Profile of the Day: Guglielmo Marconi

Today we remember Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who died on this day in 1937. Known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the development of wireless technology.

Image: Smithsonian Institution

Marconi was born on April 25, 1874 in Bologna, Italy to a wealthy Italian family. His father, Giuseppe Marconi, was an Italian aristocratic landowner, while his mother, Annie Jameson, was the granddaughter of John Jameson, the founder of the James Irish Whiskey Company.

Fascinated by wireless telegraphy, Marconi began conducting his own experiments with radio waves at the age of 20. Through his experiments, Marconi was able to develop the first effective system of radio communication and in 1901, successfully sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantic Ocean. Eight years later, Marconi would share the Nobel Prize for Physics with Karl Braun for his contributions to radio communication.

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