Marconi Monument
Marconi Monument, in the background the Poldhu Cove Hotel and the Marconi centre, Poldhu, Cornwall, Great Britain.
On the location of the Marconi visitor centre stood from 1900 to 1935 the famous Poldhu wireless station designed by John Ambrose Fleming and erected by the Marconi company of London. On 12 December, 1901 Guglielmo Marconi proved that radio waves could bend round the planet by transmitting the Morse Code letter S from this station to his temporary radio receiver and antenna in Newfoundland. This site in Cornwall was chosen for its westerly location, its freedom from obstruction, for the convenience of the Poldhu Hotel to house his workforce and for its remoteness to keep the project out of the public eye and out of the newspapers. In 1900, Marconi decided to work in secret without the press hounding him or speculating on the outcome of his endeavor. He was only 27 years old at the time and would not be dissuaded by critics. In 1923 and 1924, pioneering shortwave experiments were conducted from Poldhu Station. The Poldhu Wireless Station was dismantled in 1933, four years before the death of Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi's buildings may have gone, except for foundations, but the combined efforts of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, the National Trust and the Marconi Company resulted in a permanent Marconi Centre Museum which opened at Poldhu Point in 2004. The earlier monument on the clifftop commemorates Marconi's feat and bears four commemorative plaques.
Sources: Virginia Dahms (Marconi Revisited) and The Royal Navy's Museum of Radar and Communications.
Marconi Monument
Marconi Monument, in the background the Poldhu Cove Hotel and the Marconi centre, Poldhu, Cornwall, Great Britain.
On the location of the Marconi visitor centre stood from 1900 to 1935 the famous Poldhu wireless station designed by John Ambrose Fleming and erected by the Marconi company of London. On 12 December, 1901 Guglielmo Marconi proved that radio waves could bend round the planet by transmitting the Morse Code letter S from this station to his temporary radio receiver and antenna in Newfoundland. This site in Cornwall was chosen for its westerly location, its freedom from obstruction, for the convenience of the Poldhu Hotel to house his workforce and for its remoteness to keep the project out of the public eye and out of the newspapers. In 1900, Marconi decided to work in secret without the press hounding him or speculating on the outcome of his endeavor. He was only 27 years old at the time and would not be dissuaded by critics. In 1923 and 1924, pioneering shortwave experiments were conducted from Poldhu Station. The Poldhu Wireless Station was dismantled in 1933, four years before the death of Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi's buildings may have gone, except for foundations, but the combined efforts of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, the National Trust and the Marconi Company resulted in a permanent Marconi Centre Museum which opened at Poldhu Point in 2004. The earlier monument on the clifftop commemorates Marconi's feat and bears four commemorative plaques.
Sources: Virginia Dahms (Marconi Revisited) and The Royal Navy's Museum of Radar and Communications.