Sold – Marconi Thanks the Newfoundland Government for Making Possible His Discovery

The principles of radio were not well understood before the theoretical work of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell and the experimental work of the German physicist Heinrich Hertz.

Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory, developed in the 1860’s, predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves; waves of an electrical nature that travelled through the air or empty space at the speed of light. In the 1880’s Hertz did a series of experiments to generate these waves and measure their properties. He produced sparks between two spherical electrodes with the aid of a high voltage induction coil, and the high frequency currents generated by these sparks flowed into two metal rods that Hertz connected to terminals. These currents in turn generated electromagnetic waves that radiated from the rods. Hertz then succeeded in developing an apparatus to detect the waves that he had generated. We now recognize that his radio wave generator and detector were a primitive form of radio transmitter and receiver. However, at the time, proof of the existence of Hertz’s faint waves did not seem especially significant and the utility of his experiments was unknown.

However, while on vacation in 1894, a 20 year old Italian named Guglielmo Marconi read about Hertz’s work, and reasoned that radio waves would be an ideal medium for wireless communications if they could be transmitted and received over long distances. He set up a laboratory in his attic and began experimenting. His first success was causing the radio signal from his spark transmitter to ring an electric bell operated by his receiver. Next he took his experiments out of doors and increased the distance over which the wireless signals could be transmitted. He soon found that wires were the best medium for sending and receiving, and that the higher they were raised, the farther he could send a signal. His development of a viable antenna would prove crucial to Marconi’s work.

By the end of 1895 Marconi had transmitted signals a distance of over a mile, and the next year he demonstrated his wireless telegraph apparatus to the Italian government (which showed little interest). Consequently he journeyed to England to try his luck there, forming a company to market his idea. The marine industry saw that radio could provide a way for ships to communicate beyond their lines of sight, and so became a customer. There was little demand for radio communications on land because its benefits were not yet understood; besides, telegraph networks were widespread and telephones were coming commonly into use.

Young Marconi was displeased by the very limited acceptance of radio communications, and looked continually for ways to demonstrate its value and for improvements to expand its reach. In 1900 he patented circuitry in which the transmitter and receiver were connected to their antennas via tuned transformers. The invention of tuning enabled transmitters to operate on definite frequencies or wavelengths, and enabled receivers to separate signals on different frequencies as we do today when we tune our radios to different stations.

The company also built powerful shore stations to communicate with ships at sea. It was soon found that ships were receiving signals at greater distances than people had expected. If radio waves travelled in straight lines as most scientists assumed, they should not be received much beyond the horizon. Instead it appeared that the waves had a tendency to follow the curvature of the surface of the earth, so that the range of the signals was limited mainly by the power of the transmitter and the sensitivity of the receiver. This confirmed for Marconi that radio communication had enormous potential, and moreover, gave him the insight on how to best demonstrate it; using high powered stations, he would send signals across the Atlantic Ocean! The idea that people could communicate wirelessly across the ocean was considered incredible if not impossible, but Marconi managed to convince his board of directors to authorize the experiment. One station was set up at Poldhu in Cornwall, England, and the second was slated for Newfoundland, Canada.

In order to speed up the experiment he decided to take portable receiving equipment to Newfoundland initially rather than construct a permanent station. He and two assistants, Messrs. Kemp and Paget, sailed from Liverpool November 26, 1901 and arrived at St. John’s December 6. The true purpose of their trip to Newfoundland was kept secret; as far as the rest of the world was concerned, they were simply going to make tests for a future ship-shore station.

The Governor of Newfoundland, Sir Cavendish Boyle, and Premier Robert Bond promised Marconi the full co-operation of the government of Newfoundland. This aid would be be supplied through the Department of Marine and Fisheries, and would be crucial if the venture was to succeed. Some other Newfoundlanders would render assistance as well, including one of the island’s foremost citizens, John J. Murphy, a mill owner with an interest in cutting edge technology (he invested in the United Towns Electric Company just two years after it commenced electrification activities and then founded the Avalon/Newfoundland Telephone Company to bring telephone service to Newfoundland).

The site chosen for the experiments was Signal Hill, a promontory near the mouth of the harbor that provided an unobstructed path to Cornwall and a marvellous view of the port of St. John’s. Marconi’s receiving apparatus was installed in a room in a former hospital building near the present Cabot Memorial Tower. The furnishings were spartan: a chair, some packing cases, a pot bellied stove, and a table with the parts of the receiving system wired together on it. Poldhu was requested by cable to transmit the letter “s” in Morse code repeatedly beginning December 11.

Marconi attempted to receive the signal using a new tuned receiver that day but failed. For the experiments on December 12, the aerial wire was supported by a kite, and Marconi abandoned the tuned receiver in favour of simply connecting the detector and a sensitive earphone. At 12:30 PM local time Marconi heard the signal, the three clicks of the letter “s”. According to accounts of the history-making event, he handed the earphone to his assistant and asked “Do you hear anything, Mr. Kemp?” Kemp heard a few sequences of three dots before they faded back into the background noise. Marconi’s diary simply states: “Sigs. at 12.30, 1.10 and 2.20”.

The weather was bad on the 13th, with sleet and gale force winds, but faint signals were heard again during the brief period that they managed to keep a kite aloft. Marconi reported his successes to his company and to the world on the 14th. On December 15, 1901, in announcing the discovery, the New York Times declared: “St. John’s, N.F. Dec. 14th. Guglielmo Marconi announced tonight the most wonderful scientific development in modern times.”

The world took notice and suddenly the potential of radio waves became apparent. A few days later, the experiment over and Marconi preparing to leave, he turned his attention to those who had helped make his demonstration successful.

Typed Letter Signed on Department of Marine and Fisheries letterhead, St. John’s, Newfoundland, December 20, 1901, to John J. Murphy and the Government of Newfoundland. Though as momentous a letter as any ever written relating to radio, it simply states: “I thank you and the Government of Newfoundland for your assistance in my tests of wireless telegraphy.” It is an extraordinary memento of one of the greatest events in the history of invention. Marconi had proven that long distance radio communication was possible, and he became known as the father of radio. His patents and investments made him wealthy and his scientific achievements led to his sharing the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. And it all began with his reception of the first wireless signal across the Atlantic Ocean at Newfoundland.