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Guglielmo Marconi Facts & Worksheets

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian electrical engineer and inventor known for his contributions in long-distance radio transmission, his Marconi’s law, and his radio telegraph system.

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Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian electrical engineer and inventor known for his contributions in long-distance radio transmission, his Marconi’s law, and his radio telegraph system.

See the fact file below for more information on the Guglielmo Marconi or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Guglielmo Marconi worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Guglielmo Marconi was born as Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi on April 25, 1874, in Bologna, Italy.
  • Marconi was the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an Italian aristocratic landowner from Porretta Terme, and Annie Jameson, daughter of Andrew Jameson from Daphne Castle in Ireland. She was also the granddaughter of John Jameson, who founded the Jameson & Sons whiskey distillers.
  • Marconi’s brother, Alfonso, was an Italian businessman and stringed instruments collector who is also known for assisting his brother in his works regarding long-distance radio transmission.
  • Marconi had a stepbrother named Luigi.
  • Marconi did not receive any form of formal education. Instead, he studied chemistry, physics, and math from private tutors hired by his parents.
  • One of the most notable tutors that taught Marconi is Vincenzo Rosa, who was a high school physics teacher in Livorno.
  • Rosa taught Marconi the basics of physical phenomena and the theories on electricity.
  • At the age of 18, Augusto Righi, who was a physicist at the University of Bologna, became acquainted with Marconi. Righi allowed Marconi to attend lectures at the university and to use the university’s laboratory and library.

CAREER

  • In the early 1890s, Marconi started working on his idea of “wireless telegraph”.
  • At the age of 20, Marconi started conducting experiments in radio waves.
  • Marconi used the original experiments of Hertz as his basis and took note of Righi’s suggestion on using a coherer, which is a form of radio signal detector.
  • In the summer of 1894, Marconi had built a storm alarm made up of battery, a coherer, and an electric bell. The storm alarm works by picking up radio waves generated by lightning.
  • In December 1894, Marconi demonstrated a radio transmitter and receiver to his mother. This work of Marconi involved a bell on the other side of the room, which rings by pushing a telegraphic button on a bench.
  • After further research, Marconi came up with a functional system with the following components: a simple oscillator or spark-producing radio transmitter; a wire or metal sheet capacity area suspended at a height above the ground; a coherer receiver; a telegraph key; and a telegraph register activated by the coherer.
  • In the summer of 1895, Marconi found that a much greater range could be achieved after raising the height of his antenna and by grounding his transmitter and receiver.
  • The improved system was capable of transmitting signals up to
    2 miles and over hills.
  • The monopole antenna reduced the frequency of the waves compared to the dipole antennas used by Hertz, which radiated vertically polarized radio waves that could travel longer distances.
  • In July 1896, Marconi presented his system to the British government.
  • On May 13, 1897, Marconi demonstrated his first wireless communication over open sea by transmitting a message over the Bristol Channel from Flat Holm Island to Lavernock Point in Penarth, which was a distance of 6 kilometers.
  • Impressed, William Preece introduced Marconi’s work to the general public at two London lectures: Telegraphy without Wires, on December 11, 1896, at the Toynbee Hall; and Signalling through Space without Wires, on June 4, 1897, at the Royal Institution.
  • Later on, Marconi and his cousin, Jameson Davis, formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd., which changed to Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd. in 1900.
  • In September 1899, Marconi equipped two American ships with his systems for them to report to newspapers in New York City the progress of the yacht race for the America’s Cup.
  • In December 1901, Marconi was able to transmit signals across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to St. John’s in Newfoundland.
  • This achievement of Marconi was the starting point of the wide development of radio communications.
  • In 1902, Marconi filed a patent for the magnetic detector, in which the magnetization in a moving band of iron wire is changed by the arrival of a signal causing a click in the telephone receiver that is connected to it.
  • Three years later, Marconi filed for another patent for the horizontal directional aerial.
  • In 1932, Marconi installed a radiotelephone system that transmits signals between the Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s palace, and Vatican City.

PERSONAL LIFE

  • Marconi married Beatrice O’Brien on March 16, 1905.
  • The two had three daughters – Degna, born in 1908; Gioia, born in 1916; and Lucia, who was born and died in 1906.
  • The two also had a son named Giulio.
  • On February 12, 1924, Marconi and Beatrice divorced.
  • Marconi later married Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali on June 12, 1927, and the two had a daughter named Maria Elettra Elena Anna. She was born in 1930 and later married Prince Carlo Giovannelli.
  • While helping in the development of microwave technology, Marconi suffered nine heart attacks in the span of 3 years.
  • On July 20, 1937, Marconi died from a heart attack in Rome.

Guglielmo Marconi Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Guglielmo Marconi across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Guglielmo Marconi worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Guglielmo Marconi who was an Italian electrical engineer and inventor known for his contributions in long-distance radio transmission, his Marconi’s law, and his radio telegraph system.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Guglielmo Marconi Facts
  • Marconi Who?
  • His Life
  • Test Yourself!
  • How?
  • Connect
  • His Law
  • Design Your Own
  • Decode
  • Story Time
  • Letter to Marconi

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