had not even dared to imagine. Failure was out of the question. Finally his enthusiasm and determination were rewarded; he heard the signal of the letter “S” for the first time, sent across the ocean from the distant transmitter of Poldhu. That day, 12th December 1901, Guglielmo sat listening in at the Newfoundland radio-station. He had not informed the Press because he did not want any publicity. An assistant at Poldhu in Cornwall was ready to transmit the agreed signal. In between lay the Atlantic, a distance of one thousand eight hundred miles, thought by others to be insurmountable.
It was twelve thirty when Guglielmo heard three brief clicks in rapid succession, faint but clear. He passed the ear-phone to his assistant and asked: “Do you hear anything Mr Kemp?” “Of course!” came the reply. “It is the letter “S”. Guglielmo later recorded the following words on a gramophone record: “Then I knew that I had been right. The electro-magnetic waves sent from Poldhu reached the other side of the Atlantic, serenely ignoring the terrestrial curvature which according to some incredulous people should have been an unsurmountable obstacle; I realised then that the day was not far off when I would be able to send complete messages across the continents and the oceans. At that moment long distance radio-telegraphy was born.”
When Guglielmo heard the first signal that came from Poldhu, he was filled with an indescribable happiness. He was absolutely certain that he would succeed. He often told me so: “I never had a moment of discouragement or doubt. I was quite ready to stay there in the snow, putting up with all that discomfort for a long time until I finally reached my goal”. This was how he always acted; he followed his ideas through with enormous perseverance and determination. I knew how tenacious my husband could be and I never had any doubts that he would succeed in whatever he resolved to do.
Whenever he spoke to me about “Signal Hill’ at Saint John’s Newfoundland and the moment when he received the sound of the letter “S” across the Atlantic, Guglielmo relived the incredible emotion he had felt. His face lit up and he looked youthful and full of enthusiasm. He realized that he had cancelled the great distances which separated the old world from the new and brought the people of the two continents closer together. He looked to the future. He was perfectly aware of the immense value of his invention and proud of the benefits it would bring to humanity. However, in spite of this, he was modest and altruistic. He was like the great men of the past who made a name for themselves with their works of genius without thought for the personal gain that these would bring them.
Guglielmo told me that the Canadian government immediately understood the importance of his discovery. The Anglo American Telegraph Company had threatened court action over the infringement of its monopoly on all telegraphic business in Newfoundland and rather than challenge the Company’s monopoly Marconi decided to withdraw from the colony. The Canadian Minister of Finance, Sir William S. Fielding invited him to continue his experiments in Canada, assuring him of the Canadian government’s co-operation and financial support. The Canadians knew that his transmissions across the Atlantic would help their ships and facilitate relations with England.
The day after the first transmission across the Atlantic the story was on the front page of all the newspapers and Guglielmo was described as “the wizard of space”. The “New York Times” wrote: “Marconi’s initial success captures our imagination. All men of intellect hope profoundly that the Wireless will soon show that it is not a scientific toy but a system of ordinary and everyday use. Men of science point out the obstacles, obstacles that are generally declared to be insurmountable; but the first triumph is a hope for future conquests”.
While many men of science were indeed skeptical and refused to believe that he had actually heard the signal from Poldhu, Professor Michael Pupin at Columbia University believed him and stated: “According to the newspapers I have read, the signals were weak but this is unimportant--the distance has been over come, now they just have to perfect the transmission equipment. Marconi has definitely proved that the curvature of the earth is not an obstacle for wireless telegraphy. We can only regret the fact that many so-called scientists have tried to take away from him and his assistants the merit and benefits of the work to which they have every right”. Elihu Thomson, one of the most important pioneers of electricity in America wrote a letter to the editor of the magazine “Electric World”, T. Comerford Martin, affirming his complete faith in Marconi. Many sceptics changed their minds after reading this letter.
Guglielmo had happy memories of his arrival in New York where he received high praise from the Government and Press. Many scientists and personalities congratulated him. A great banquet was given in Guglielmo’s honour in the Astor Gallery of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York on 13th January, 1902, under the patronage of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and organized by “Electric World” and a group of scientists and business men. There were more than three hundred guests at the banquet while a huge crowd gathered on the balconies above the great dining hall. On the wall behind the table of honour hung a plaque with “Marconi” spelt out in electric light bulbs. To the right of the table another plaque said “Poldhu” while on the left was written “St. John’s”. Between these three sparkling words hung light bulbs which twinkled on and off giving the “S” sign of the Morse Code.
At the end of the banquet Martin read out the letters and telegrams which the organizing committee had received. Edison wrote: “I am sorry not to be present to offer my congratulations to Marconi. I would like to meet that young man who has had the monumental audacity to attempt and to succeed in jumping an electric wave across the Atlantic”. When Guglielmo rose to his feet to thank those present he was filled with happiness and emotion. He thanked the American Institution of Electrical Engineers and expressed his “honour to be amongst so many eminent men whose names are familiar in the whole world”. He modestly acknowledged what he owed to the scientists who had come before him in the study of electric waves. He spoke about his experiments at Signal Hill and his 7777 (four sevens) patent which he had taken out on 16th April, 1900 and which would make it possible to improve the transmissions, saying: “Thanks to the experiments and improvements we have made, the messages can be read only when the receiver and the transmitter have been tuned”. The only mention he made of his problems with the cable companies were the following words: “Laying the underwater cables costs so much that the telegraph companies have to impose very high charges for the service. My system will lower the costs a great deal”. He ended his speech with: “I drink to the health of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers”.
The dinner was a triumph for Guglielmo and the next day the New York Times wrote in its editorial: “Marconi’s words were so modest, so lacking in any exaggeration for commercial ends, so generous in recognizing his debt towards the pioneers of research whose path he has followed, so frank in giving credit to the alive and the dead and nevertheless so cautious in giving advance notice of the developments of the work he is carrying out that all those present felt obliged to give Marconi not only the honour of his discovery but also the higher honour which is due to him who puts the truth before every jealousy and professional rivalry. From the laurel crown fashioned for his head he took branches to make garlands also for all his predecessors and colleagues in the study of electric waves and this spontaneous gift has enriched rather than impoverished him”.
In a letter to The Times of London Professor Ambrose Fleming wrote: “When one thinks that those dots and dashes are the result of electric wave trains travelling at the speed of light in infinite space, picked up by the thin wire of an antenna, automatically severed and translated by two pieces of apparatus into intelligible messages in different languages, the wonder of it all cannot but strike the imagination”.
In Canada, Guglielmo founded the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, which was controlled by the Marconi Company of London. He was delighted to hear the news that Thomas Edison had bought shares in his company.
Alexander Graham Bell had become a friend of Guglielmo’s and had told him that he could use some land belonging to him on the beach of Beinn Breagh for his new radio station; however, Guglielmo had to refuse the offer, because
