The world at the turn of the twentieth century was in the throes of "Marconi-mania"-brought on by an incredible invention that no one could quite explain, and by a dapper and eccentric figure (who would one day win the newly minted Nobel Prize) at the center of it all. At a time when the telephone, telegraph, and electricity made the whole world wonder just what science would think of next, the startling answer had come in 1896 in the form of two mysterious wooden boxes containing a device one Guglielmo Marconi had rigged up to transmit messages "through the ether." It was the birth of the radio, and no scientist in Europe or America, not even Marconi himself, could at first explain how it worked -- it just did. And no one knew how far these radio waves could travel, until 1903, when a message from President Theodore Roosevelt to the king of England flashed from Cape Cod to Cornwall clear across the Atlantic.Here is a rich portrait of the man and his era-and a captivating tale of science and scientists, business and businessmen. There are stories of British blowhards, American con artists-and Marconi himself: a character par excellence, who eventually winds up a virtual prisoner of his worldwide fame and fortune.
ISBN-13: 9780306813788
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Hachette Books
Publication Date: 09-22-2004
Pages: 336
Product Dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Gavin Weightman is a documentary filmmaker, a journalist, and the author of The Frozen-Water Trade, a Book Sense 76 selection. He lives in London.
Table of Contents
|
List of Illustrations |
ix |
|
Acknowledgements |
xiii |
|
Introduction |
xv |
|
Map: Marconi's Early Wireless Telegraph Stations |
xviii |
| 1 |
In Darkest London |
1 |
| 2 |
Silkworms and Whiskey |
10 |
| 3 |
Sparks in the Attic |
16 |
| 4 |
In the Heart of the Empire |
21 |
| 5 |
Dancing on the Ether |
25 |
| 6 |
Beside the Seaside |
35 |
| 7 |
Texting Queen Victoria |
39 |
| 8 |
An American Investigates |
44 |
| 9 |
The Romance of Morse Code |
49 |
| 10 |
A New York Welcome |
58 |
| 11 |
Atlantic Romance |
66 |
| 12 |
Adventure at Mullion Cove |
71 |
| 13 |
An American Forecast |
82 |
| 14 |
Kite-Flying in Newfoundland |
88 |
| 15 |
The Spirits of the Ether |
93 |
| 16 |
Fishing in the Ether |
100 |
| 17 |
The End of the Affair |
108 |
| 18 |
Farewell the Pigeon Post |
115 |
| 19 |
The Power of Darkness |
121 |
| 20 |
The Hermit of Paignton |
128 |
| 21 |
The King's Appendix |
132 |
| 22 |
The Thundering Professor |
142 |
| 23 |
A Real Colonel Sellers |
151 |
| 24 |
Defeat in the Yellow Sea |
161 |
| 25 |
A Wireless Rat |
167 |
| 26 |
Dazzling the Millions |
172 |
| 27 |
'Marky' and his Motor |
178 |
| 28 |
On the American Frontier |
186 |
| 29 |
Marconi gets Married |
191 |
| 30 |
Wireless at War |
198 |
| 31 |
America's Whispering Gallery |
202 |
| 32 |
A Voice on the Air |
206 |
| 33 |
The Bells of Budapest |
211 |
| 34 |
Wireless to the Rescue |
219 |
| 35 |
Dynamite for Marconi |
225 |
| 36 |
Le Match Dew-Crippen |
230 |
| 37 |
A Marriage on the Rocks |
236 |
| 38 |
Ice and the Ether |
242 |
| 39 |
'It's a CQD, Old Man' |
247 |
| 40 |
After the Titanic |
253 |
| 41 |
The Crash |
260 |
| 42 |
The Suspect Italian |
268 |
| 43 |
Eclipse of Marconi on the Eiffel Tower |
277 |
| 44 |
In Bed with Mussolini |
281 |
|
Epilogue |
289 |
|
Index |
293 |
Show More
