Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Invention That Sparked The Radio Revolution

Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Invention That Sparked The Radio Revolution by Gavin Weightman


ISBN
9780007130061
Published
Released
01 / 06 / 2004
Binding
Paperback
Pages
336
Dimensions
129 x 198 x 22mm

The intriguing story of how wireless was invented by Guglielmo Marconi - and how it amused Queen Victoria, saved the lives of the "Titanic" survivors, tracked down criminals and began the radio revolution.

Wireless was the most fabulous invention of the 19th century: the public thought it was magic, the popular newspapers regarded it as miraculous, and the leading scientists of the day (in Europe and America) could not understand how it worked.

In 1897, when the first wireless station was established by Marconi in a few rooms of the Royal Needles Hotel on the Isle of Wight, nobody knew how far these invisible waves could travel through the "ether", carrying Morse Coded messages decipherable at a receiving station. (The definitive answer was not discovered till the 1920s, by which time radio had become a sophisticated industry filling the airwaves with a cacophony of sounds - most of it American.)

Marconi himself was the son of an Italian father and an Irish mother (from the Jameson whiskey family); he grew up in Italy and was fluent in Italian and English, but it was in England that his invention first caught on. Marconi was in his early twenties at the time (he died in 1937).

With the "new telegraphy" came the real prospect of replacing the network of telegraphic cables that crisscrossed land and sea at colossal expense. Initially it was the great ships that benefited from the new invention - including the "Titanic", whose survivors owed their lives to the wireless.

A gripping narrative non-fiction account of a seminal scientific discovery and of the immediate practical consequences for future generations.
March Book Frenzy (Online Only)
23.19
RRP: $28.99
20% off RRP


This product is unable to be ordered online. Please check in-store availability.
Instore Price: $28.99
Enter your Postcode or Suburb to view availability and delivery times.

You might also like

Midnight In Chernobyl
24.99
19.99
20% Off
The Medici
24.99
19.99
20% Off
Fragile Cargo
35.00
28.00
20% Off
The Angry Island
26.99
21.59
20% Off
The Lion and the Dragon
34.99
27.99
20% Off
Atoms And Ashes
55.00
44.00
20% Off

RRP refers to the Recommended Retail Price as set out by the original publisher at time of release.
The RRP set by overseas publishers may vary to those set by local publishers due to exchange rates and shipping costs.
Due to our competitive pricing, we may have not sold all products at their original RRP.