There are revolutionary inventions that have a very clear father or mother, and others, on the other hand, that have been at the center of heated discussions in the scientific field for decades. There has never been any doubt about Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio for Italy.
However, this is not the case everywhere. Just think of the affirmations and reaffirmations of the Soviet Union, be assured of the fact that historical merit goes It is attributed to Russian physicist Aleksandr Stepanovich Popov, For some, he may have invented a radio transmitter before Marconi got his results.
Marconi’s work
It often happened Challenged Guglielmo Marconi for his revolutionary workDespite showing that he was the only one capable of allowing radio communication over both short and long distances.
In fact, before him, no one had managed to design a real system capable of initiating transmission, allowing reception, and guaranteeing recording of a message just a hundred meters away. On what basis are the allegations leveled against him? That his devices have successfully used devices invented by others. This is why, despite his acknowledged merits, some states and thinkers believe that the title of inventor of the radio is inappropriate.
Controversy also arose after Nobel Prize Noting the inspiration was received in 1909: “In recognition of him.” Contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy, For many, such as the radio operator Lodovico Gualandi, it is a historical forgery, quite the opposite of what events suggest, an invention that is accidental and the result of the work of others, rather than a careful and conscious effort. Is.
popov’s entrance
As mentioned, this story is especially alive today, given how Italy has been unable to impose this clear vision on the rest of the world. There is uncertainty, which represents damage and embarrassment.
yet it is Alexander Stepanovich Popov himself admitted that he was not the inventor Thanks to my colleague Guglielmo Marconi, the honor and merit of radio. This can be judged from a photograph (portraying Popov) given to the Italian genius by a Russian physicist. A snapshot containing the following phrase: “‘A Guglielmo Marconi, le père de la telegraphie without fil. Kronstadt, 14 July 1902”. All could easily be translated to “To Guglielmo Marconi, the father of wireless telegraphy”. Kronstadt, July 14, 1902″.
This exchange took place in person on the ship Italian ship Carlo Alberto, on the occasion of an official visit to the Russian port of Kronstadt. This news was given by the already mentioned historian Gualandi, who assures that the shot was on the yacht Elettra, together with various distinguished characters such as the King and Tsar of Spain.
Anselmo Landini, an officer on Marconi’s laboratory ship, witnesses this. He mentions this in his book sailing with Marconi on the Elettra; Diary of a Radio Operator,
Finally, comparing the events, the three stages of Marconi’s invention of the radio can be summarized as follows:
- the development of an original electromagnetic source used as a transmitter, which made it possible to discover that the emitted energy could travel over distances that scientific theory denied;
- the extension of a receiving device capable of recording a message in Morse code over a distance of km;
- Discovered the physical law that made it possible to predict the transmission range of his system.
And Popov? In 1895 he made a detector device for atmospheric discharges caused by storms. His radiotelegraphy experiments began only after the first reports on Marconi’s system were published.