Marconi #11

I end this series of posts with some of the author's (Marc Raboy) reflections on Marconi and his legacy.

"Marconi was without a doubt the dominant – as well as most enigmatic and controversial – figure in the pioneering stage of the information age. After a certain point, it does not really matter who did what; it is impossible to speak about the history of modern communication – from the wireless telegraph to radar, the cellphone, GPS, and the Internet – without paying close attention to Marconi and his career" (Marconi 673)

Quoting a historian: "Marconi's inventions, modifications, and improvements fit into a small box, at that time dubbed Marconi's 'secret-box' or 'black-box.' When Marconi 'opened' this 'black-box' by publicizing his first patent in 1897, people were amazed and intrigued by its simplicity. The solutions appeared so simple and obvious that many began to wonder why no one else had come up with them" (673).

"Marconi thus personifies the paradox of communication. His ambivalence is ours. How does a technology that promotes and facilitates contact, openess, and human potential become an instrument for domination, manipulation, and control?" (677).

Thank you, Mr. Raboy.

Marconi #10

In 1930 Mussolini appointed Marconi president of the newly formed Royal Academy of Science. The academy's purpose was to promote Italian science and culture. The academy was to have 60 members. The government was to name the first 30 members. They would nominate the rest, with Mussolini having the final say. Mussolini claimed to not be antisemitic, but he nixed all nominations of Jews.

In 1933 Marconi felt compelled to respond to a reporter's question about the situation in Europe: "Mussolini and Hitler will not join forces. They are too different" (Marconi, 593).

In 1936 Mussolini pursued his war in Ethiopia, then an Italian colony, with renewed vigor and determination. His forces used chemical weapons, murdered prisoners, and terrorized Ethiopians. Marconi did not protest while lauding Mussolini for other things.

In July, 1937 Marconi died. He had long-standing health problems. About 50,000 people filed by while he laid in state. There was a grand funeral. "At precisely 6:00 p.m. Rome time, telegraph and radio stations in Italy, Britain, the United States, and Canada went silent, along with other beam and wireless stations around the world" (653).

Marconi's will designated all his assets go to family members, and none to scientific, political, or religious organizations. I have skipped a lot of the biography about Marconi's personal life. He was married twice. During his first marriage he traveled a lot and lived apart from his wife a lot due to his work. They had three children. Much of the communication between the spouses was via letters. He married his second wife when he was age 53. She spent much time with him. She was devoted to him and attended to his health problems. They had one child. For many years in midlife, his home was his yacht, which included a lab for experiments.

Marconi #9

In 1922 Marconi began experimenting with short waves. "Using a transmitter described as a "baby wireless set," he awed his audience by demonstrating "how a flying shaft [beam] of radio waves may be hurled in a desired direction, straight at a receiving station intended to receive it." This was the new directional "beam" system he had been developing with his associate Charles Franklin since 2016" (Marconi 472).

In a talk Marconi said he thought it possible to design an apparatus by which a ship could send a beam of rays in a desired direction and the rays coming across a metallic object such as another ship could be reflected back to the sender, thus revealing the presence and bearing of the other ship. Marconi was describing a process that would come to be known as radar. Successful use of radar was one of the keys to allied superiority in WW II, and now is essential to air traffic control (473-4).

Others were developing broadcasting. Marconi did not see what the fuss was about. He thought radio was about communication, not the one-way delivery of light entertainment, what he thought broadcasting was doing (486). Broadcasting used continuous waves as opposed to Marconi's spark waves.

Largely due to the efforts of other people the radio boom was well under way by 1922. In 1922, the first year when numbers were available, 100,000 radio sets were sold in the USA. It was 5 times that a year later. Such enormous growth continued for several years afterwards. The proliferation of broadcasting attracted the powers that be, too. Vatican Radio was established with Marconi's help. In February 1931 millions of listeners around the world heard the Pope speak. Inspired by the example of the Vatican, totalitarian dictators and Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were soon using radio to "inspire, cajole, mobilize, or terrify" (568).

In a May 1931 broadcast the pope called for "the reconstruction of the social order, describing the dangers of both unrestrained capitalism and totalitarian communism, as well as the ethical implications of reconstruction. It was one of the most important political interventions of the 1930's, approving the triparate corporatism of government, industry, and labor [ ] favored by Italian fascism ... [I]t was also couched in a tone that could invite the praise of a liberal politician like FDR" (568-9). FDR later met with Marconi, and FDR was interested in Italy's domestic policies (591).

Marconi #8

In 1915 Marconi traveled to Schenectady, New York to visit the General Electric plant where Ernst Alexanderson developed and patented a high-frequency alternator capable of generating continuous waves (Marconi 393). Marconi wanted to buy it. Marconi and GE's chief counsel arrived at the verge of an agreement whereby GE would manufacture the alternator, while Marconi would have exclusive rights to use it. The agreement didn't materialize (439).

"The proposal was intensely political and essential to Marconi's global strategy. Marconi's UK base was constricted by British wartime restrictions, but the war also presented opportunities for technological development and the company was still determined to build a global network anchored by a British imperial wireless chain. At the same time, the US domestic market and likely emergence of the United States as the dominant world power after the war foreshadowed an increased role for Marconi's American operations. A deal with GE would palliate American nationalist concerns and reduce Marconi's exposure to the British public sector, with which he had such a fraught relationship. At the same time, the company was anxious to position itself once and for all against the anticipated postwar resurgence of Telefunken.
     The United States' entry to the war in April, 1917 put a major crimp in Marconi's plans. The US Navy took over all wireless operations on April 7, and as the war proceeded it was not entirely clear what would happen to them once the conflict ended" (439-40).

