152 Master Minds of Modern Science 



Leghorn, and from that school entered the ancient and 

 famous University of Bologna. Here he came under 

 Professor Righi, famous as the inventor of the Righi 

 oscillator, and turned all his attention to electricity. 

 When only sixteen he had already become interested in 

 the possibilities of wireless communication, and had 

 begun to read all he could find on the subject. He knew 

 that, as long ago as 1854, the brilliant Scot Lindsay had 

 succeeded in sending signals across the river Tay without 

 wires, and that in 1882 Sir William Preece had bridged 

 the Solent by induction. 



Young Marconi began experimenting on his father's 

 estate. It is said that his first aerial was supported on 

 two broomsticks and that the signals only travelled a 

 few inches, but he plodded on with his work. The inches 

 became yards, and before long he was able to span a 

 distance of two miles. 



Marconi's friends say that he has little of the volatile 

 nature of the Italian, but a cool, deliberate character 

 more resembling that of the Englishman, and a tremen- 

 dous power of concentration. It is certain that no diffi- 

 culties daunt him. By degrees he proved that the electric 

 waves which he generated would travel through space for 

 long distances and that they were not affected by hills, 

 buildings, or other natural obstacles. He had triumphed 

 by the time that he was twenty-two, an age at which 

 most young men are only beginning their careers. In 

 1896 he took out his first patent for wireless telegraphy. 

 Of course a dozen people challenged it, but young Marconi 

 went calmly on his way. He left for England, and pro- 

 ceeded to prove that he ' had the goods.' Before British 

 postal officials he sent messages across the Bristol 

 Channel. 



That was in 1897, and by 1899 Marconi was able to 

 communicate between Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight 

 and the sand-banks three miles beyond Bournemouth. 



