RAPID CAREERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 215, 16 October 1909, Page 4

RAPID CAREERS.

| CHEVALIER MARCONI. Tile life-story of Guglielino Marconi contains innumerable struggles with science, but none with poverty. The man who, in the course of a few short years, turned the whole of tli< telegraphic world upside down, and rendered the word ■•wire" practically u=3-Ic-s as a synonym fur "telegram," has n.-ver experienced privation. Unlike many of the world's inventive geniuses, he was born to comfortable circumstances, and could afford to wo>'k and wait.

His lather was a wealthy Italian, wi'h a large estate at Grifloro, near Bologna, and the question of funds was never really a question at all. Otherwise, indued, wireless telegraphy might still b< a thing of the future. DREAMS OF FAME. "For had I been poor," Marconi once confessed, "I don't believe 1 should have invented. Or, if I had invented, I'm not at all sure I should have stuck to it. In any case, I should never have starved for wirelcse telegraphy. I have too good a digestion!" Tlic Chevalier Marconi was born at Bologna on the 25th of April, 1874. He spent most of his early childhood upon Ins father's estate; but his mother, who was an Irish woman, taught him Eugli«'i so well that, but for the pronunciation of an occasional word, no one would imagine him to b.' anything but a native oi Engiaud. At the age oj five he was sent to a private school in Bedford, where he u- ' niaiucd for a year, subsequently finishing his education at Leghorn and B •• logna University. Even in his boyhood he dreamed of fame, and thought at that time he was uot particularly clear as to how he proposed to win it, electricity had cast its fascination over him before he was six. Chemistry, physics, and scientific matters in general appealed strongly to him from the very first j but in every other direction he neglected his studies as far as he possibly could, and frequently suggested to his masters that he should bo allowed to devote himself instead to tb.3 subjects which really interested him. FIHST IX THE FIELD. After graduating from Bologna University, he made numerous experiments w chemistry and electricity; but none of them proved to be of any particular value, and he had practically made up nis mind to abandon science and enter the Italian Navy, when, in 1888, l'rolessor Hertz discovered his famous "Hertzian waves."

He demonstrated that a disruptive electrical discharge caused electro-mag-netic waves to radiate through the ether, travelling with the speed of ligh;, and young Marconi promptly conceived the possibility oi applying.these "waves" to telegraphy, and so dispensing with wires.

At first lie could scarcely believe that so obvious a scheme had altogether escaped the scientists; but exhaustive search in the journals devoted to electrical cxperiunnt proved conclusively that he was the first to contemplate it. Once entertained, the idea occupied his thoughts to the exclusion of everything else, and it was not long ocforc he had erected poles in the grounds of the paternal home and launched into experimental work on an extensive scale.

Times out of number he failed to produce the coveted result—or, indeed, any lcsult at all. But he was not discouraged. "I know I will succeed," iie persisted, after each failure, and renewed his efforts In a new direction. For a long time, as he has since laughingly stated, he was unable to effect a transmission even across a space as wide as the top of a little table; but after several years of incessant endeavor hj" at length succeeded in sending a message from the "station" in the garden to his father's house.

True, the distance covered was only a matter of a few yards, but it meant the conquest of the wide world to Marconi; for with that first triumphant message wireless telegraphy became an accomplished fact, and the impalpable ether was prisoner to his genius. It was a red-letter day in the life ot Uuglielmo Marconi, not yet twenty-four years of age, for though his system was at that stage of its existence frank)) imperfect, it already comprised the general idea upon which the Marconi Company's present-day system is worked.

ANNIHILATING SPACE. Throughout the lengthy scries of trials and defeats which led up to this result, Marconi's Irish mother had lovingly encouraged her s on in his apparently hopeless task, and the inventor, with characteristic affection, never misses an oppurtunity of paying her the tribute she deserves.

It was but a few short years aft»r this that Marconi's name became famous throughout the world. In 1890 he patented his wireless system, and departed for England. His reception in this country was a gratifying one. From the time when, nt the invitation of the British Post Office, he telegraphed without wires between the Thames Embankment and S\ Martiu's-Ic-Graud, to the present day, when Marconi stations engirdle tik globe, and messages arc despatched from places as far distant as Canada from Cornwall, the inventor's career has been a series of bewildering successes. As with all other epoch-making discoveries, humauity has rapidly come to accept wireless telegraphy as a matter of everyday life; but it is not so many years since the space-annihilating invention seemed utterly beyond the dreams of credibility. A MODEST BRIDEGROOM. The marvel of yesterday is always the commonplace of fo-inorrow; but, though we may have grown accustomed to telegraphy without wires, we have also grown accustomed to the name of Marconi, and there is no danger that it will ever be forgotten. It says much for the Italian gentleman who bears that distinguished name that the marvellous successes of Ilia pust few years have neither added to sii3 conceit nor given him a single exaggeraled idea of his own importance. He is modest even to the point of diffidence, and though in his way ho is a popular hero, it is in such an unobtrusive way that the public has practically no acquaintance with his personal appearance. In fact, on the occasion of his marriage to (he Hon. Beatrice O'Brien, fifth daughter of the la'.e Lord Inchiquin, in 1!I0."), lie passed into Hie church absolutely unnoticed, whilst several of his more distinguished-looking Italian friends were eagerly identilKi by the spectators as the happy man! On the whole this is not surprising, for out of doors there is little to distinguish him from any other man in the crowd. In outward appearance ho might be a broker in the City, or an average clubman in Piccadilly, lie is of slight build and medium height, ami there is nothing whatever in his complexion to suggest the foreigner. THE MAN OF ACTION'. Indoors, however, with his hat off, one notices at mice the peculiar domelite shape of his head, high above tli? ears and eyebrows, so suggestive of the inventor; and one realises, too, that there is a world of force behind hi 3 dee]) blue eyes. The only thing about him at all indicative of Italy is his voice. This is low anil soft in quality, and contrasts rather oddly with bis nervous, restless manner. . lie is essentially a iniiu of action, aad labors always under high pressure. "He's a good employer," once declared one of his assistants; "hut he works too hard, and expects everybody else to keep up with him." In view of his unassuming manner and hatred of self-ailvcrtiseinent, it is interesting to .record that he has no fault to find with his fame. "It is nice to be famous," ho naively confesses. "I like it!"— Answers.