Telefunken was a German wireless company and Marconi's chief competitor.

In 1919 Marconi reopened his negotiations with GE, proposing purchase of 24 alternators. GE's chief counsel conferred with the US Navy. The response requested that GE not sell the alternators to Marconi. Even President Wilson wanted to dissuade GE from doing the deal. The president was convinced that world pre-eminence would be determined by three factors: oil, transportation, and communication. Wireless, however, was still up for grabs, and if the United States could achieve dominance there, the result would be a standoff between the USA and Britain (441).

As the situation evolved, almost the opposite of Marconi's plan occurred. GE bought Marconi's American operations. It resulted in the birth of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), incorporating the assets of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (MWTCA) into a new public company in which GE owned a controlling interest. RCA replaced MWTCA as the major US domestic wireless company and gave the US a solid foothold in global communication (443).

Marconi #7

The Marconi biography includes the following. I will be brief.

Marconi wins the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909. He was nominated a few times before. He was the first entrepreneur to win the prize. He shared it with a German, Karl Ferdinand Braun, who contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology.

In 1909 two ships collided, one with 1200 passengers. Marconi's wireless system aided a quick rescue response. Only six lives were lost, demonstrating the benefit to mankind made possible by wireless.

After H. Cuthbert Hall was ousted, Marconi took on much of what Hall had done. In 1910, though, Godfrey Isaacs joined the firm, which gave Marconi more time to devote to research and experiments.

In 1911 Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire in defense of Italians in northern Africa. Then Italians started building wireless stations on Africa's northern coast. This was the third time wireless was used in war.

On 10 April 1912 the passenger ship Titanic left Ireland headed west to New York, with 2,208 (estimated) passengers and crew. The ship had the then-best wireless equipment aboard. On 14 April, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. ship's time. The wireless operator sent distress signals while the ship was sinking. Unfortunately, the closest ship to receive the signal, the Carpathia wasn't very close. Almost two hours after the collision the Carpathia arrived and rescued an estimated 705 survivors. Many people gave Marconi a lot of credit for saving the survivors.

In 2012 the British Postal Office's not yet signed agreement with a British Marconi Company made the news. The agreement drew criticism for the terms being too favorable to Marconi's business and political insiders who made investment gains from holding stock in Marconi companies (ref. Marconi scandal).

Marconi #6

In my opinion Marconi's scientific achievement was more spectacular than John Galt's motor in Atlas Shrugged. Firstly, Marconi's was real and Galt's was fictional. One might say that's an example of "truth is stranger than fiction" (Mark Twain quote; Lord Byron quote). Galt's motor was designed to harness static electricity from the air for power generation. Secondly, unlike radio waves, static electricity can be seen, felt and heard. The electromagnetic waves -- originally called "Hertzian waves" -- used by Marconi for wireless telegraphy cannot be directly perceived. They can only be indirectly perceived via instruments -- radio, television, antenna, cell phone, computer. Thirdly, Marconi's achievement made possible Galt's hijacking a radio broadcast in order to make his speech. 😉

Marconi and John Galt (really Ayn Rand) did have very different ideas about politics. Marconi courted governments to commercialize his wireless telegraphy. They wanted it mainly for military use. Marconi also relied on government-backed patent protection. Conversely, Galt's motor was targeted for the private sector.

H. Cuthbert Hall was second in command to Marconi in Marconi's business from 1901 to 1908. Hall's political views were far closer to those of Ayn Rand than were Marconi's. Hall had led the company's fight against the Berlin Convention (see #5). Hall had an aggressive attitude toward the British government, Marconi's biggest client. "Hall was an ideological free enterpriser, to whom government interference of any kind was anathema. If dealing with the government could bring benefits to the company, then fine. But there was nothing intrinsically beneficial to the relationship. Marconi, though not at all ideological, felt intuitively close to political power of every stripe. In his mind, nothing could be more powerful than a partnership with government -- any government" (Marconi 285).

In 1907 Marconi became increasingly dissatisfied with Hall. Marconi thought his companies'  business dealing were impaired by Hall and depended upon its relation to governments. So Marconi, with the support of board members other than Hall, ousted Hall.

A future post will contain some more about Marconi's relationship to Mussolini and fascism many years later.

Marconi #5

Marconi sought exclusive contracts with licensees of his system, and there were other, different wireless telegraphy systems provided by competitors, especially in Germany. This led to disputes internationally.

The International Radiotelegraph Conference took place October 3 to November 3, 1906 in Berlin, Germany. Its proposals were endorsed by twenty-six countries and, if ratified, would take effect mid-1908. "The [proposed] treaty's most important provision governed wireless communication between the shore stations of contracting nations and vessels of any state, regardless of the wireless telegraphy system these ships employed. The United States insisted on ship-to-ship transmission. One clause that attracted far less attention provided for a bureau to oversee international wireless telegraphy [...]. This bureau [...] would be the first international regulatory body for broadcasting and telecommunication. This was the lasting legacy of the process that started because Marconi refused to allow his licensees to communicate with competing systems."

Marconi had used contracts and patents to establish a monopolistic position in Italy and Britain [...], but the rest of the world was wide open (Marconi 276-80).

I believe it is important to note that this was before the United Nations, or even the League of Nations, was formed.