Evening star., 1937-07-20

thrice, sending three dots, the letter
IS" of the Morse code. A second
later he heard the shot and knew
that wireless telegraphy had been
started on its way to practicability
Italy was so skeptical of the use
fulness of the discovery that Signora
Marconi took her son to England.
There, with the aid of her relatives.
he was granted the first patent for
a practical system of wireless telegra-
ply, this being in 1896.
Marconi's first wireless communica-
ton in England was between Penarth
and Weston. Three years later he
spanned the channel, eSta blishing con-
tact between England and France.
Thereafter the British and Italian
admiralties and the principal shipping
companies adopted his system.
Finally Bridges Atlantic.
In 1901 messages were sent between
Cornwall, and st. GATHERINGS Isle of
Wight, distance Of 1873 miles A
few months later Marconi bridged
the Atlantic, receiving signals trans
mltted 2,l00 miles from Poldhu, Corn
wall, to st. Johns. Newfoundland
That transmission, like the first one
from the barn to the carpenter, con-
sisted OF the three dots of the letter
IS"
Though the world had doubted at
the start. 1t became vocal with praise
when this feat was accomplished.
Honors were showered upon him by
scientific bodies and governments and
newspaper columns on both sides Of
the Atlantic lauded the inventor.
Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy,
April Is, 1874. He spent his youth
IN Bologna, Leghorn and Pisa, study
ing in the schools OF those cities and
also in the University OF Bologna.
Divorced by First Wife.
He married first Beatrice O'Brien,
sister Of Lord Inchiquin, at St.
Georges Church, London, in 1905.
They had a son and two daughters.
His wife obtained a divorce in 1924,
taking advantage of the laws of the
city of Fiume before it was annexed
to Italy. where divorce is not per-
mitted.
She had been a lady in waiting to
the Queen, but after her re-marriage
to Marquis Liborio Marignol resigned
her court post. The shadow of this
union was removed later when Mar
conf obtained an annulment of the
first marriage from the Vatican.
This permitted him to remarr, and
ne took for his second wife in 1926
the Countess Cristina Bezzi-Scale.
The inventor lost his right eye as
a result of an automobile accident in
September. 1912
In the World War he won interna-
tlonal honors as a diplomat and was
one OF the signers OF the Italian peace
treatles with Austria and Bulgaria.
After the war he sold his home in
Rome, purchased a yacht, renamed it
Elettra, and spent much Of his later
years aboard the vessel. continuing
his experiments.
In the United States honorary de-
grees and medals were awarded him
by Yale, Columbia and the Universi-
ties OF Pennsylvania and Louisiana: !:
the Franklin Institute, the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers. the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers and the American Institute
OF Mining Engineers.
LONDON, July 20 P).-Georqe
Lansbury, veteran British labor leader.
disclosed today Guglielmo Marconi
inventor OF the wireless, who died at
Rome today, had told him in an in
tervlew 10 days ago he was deeply
worried because "the worlds scientific
genius was being used to create
weapons of destruction"
The British member of Parliament
who went to Rome to see Premier
Mussolini in the interest of a world
peace movement, said Marconi WAS
perturbed over strained relations be-
tween Italy and Britain.