Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1902-02-28
How rlarconi Perfected Wireless
TeIegraphy.

Grglielmo Marconi had modelled
various instruments which were
undoubted evidences of his latent
genius. They showed an insight
into mechanical problems far be-
wound his years, and were OF snfficl-
ent promise to be worthy of the
encouragement Of his friends; 1t
was not until he was twenty, how
ever, that his great life began d.
recting its energies toward the
problems Of wireless telegraphy::
At that aye he became interested
in the work Of Professor Heinrich
nerts, a German scientist, who, in
attempting 10 discover the nature
Of electricity, accidentally produced
electric, ef electromagnetic waves,
and detected their presence in the
ether by means 1T wire hoop so
broken that the electricity spanked
across the gap, No one, not even
Hertz himself, realized the tre-
mendous Importance of his dis
covery. Men like Professor Lodge.
Lord Kelvin, Sir William Pree, e,
Poqoff. and others prominent in
electrical science, talked about
Hertz's work, and some of them
reproduced his experiments, bnt it
remained for this young Italian
dreamer to Jump across the gap OF
| years of scientific study and make
practical the most important dis
coyery since Faraday invented the
induction coil. When one remem-
bers that the induction coil made
possible tn dynamo, electric lights,
the telegraph, and the telephone,
the Significance of the comparison
is apparent. Hertz's discovery was
the beginning Of wireless telegra-
ply. No one knows that better
than Marconi himself. He does
not wish the credit of originality in
| this matter, but he deserves all the
credit and praise the world can be.
stown upon one who has made a
theory practical by conqutring un.
expt cted difficulties by unremitting
perseverance.
Marconi read of the work OF
Hertz early in 1904, when he was
barely twenty years Of age. How
the thought came to him that there
was a principle which could he ap
piled to communication over grea
distances, no one will know. Look
ing back o it, in the light of wha
he has done. the thought seem
most natural,-even absurdly sim
pie, Hertz detected a spark in
broken hoop, a few feet away from
The fash of an induction coil. VIII.
didn't he get a better drtector thai
a broken hoop, and better trans
mitter than a small induction col
and send out the flashes in such
manner that the detector would re
cord a message? Why, indeed
Perhaps, il Hertz had lived, h
, might have thought Of the puss
= bilities of his discovery: but, in tn
few months Of his life which TO
| lowed his greatest experiment, tn
8 important thought did not come t
him. Herein, it seems to me, lie
the distinction-that small differ
entiation which is all-important.-
between a great man and a genlu
The former, by a long struggl
J. almost gains the height; the latte
leaps to it, by the aid of the sparl
: divine or superhuman, which b
brain possesses. Why didn't Pr
J fessor Lodge, or Lord Kelvin,
l. Sir William Preece, or anyone
Il a hundred of the other great sciel
e lists of the time think Of utilizln
4 Hertz's Discovery? Marcopi, hin
y self, when the thought occurred
him, believed that the idea mn
D, have come or would soon come
d one Of these. To him there we
T. unnanmable; he wasnot acquaint'
with the scientists. He was not a
H. ele ctrician himself. He held !
IT academic or scientific degree whit
% testifies to his having satisfactory
IS completed any college course.
o seemed presumrtuous to try. -,
II He waited almost year, all Il
u. =. time turning the matter over
it his mind.-.lI the time watchir
n for the announcement OF q syste
of wireless telegraphy by Hertzii
- waves,-put none came. The your
- man became impatient; and. mo
% because If the genius burnir
n within him for outward expressiO
J. perhaps, than that he might GU
- strip Others. he began to expel
, ment. This was in December, lS9
- Herbert Wallace, III "Succes
Is for March,