In 2009 a book by the Marconi Foundation, Salvan, Switzerland, was published to commemorate the centenary (1909-2009) of the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Guglielmo Marconi, shared with German physicist, Karl Ferdinand Braun, for important radio communications. \u2018Marconi et Salvan: a l\u2019aube de la t\u00e9l\u00e9graphie sans fil\u2019, by Yves Fournier and Freddy Gardiol, (pp.104), adds to the worldwide collection of historic accounts, experiments and pioneering achievements of Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937).
\nThe book features a collection of family pictures and other archival photographs, with technical charts and maps. Its content provides a wealth of information about the life and work of Gugliemo Marconi. Annexes, Notes and Sources feature a wide selection of Marconi family material and related professional literature. The work of other internationally renowned physicists and scientists are documented in the book.
\nPrefaces to the book are written by Dr. Hamadan Tour\u00e9, Secretary General, International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Geneva, and Pascal Couchepin, Federal Councillor and President of the Swiss Confederation in 2003 and 2008. Its authors acknowledge the financial assistance received from Swiss and Valaisan sources.
\nDawn of wireless telegraphy
\nMarconi Day is celebrated on 25 April, the date of his birth in 1874. He died in Rome on 20 July 1937. A two-minute silence was observed on radio waves worldwide to commemorate the inventor of the first practical wireless telegraphy who became known as \u201cFather of Radio\u201d.
\nOf Irish and Italian parentage, from an early age Marconi developed a passion for the sciences and studied physics at the technical institute of Livorno and the University of Bologna. In 1894 after reading an article describing Hertz\u2019s experiments on electromagnetic waves, he became obsessed and while at Andorno near Sanctuario di Oropa in the Italian Alps, started to develop a system using these waves to communicate without wire.
\nIn the summer of 1895 he travelled to the health resort of Salvan already famous beyond Swiss borders and, with the help of a local teenager Maurice Gay-Balmaz, Marconi worked for a month and a half progressing with his experiments to send a message at a distance of more than a kilometre. He succeeded and thus wireless was born. It took many years for the real significance of Marconi\u2019s pioneering achievement to be recognised.
\nSituated above Martigny in the region of the Valais in the Swiss Alps, at Salvan the Marconi Museum with its equipment and a dedicated walking trail has attracted many visitors and dignitaries from around the world. In recent times the site has been honoured by the professional and international community with plaques and commemoration of the highest order, most recently by the International Telecommunications Union, in the presence of Dr. Hamadan Tour\u00e9, Secretary General, ITU, in Geneva.
\nDuring a visit on 9 September 2007 with a delegation from the ITU, Dr. Hamadan Tour\u00e9 declared \u201cComing to Salvan is in fact a pilgrimage. As an engineer in satellite communications and ITU Secretary General, it is a privilege for me. Tomorrow\u2019s world will be more and more placed under the sign of Hertzian communications and the great inventor Marconi will remain forever a guide for all of us\u201d.
\nOn 26 September 2008, in the presence of ITU representatives and dignitaries from the scientific and cultural spheres, a ceremony was held to place a French language plaque on the Pierre Berg\u00e8re or Shepherdess Stone. It gives recognition to Salvan as \u2026 a \u2018cradle of telecommunications\u2019 and confers the first universal distinction of \u2018Telecommunication Heritage\u2019. The ITU plaque renders homage to the invaluable contribution of the site at Salvan as \u2026 telecommunications patrimony.
\nVisitors to Salvan are encouraged to visit a new exhibition and walk along the Marconi trail that begins at the museum and ends at the house in the village where he stayed. The Shepherdess Stone can be visited nearby.
\nIta Marguet, April 2010
\nNote: Acknowledgement is given to sources used in preparation of this text. It follows published articles on Wireless telegraphy: Switzerland an Ireland (2004), Ireland and Wireless Telegraphy \u201cWavelengths of time\u201d (2005), Salvan: Cradle of Wireless: Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) (2006), Guglielmo Marconi: \u2018Telecommunications Heritage\u2019 (2009), Nobel Prize Centenary: Guglielmo Marconi (2009) by Ita Marguet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2009 a book by the Marconi Foundation, Salvan, Switzerland, was published to commemorate the centenary (1909-2009) of the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Guglielmo Marconi, shared with German physicist, Karl Ferdinand Braun, for important radio communications. \u2018Marconi et Salvan: a l\u2019aube de la t\u00e9l\u00e9graphie sans fil\u2019, by Yves Fournier and Freddy Gardiol, (pp.104),
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