi does not come off as a very pleasant character.
* Masini, Giancarlo, ''Guglielmo Marconi'', Turin: Turinese typographical-publishing union, 1975. LCCN 77472455 (''ed''. Contains 32 tables outside of the text'')
* Mason, H. B. (1908). ''Encyclopaedia of ships and shipping'', [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC11857976&id=0O5AEbIB51sC&pg=RA14-PA686 Wireless Telegraphy]. London: Shipping Encyclopaedia. 1908. 707 pages.
* Page, Walter Hines, and Arthur Wilson Page, ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=0jwYWoq-SQT_os3fWXLhKnc&id=hKPvxXgBN1oC The World's Work]''. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1908. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=0jwYWoq-SQT_os3fWXLhKnc&id=hKPvxXgBN1oC&pg=PA9625&lpg=PA9625&as_brr=1#PPA9626,M1 Page 9625]
* Stone, Ellery W., ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=0BtG4iC0aqRRXaaqTh&id=MZTaMdOH7VIC Elements of Radiotelegraphy]''
* Weightman, Gavin, ''Signor Marconi's magic box: the most remarkable invention of the 19th century & the amateur inventor whose genius sparked a revolution'', 1st Da Capo Press ed., Cambridge, MA : Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81275-4
*Winkler, Jonathan Reed. [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/WINNEX.html Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).] Account of rivalry between Marconi's firm and the U.S. government during World War I.
</div>


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.walkerdigital.com/images/BIO_JayWalker.pdf Official biography]
{{Commons|Guglielmo Marconi}}
*[http://www.charlierose.com/shows/1999/11/17/3/an-interview-with-jay-walker Video interview with Jay Walker about Priceline.com]
;General
* [http://www.fgm.it/site/index.php?&lang=eng Guglielmo Marconi Foundation, Pontecchio Marconi, Bologna, Italy]
* [http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10189 Canadian Heritage Minute featuring Marconi]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/mooncusser/iMovieTheater215.html Guglielmo Marconi documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite]
* Nobel Prize: [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-bio.html Guglielmo Marconi biography]
* Marconi Corporation's [http://www.marconicalling.com/front.htm Marconi Calling]
* [http://www.techsoc.com/marconi.htm Review of ''Signor Marconi's Magic Box'']
* [http://maritime.elettra.co.uk/panfilo Information about Marconi and his yacht Elettra]
* [http://www.radiomarconi.com/ Comitato Guglielmo Marconi International, Bologna, Italy]
* [http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/gm_diari.html I diari di laboratorio di Guglielmo Marconi]
* [http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/brevettomarconi.html Marconi il 5 marzo 1896, presenta a Londra la prima richiesta provvisoria di brevetto, col numero 5028 e col titolo "Miglioramenti nella telegrafia e relativi apparati"]
* [http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/brevettimarconi.html List of British and French patents (1896-1924)]
* [http://www.zianet.com/sparks/sparkmakers2.html Sparks Telegraph Key Review] An exhaustive listing of wireless telegraph key manufacturers including photos of most Marconi keys
* Cherished Television, [http://www.cherishedtelevision.co.uk/history.html Part one: The Pioneers]
* [http://www.infoage.org/waaug14.htm Marconi Belmar station], InfoAge. (See also, [http://www.infoage.org/nrhp.html#Mar7-1 Marconi Period of Significance Historic Buildings])
*[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money3.htm Marconi on the 2000 Italian Lire banknote.]
* Marconi's Use of Kites to Assist Wireless Communication [http://www.best-breezes.squarespace.com/guglielmo-marconi/]
* [http://fi.edu/case_files/marconi/ Marconi's Case File] at The Franklin Institute with info about his 1918 Franklin Medal for application of radio waves to communications
* [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/MarconiHouseStrandAldwychLondon.htm History of Marconi House]
* [http://www.dcmemorials.com/index_indiv0001825.htm Marconi Memorial in Washington, DC]

;Transatlantic "signals"
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/historyhunters/locations/pages/3_1_flatholm.shtml BBC Reference to his first transmission over water]
* [http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/physicalscience/story/0,9836,616927,00.html Faking the Waves, 1901]
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/caco/heritage/Marconirevise.pdf Marconi and His South Wellfleet Wireless (Cape Cod National Seashore]

;Priority of invention
''vs Tesla''
* [[PBS]]: [http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio.html Marconi and Tesla: Who invented radio?]
* The Guglielmo Marconi Case [http://www.mercury.gr/tesla/marcen.html Who is the True Inventor of Radio]
* U.S. Supreme Court, "''[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=320&invol=1 Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States]''". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9-12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943.
* 21st Century Books: Priority in the Invention of Radio &mdash; [http://www.tfcbooks.com/mall/more/431pir.htm Tesla vs. Marconi]
''vs Popov''
* [http://www.wsone.com/fecha/electra.htm Who started the electronic era?]

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box|title=[[Rector of the University of St Andrews]]|years=1934 - 1937|before=[[Jan Smuts]]|after=[[Robert MacGregor Mitchell]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{IEEE Medal of Honor Laureates 1917-1925}}


{{Persondata<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
|NAME= Marconi, Guglielmo Marchese
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Electrical engineer]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= {{birth date|df=yes|1874|4|25}}
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Palazzo Marescalchi]], [[Bologna]], [[Italy]]
|DATE OF DEATH= {{death date|df=yes|1937|7|20}}
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Rome]], [[Italy]]
}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jay}}
{{Lifetime|1874|1937|Marconi, Guglielmo}}
[[Category:Deaths by myocardial infarction]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Electrical engineers]]
[[Category:People from Ridgefield, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Experimental physicists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts]]
[[Category:Guglielmo Marconi|*]]
[[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]]
[[Category:Irish engineers]]
[[Category:Irish inventors]]
[[Category:Italian engineers]]
[[Category:Italian fascists]]
[[Category:Italian inventors]]
[[Category:Italian Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Italian nobility]]
[[Category:Italians of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:NAB Hall of Fame]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:People from Bologna]]
[[Category:Radio pioneers]]
[[Category:Rectors of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:Telecommunications history]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]


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[[zh:古列尔莫·马可尼]]

Revision as of 14:37, 10 October 2008

Jay Walker (2008)

Jay S. Walker (born 1956) is an American entrepreneur who founded Priceline.com and Walker Digital. At one point Mr. Walker's net worth topped USD$4 billion, which was almost entirely Priceline.com stock. However, almost all of this was lost during the dot-com crash. He earned a B.S. in Industrial Relations from Cornell University in 1977, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society.

Jay and his wife Eileen have two children, Evan and Lindsey, and have made their home in Ridgefield, Connecticut since 1990[1]. Walker's personal library occupies 3,600 square feet and features artifacts and models of space exploration, cryptography and James Bond films.[2]

References

  1. ^ Rindfleisch, Mary. Ridgefield CT Library blog, 7/30/07
  2. ^ Levy, Steven (9.22.08). "Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker's Library". Wired. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

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