Editing History of radio (section)

==Marconi and radio telegraphy==

[[File:Post Office Engineers.jpg|thumb|British Post Office engineers inspect Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraphy (radio) equipment in 1897.]]

In 1894, the young Italian inventor [[Guglielmo Marconi]] began working on the idea of building long-distance wireless transmission systems based on the use of Hertzian waves (radio waves), a line of inquiry that he noted other inventors did not seem to be pursuing.<ref name="ABC-CLIO">{{cite book|title=Icons of Invention: the Makers of the Modern World from Gutenberg to Gates|author=John W. Klooster|publisher=ABC-CLIO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKuG-VIwID8C&q=British+High+Court+upheld+patent+7777&pg=PA161|access-date=3 February 2018|isbn=978-0313347436|year=2009}}</ref>  Marconi read through the literature and used the ideas of others who were experimenting with radio waves but did a great deal to develop devices such as portable transmitters and receiver systems that could work over long distances,<ref name="ABC-CLIO"/> turning what was essentially a laboratory experiment into a useful communication system.<ref>Hong (2001) p. 22</ref> By August 1895, Marconi was field testing his system but even with improvements he was only able to transmit signals up to one-half mile, a distance Oliver Lodge had predicted in 1894 as the maximum transmission distance for radio waves. Marconi raised the height of his antenna and hit upon the idea of grounding his transmitter and receiver. With these improvements the system was capable of transmitting signals up to {{Convert|2|mi}} and over hills.<ref>Hong (2001) pp. 20–22</ref> This apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful [[radio transmission]] system<ref name="SaturdayThompson">Correspondence to the editor of the Saturday Review, ''The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art'': [https://books.google.com/books?id=gHVHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA556 "The Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy: A Reply"] from Guglielmo Marconi (3 May 1902, pp. 556–58) and [https://books.google.com/books?id=gHVHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA598 "Wireless Telegraphy: A Rejoinder"] from Silvanus P. Thompson (10 May 1902, pp. 598–99)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/stravolgimento1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010711202256/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/stravolgimento1.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=July 11, 2001|title=Marconi e lo Stravolgimento della Verità Storica Sulla Sua Opera|work=radiomarconi.com|author=Lodovico Gualandi}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZYZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA294 "Wireless Telegraphy"] by G. Marconi (discussion), ''Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers'', (vol. 28, March 2, 1899), p. 294.</ref> and Marconi went on to file British patent GB189612039A, ''Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals and in apparatus there-for'', in 1896. This patent was granted in the UK on 2 July 1897.<ref>https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/032189896/publication/GB189612039A?q=pn%3DGB189612039A{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Nautical and transatlantic transmissions===
In 1897, Marconi established a radio station on the [[Isle of Wight]], England and opened his "wireless" factory in the former [[silk]]-works at Hall Street, [[Chelmsford]], England, in 1898, employing around 60 people.

On 12 December 1901, using a {{convert|500|ft|m|adj=on}} kite-supported antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at [[Poldhu]], Cornwall, Marconi transmitted a message across the Atlantic Ocean to [[Signal Hill (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Signal Hill]] in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]].<ref name=KIT>{{cite web|url=https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2011_8434.php|title=125 Years Discovery of Electromagnetic Waves|publisher=[[Karlsruhe Institute of Technology]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=May 16, 2022|accessdate=July 14, 2022|archivedate=July 14, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714163329/https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2011_8434.php}}</ref><ref name="ieeexplore.ieee.org">Bondyopadhyay, Prebir K.  (1995) "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4137304/?tp=&arnumber=4137304 Guglielmo Marconi – The father of long distance radio communication – An engineer's tribute"], ''25th European Microwave Conference: Volume 2'', pp. 879–85</ref><ref name="1890s – 1930s: Radio">{{cite web|url=https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1890-1930/|title=1890s – 1930s: Radio|publisher=[[Elon University]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|accessdate=July 14, 2022|archivedate=June 8, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608035814/https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1890-1930/}}</ref><ref name="IEEEatlantic">{{Cite web |last=Belrose |first=John S. |date=5–7 September 1995 |title=Radio's First Message – Fessenden and Marconi |url=https://ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/millennium/radio/radio_differences.html |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]]}}</ref>

Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea. In 1904, he established a commercial service 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>{{cite journal|title=The Clifden Station of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph System|journal=Scientific American|date=23 November 1907}}</ref><ref>[http://marconi100.ca/clip/marconi-sydpost19071024.html Second Test of the Marconi Over-Ocean Wireless System Proved Entirely Successful] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019025942/http://marconi100.ca/clip/marconi-sydpost19071024.html |date=19 October 2013 }}. ''Sydney Daily Post''. 24 October 1907.</ref> between [[Clifden]], Ireland, and [[Glace Bay]], but even after this the company struggled for many years to provide reliable communication to others.

Marconi's apparatus is also credited with saving the 700 people who survived the tragic ''[[Titanic]]'' disaster.<ref name="A Short History of Radio">[http://transition.fcc.gov/omd/history/radio/documents/short_history.pdf "A Short History of Radio"], Winter 2003–2004  (FCC.gov)</ref>