Signor Marconi's Magic Box: the Most Remarkable Invention of the 19th Century and the Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked a Revolution.
GAVIN WEIGHTMAN
Those who witnessed the first public demonstrations of Signor Guglielmo Marconi's magic box in 1896 thought they were being duped. After all, Marconi himself couldn't definitively explain how he was able to transmit messages through the "ether." It was another 7 years before anyone knew just how far the radio waves Radio waves
Electromagnetic energy of the frequency range corresponding to that used in radio communications, usually 10,000 cycles per second to 300 billion cycles per second. could travel, when Theodore Roosevelt exchanged a Morse code Morse Code
International Morse Code
Letters
A
· –
B
– · · ·
C
– · – ·
D
– · ·
E
·
message with King Edward King Edward has been the name of several monarchs in English history: - Edward the Elder (c.871–924)
- Edward the Martyr (c.962–978)
- Edward the Confessor (c.
VII. Wireless telegraphy would change the world in ways never imagined at the time. Ships could always be in contact with land. Societies were united. Mass media were invented. All that--as well as text messaging Sending short messages to a smartphone, pager, PDA or other handheld device. Text messaging implies sending short messages generally no more than a couple of hundred characters in length. on cell phones today--is an indirect result of Marconi's invention. Weightman takes readers back to a time when people lived literally in the clark and examines how a young boy's fascination with electricity would change the world. DaCapo, 2003, 312 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $25.00.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Science Service, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion