- Anonymous . 1901 . Marconi signals across the Atlantic . Electrical World , 38 : 1023 – 1025 .
- Editorial . 1901 . Wireless telegraphy . Electrical World , 38 : 1011 – 1011 .
- Among those sources that deal with Marconi's first transatlantic telegraphy are Vyvyan R.N. Wireless Over Thirty Years London 1933 23 33 B. L. Jacot and D. M. B. Collier, Marconi, Master of Space: An Authorized Biography of the Marchese Marconi (London, 1935), 62–85; Orrin E. Dunlap, Marconi: The Man and His Wireless (New York, 1937), 87–102; R. Danna, ‘The trans-atlantic radio telegraphic experiments of Guglielmo Marconi, 1901–1907’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Missouri, 1967, 26–33; Howard Clayton, Atlantic Bridgehead: The Story of Transatlantic Communication (London, 1968), chapter 7, ‘The first transatlantic wireless messages’, 133–50; W. J. Baker, A History of the Marconi Company (London, 1970), 61–73; W. P. Jolly, Marconi (London, 1972), 85–114; Charles Süsskind, ‘Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937)’, Endeavour, 33 (1974), 67–72; Keith Geddes, Guglielmo Marconi, 1874–1937 (London, 1974), 14–20; Hugh G. J. Aitken, Syntony and Spark: The Origin of Radio (New York, 1975), 261–5; Degna Marconi, My Father, Marconi, 2nd edn (Ottawa, 1982); and G. A. Isted, ‘Guglielmo Marconi and the history of radio—Part II’, GEC Review, 7 (1991), 110–22, especially 110–12. For Marconi's own accounts, see his letter in New York Herald (17 December 1901); Marconi, ‘Address’ (delivered at the annual dinner of the AIEE on 13 January 1902), Transaction of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 19 (1903), 98–101; and Dunlap's interview with Marconi in his Marconi, 94–8, passim.
- Among the secondary literature quoted in note 3, only Vyvyan, Baker, and Aitken duly appraise, though very briefly and often incorrectly, Fleming's role in the Poldhu experiment. Both Baker's and Aitken's source are Vyvyan who had assisted Fleming at Poldhu in the winter of 1900/1901 and borrowed The History of Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy from Fleming in preparing Wireless over Thirty Years. Fleming's own account was published briefly in Fleming John Ambrose The Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy London 1906 44 45 69–70, 449–52. A yet more detailed account can be found in an unpublished manuscript, John Ambrose Fleming, ‘The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy’, vol. I (manuscript narrative by Fleming covering the years 1898–1902, n.d.), University College London [hereafter UCL] MS Add. 122/64, Fleming Collection. Fleming's manuscript notebook of the Poldhu experiment, ‘Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu’, UCL MS Add. 122/20, Fleming Collection, is another valuable source.
- The idea of ‘style’ in doing technology (not to be confused with ‘national styles’ in technology) has not been much discussed by historians. Notable exceptions are Jenkins Reese V. Elements of style: continuities in Edison's thinking Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1984 424 149 162 Joseph C. Pitt, ‘“Styles” and technology’, Technology in Society, 10 (1988), 447–56; E. S. Ferguson, ‘The mind's eye: nonverbal thought in technology’, Science, 197 (1977), 827–36; and David E. Hounshell, ‘Bell and Gray: contrasts in style, politics, and etiquette’, Proceedings of the IEEE, 64 (1976), 1305–14. For a discussion of various styles of reasoning in science, see Ian Hacking, ‘“Style” for historians and philosophers’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 23 (1992), 1–20.
- Fleming , John Ambrose . 1934 . Memories of a Scientific Life 115 – 115 . London
- For the life and work of Fleming, see MacGregor-Morris J.T. The Inventor of the Valve: A Biography of Sir Ambrose Fleming London 1954 and Sungook Hong, ‘Forging the scientist-engineer: a professional career of John Ambrose Fleming’, unpublished PhD dissertation, Seoul National University, 1994.
