Show Dale e CarI e I ie e Minute 5 e Biographies Author of How to Win Friends and Influence people MARCONI THEY TIlEY TRIED TO SHOOT MARCONI FOR I INVENTING RADIO It was my good fortune before he ho be died to an hour with a n man who has haa had bad a n profound effect on your life H He changed the world In which you live He made It possible for Cor you OU to send a message around the earth In seventh one-seventh of ot a see see- I and rd He also made It t possible for I you OU to sit In your home turn a dialon dial dialon dialon on your radio and hear the President speak from the White House or listen to some famous orchestra playing the enchanting strains of tho Blue Danube As I sat talking to this soft- soft spoken modest unassuming man it was hard for for me to realize that I Iwas Iwas was as In the ce of one of the most distinguished men mell on earth I asked him how he first came tobe to tobe tobe be Interested in experimenting with radio and he he said it was largely because because because be be- cause as a young man he lie to do dOl some sort of work that would I enable hini him to travel all over the tho thoI I earth lI He lie told told me that he felt by bya a experimenting with electrical waves and devoting his life to wireless telegraphy telegraphy telegraphy tele tele- graphy he would have an nn opportunity opportunity tun It to get out under the sky and travel to far off lands He said he could never have stood the confinement confinement confinement confine confine- ment of or working In some small shop While he was still a very young oung man Marconi was able to send wireless messages across the room In h his hs s own home then finally he sent messages a distance of two miles He was greatly excited His father told him he was wasting his time but a few years later young Marconi ni sold some sonic of his patents to the British govern government me rut for far a quarter quarter quarter ter of a million dollars and his father lather was Immensely impressed In 1901 Marconi believed that the great dream of his life was about to come true so he rushed across the Atlantic Ocean confidently expected that he would beable to receive messages in America from his send send- ing lug station i In England Landing in Newfoundland Marconi Marconi Marconi Mar Mar- coni sent up a kite to act as an aerial He listened listened for tor hours waiting breathlessly for the he signals that were supposed to come some from his station statton In Cornwall Eng Eng- land But none came me there wasn't a sound Tragically disappointed he believed that his experiment was a failure that the great dream of his life had been blasted lasted Then suddenly he heard a faint click Then another Then another Yes that was i It There It was the signal they h lied had 4 agreed upon The rhe three dots which stood for the letter letterS S in the alphabet used by telegraph operators Flushed Flus ed with excitement Marconi knew that his achievement was history He longed to rush out and shout shou the news from the housetops But should he No Nu He feared people wouldn't believe him so for forty-eight forty hours houra he shared his secret with no one Then gathering courage he cabled the facts to London They created a sensation Newspapers on five can- can featured he and it set the scientific world world seething with excitement And how old was waat Marconi when he did all this twentY 5 twenty v n. n Immediately he b began gan getting letters letters letters let let- from cranks These fanatics complained bitterly ily because they imagined that hois' hois his electrical waves waves waves' were passing through their bodies destroying their nerves nes n es and making I it impossible for t them teem em to sleep I asked S Senator nalo Marconi how howlong howlong long it would be before you and I I could have good pr practical al television I sets in our homes He said probably In n about ten year years maybe sooner I ISo so it wont won't be lo lork lorig p before we willbe willbe will willbe be sitting its iDl front of our fireplaces watching a fashion show in Paris ora or ora ora a football gan game game in California Copyright t 1938 |