Augusto Righi
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Augusto Righi was an Italian physicist and a pioneer in the study of electromagnetism. He was born and died in Bologna.
Replica of metal ball microwave spark transmitter (left) and coherer detector Righi used in his experiments
Moderna teoria dei fenomeni fisici, 1904
Guglielmo Marconi
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Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave–based wireless telegraph system. This led to Marconi's being credited as the inventor of radio, and he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".
Marconi's first transmitter incorporating a monopole antenna. It consisted of an elevated copper sheet (top) connected to a Righi spark gap (left) powered by an induction coil (center) with a telegraph key (right) to switch it on and off to spell out text messages in Morse code.
British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi's radio equipment during a demonstration on Flat Holm Island, 13 May 1897. The transmitter is at centre, the coherer receiver below it, and the pole supporting the wire antenna is visible at top.
Plaque on the outside of the BT Centre commemorates Marconi's first public transmission of wireless signals.