- Fleming . 1934 . Memories of a Scientific Life 116 – 116 . London
- Fleming , John Ambrose . April 1898 . Memo on Marconi's system and Marconi April , 9 UCL MS Add. 122/48, Fleming Collection
- The message was Glad to send you greetings conveyed by electric waves through the aether from Boulogne to South Foreland, 28 miles, and thence by postal telegraphs. — Marconi The Times March 1899 30
- Some authors have suggested that, because of Fleming's experience in power engineering, Marconi—at that time thinking about the increase of power for transatlantic wireless telegraphy—chose Fleming as scientific adviser Baker Wireless Over Thirty Years London 1933 63 63 403. I have not found, however, any evidence to support this claim, and this was incompatible with two facts: (1) Marconi's attempt in 1898 to invite Lord Kelvin as scientific adviser; and (2) Fleming's recollection that Marconi began to consider transatlantic wireless telegraphy at the end of 1899. For Kelvin's ‘rejection’ of the post of scientific adviser to Marconi: S. P. Thompson, The Life of William Thomson, 2 vols (London, 1910), ii, 1006.
- Fleming , John Ambrose . 1899 . Wireless telegraphy: to the Editor of The Times . The Times , April 3
- Lodge immediately wrote to Fleming, accusing him of carrying out a public ‘indictment against men of science, or the Royal Society’, to which Fleming replied coolly. Oliver Lodge to John Ambrose Fleming, 11 April 1899, UCL MS Add. 122/66, Fleming Collection; Fleming to Lodge, 14 April 1899, UCL MS Add. 89/36, Lodge Collection. For Lodge's (and some British physicists’) hostility against Marconi, see Hong Sungook Marconi and the Maxwellians: the origins of wireless telegraphy revisited Technology and Culture 1994 35 717 749
- (A copy of) Fleming to Jameson Davis, 2 Fleming Collection 1899 May UCL MS Add. 122/47
- (A copy of) Fleming to Jameson Davis, 2 Fleming Collection 1899 May UCL MS Add. 122/47
- For Lodge's magnetic induction telegraphy, see Fleming to David 1899 August 19 Marconi Company Archives (hereafter MCA], Chelmsford; also O. Lodge, ‘Improvements in magnetic space telegraphy’, Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 27 (1898), 799–851. To Fleming's Voltacentenary lecture at Dover, ‘Lodge would not second the vote of thanks’. On this episode, see Jolly (note 3), 58. On Fleming's lecture and demonstration, see Fleming, ‘The centenary of the electric current, 1799–1899’, Electrician, 43 (1899), 764–8; and Fleming (note 6), 118.
- Fleming , John Ambrose . Report to G. Marconi Esq. on experiments made on relays, during the last four months , Chelmsford : MCA . (typewritten report submitted to the Marconi Company, 20 March 1900), 6 ff. Also Fleming to Marconi, 15 January 1900, MCA, Chelmsford; Fleming to Marconi, 9 February 1900, MCA, Chelmsford.
- Fleming , John Ambrose . A few notes on No. 7777 of 1900 , Chelmsford : MCA . (typewritten report submitted to the Marconi Company, n.d.), 6 Also Guglielmo Marconi, ‘Improvements in Apparatus for Wireless Telegraphy’, British Patent Specification No. 7,777 (1900). For details of Marconi's syntonic patent, see Hong (note 7), chapter 4.3, ‘Syntony and the Maskelyne affair’.
- The quotation is from Marconi Guglielmo Wireless Telegraphy Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1899 28 273 291 (read at the IEE on 2 March 1899) (280). On his earlier conceptions, see G. Marconi, ‘Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and signals, and in apparatus therefor’, British Patent Specification No. 12,039 (Provisional Specification, 2 June 1896). Marconi's conception of the earth as wave guide seems to have originated from the influence of John Fletcher Moulton, who helped Marconi with the complete specification of his first patent in 1896. Moulton had a background of Cambridge mathematical physics, and certainly knew the Maxwellian notions of wave guide such as those found in J. J. Thomson, Recent Researches (Cambridge, 1893). For Moulton's possible influence on Marconi, see Silvanus Thompson to Oliver Lodge, 30 June 1897, UCL MS Add. 89, Lodge Collection. For the British Maxwellians' notion of waveguide, see Jed Z. Buchwald, ‘Wave guides and radiators in Maxwellian electrodynamics’ (appendix) in idem, The Creation of Scientific Effects: Heinrich Hertz and Electric Waves (Chicago, 1994), 333–9.
