Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi. “Every day sees humanity more victorious in the struggle with space and time.”. , Italian-born Guglielmo Marconi was an inventor who dreamed of a world where signals could be sent wirelessly. He drew upon research, experimentation, and his business acumen to make it happen. From this site on January 18, 1903, Marconi sent the first two-way transatlantic wireless communication between the US and Europe, to Cornwall, England. It was a cordial exchange between US President Theodore Roosevelt and Britain’s King Edward VII. While today wireless communications is commonplace, in the early 1900s it was the stuff of science fiction. Marconi’s achievement revolutionized communication. , The station was decommissioned in 1917, and a new one was built in Chatham, MA. Here at the Wellfleet site, most of the former equipment has succumbed to erosion and fallen into the sea. A few remnants of the site remain. , (center photo caption) , Wireless communications helped save lives after the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912. Harold Cottam was the “Marconi man” - wireless operator - aboard the RMS Carpathia, located about 60 nautical miles from the Titanic. Noticing that the Titanic operator was not responding to routine messages, including some from Cape Cod, Cottam intervened. The chilling response he received - “Come at once, we’ve struck a berg” - caused the Carpathia to immediately change course, resulting in the rescue of over 700 people. , (left photo caption) , The 1901 station had a circular antenna formation. These were replaced in 1903 with four, 210-foot towers and an array of antennas. Kerosene engines produced the 25,000 volts of electricity required for communications to reach a similar station in England, 3,060 miles away. .