- Fleming's discussion of Marconi's Wireless telegraphy Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers March 1899 28 293 293 2
- Moffett , Cleveland . 1899 . Marconi's wireless telegraphy . McClure's Magazine , 13 : 99 – 112 . (106)
- For Marconi, see Anonymous Marconi's recent work in wireless telegraphy Electrical World 1899 33 608 608 For Silvanus Thompson's comment, see Electrical World, 33 (1899), 444. Thompson had argued for long-distance wireless telegraphy in his ‘Telegraphy across space’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 40 (1898), 453–9 (459). Thompson did not mention the reason why the wave could reach the place below the Earth's curvature, but George Francis FitzGerald thought that diffraction of the long wave at the Earth's edge made it travel around the world. For this, see George Francis FitzGerald to Oliver Heaviside, 7 May 1899, in Paul J. Nahin, Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude (New York, 1988), 273. For the interview of Marconi's friend by Pall Mall Gazette, see Electrical World, 33 (1899), 583.
- August 1899 . Fleming to Marconi , August , Chelmsford : MCA . 23
- Fleming , John Ambrose . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , (manuscript narrative by Fleming covering the years 1898–1902, n.d.), UCL MS Add. 122/64, Fleming Collection, 4.
- For the company's hard financial situation and the tension between Marconi and the Board, see Baker Wireless Over Thirty Years London 1933 62 63 and Geddes (note 3), 14. At that time, Electrical Review noticed that Marconi's wireless telegraphy was certainly practical, but had not returned profits to its investors; Editorial, ‘The commercial possibility of wireless telegraphy’, Electrical Review, 46 (1900), 337–8. Marconi's syntonic demonstration to the Board members is described in J. A. Fleming, ‘Recent advances in wireless telegraphy: to the Editor of The Times’, The Times (4 October 1901). Even in September 1900, Flood-Page tried to persuade Marconi to make an initial experiment of moderate distance, say, between England and Spain. Flood-Page, ‘Memorandum’ (19 September 1900), MCA, Chelmsford.
- May 1900 . Fleming to Marconi , May , Chelmsford : MCA . 3
- Fleming to Flood-Page, 2 July 1900, in Fleming The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy University College London I 7 7 (manuscript narrative by Fleming covering the years 1898–1902, n.d.) [hereafter UCL] MS Add. 122/64, Fleming Collection Though Fleming stressed that ‘for this outlay [£1000] we shall have a plant that will enable us to settle the question of very long distance telegraphy’, the total cost spent for this experiment turned out to be £50000.
- Fleming . 1934 . Memories of a Scientific Life 118 – 118 . London
- Fleming to Flood-Page, 18 July 1900, in Fleming The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy I 11 11
- Each condenser consisted of 12 glass plates (16 × 16 inches) alternated with zinc plates, all of which were immersed in a wooden box filled with linseed oil. The condenser was designed to endure extremely high voltage. Fleming The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy I 14 14
- Fleming . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , 24 – 24 . Fleming first conceived of the double-transformation system in July 1900. Flood-Page to Fleming, 25 July 1900, in ibid., 19. Marconi's thought on the 2-inch spark appears in ibid., 23.
- The use of two condensers of different capacitances was an essential feature of Fleming's double-transformation system. I thank Jed Buchwald for his help with clarifying this point. For the contemporary recognition of Fleming's double-transformation system, see Poincaré H. Vreeland F.K. Maxwell's Theory and Wireless Telegraphy London 1904 154 154
- Fleming . 1934 . Memories of a Scientific Life 110 – 110 . London For Fleming's work on power engineering, see Sungook Hong, ‘Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti Effect’, Isis, 86 (1995), 30–51; idem, ‘Efficiency and authority in the “open versus closed” transformer controversy’, Annals of Science, 52 (1995), 49–76.
- John Ambrose Fleming (with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company), ‘Improvements in apparatus for the production of electrical oscillation’, British Patent Specification No. 18,865, (22 October 1900). The employment of an alternator and a transformer to create high-frequency oscillations had been tried by Elihu Thomson in the 1890s. Fleming's design of the revolving-arm mechanism was similar to Thomson's design in several ways, and is likely to have been influenced by the latter. For Elihu Thomson's system for creating powerful oscillations, see Thomson Elihu The field of experimental research Electrician 1899 43 778 780
- November 1900 . Fleming to Marconi , November , Chelmsford : MCA . 9 [emphasis in the original]
- November 1900 . Fleming to Marconi , November , Chelmsford : MCA . 14 Also John Ambrose Fleming (with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company), ‘Improvements in apparatus for signalling by wireless telegraphy’, British Patent Specification No. 20,576 (14 November 1900).
- Fleming , John Ambrose . December 1900 . Improvements in apparatus for wireless telegraphy , British Patent Specification No. 22,106 December , (with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company) 5
- Fleming , John Ambrose . December 1900 . Improvements in methods for producing electric waves , British Patent Specification No. 24,825 December , (with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company) 5
- November 1900 . Fleming to Marconi , November , Chelmsford : MCA . 26
- (First draft of) Fleming to Flood-Page, 23 November 1900, UCL MS Add. 122/47 Fleming Collection
- (Second draft of) Fleming to Flood-Page, 23 November 1900, UCL, MS Add. 122/47 Fleming Collection
- Fleming . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , 27 – 27 . On Fleming's request, see Flood-Page to Marconi, 29 November 1900, MCA, Chelmsford; Flood-Page to Fleming, 1 December 1900, UCL MS Add. 122/47, Fleming Collection; Fleming to Flood-Page, 3 December 1900, UCL MS Add. 122/47, Fleming Collection. Although these letters do not reveal who was behind Flood-Page's remark on Marconi's credit, Marconi was, as we shall see, certainly keen on monopolizing it. For Fleming's patents, refer to the patent specifications in notes 39 and 40.
- Marconi to Fleming, 10 December 1900 Fleming Collection UCL MS Add. 122/47
- December 1900 . Fleming to Marconi , December , Chelmsford : MCA . 13
- Kemp , George S. Diary of G. S. Kemp (1900–1) , Vol. III , 153 – 153 . Chelmsford : MCA . typewritten manuscript
- Fleming , John Ambrose . January 1901 . “ Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu ” . In Fleming Collection January , 26–29 UCL MS Add. 122/20
- On 15 February 1901, Fleming wrote to Marconi: ‘I am yet uncertain as to whether there will be much or little difficulty in obtaining the 2 inch oscillatory spark you require.’ Fleming to Marconi MCA Chelmsford 1901 February 15
- Fleming , John Ambrose . February 1901 . Improvements in apparatus in wireless telegraphy , British Patent Specification No. 3,481 February , (with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company) 18
- Fleming . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , 29 – 29 . Also Fleming to Marconi, 27 February 1901, MCA, Chelmsford.
- Fleming , John Ambrose . February 1901 . Recommendations with regard to the Marconi electric power station in the United States February , 20 eight pages; ‘Supplementary recommendation with regard to the alternator for the USA station’ (1 March 1901), two pages, MCA, Chelmsford. Kemp (note 47), 160.
- Fleming to Marconi MCA Chelmsford 1901 February 19 Fleming to Marconi, February 27, 1901, MCA, Chelmsford. Tesla had planned the transatlantic transmission of signals since 1899, but began to construct the famous Wardenclyffe tower in early 1901: ‘Notes’, Electrician, 43 (1899), 144; Editorial, ‘Tesla's wireless telegraphy’, Electrical Review, 48 (1901), 306. For Tesla-Morgan connection, see Marc J. Seifer, ‘Nikola Tesla: the lost wizard’, in Tesla '84: Proceedings of the Tesla Centennial Symposium edited by Elizabeth A. Rauscher and Toby Gratz (Colorado, 1985), 31–40.
- Before Vyvyan went to America, he had protested against the lack of mechanical safety of this antenna, but his concerns were simply ignored. Vyvyan The History of Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy 28 28
- Fleming . April 1901 . Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu April , 17 Also in Kemp (note 47), 166.
- The ‘wattless current’ in AC was a component of the primary current that lagged 90° behind the primary voltage. The other component that goes 90° ahead of the voltage was called the ‘watt current’. Therefore, the total primary current I = (Iwatt2 + Iwatt less 2)1/2, I watt = Icosϑ and I wattless = Isinϑ, where ϑ is the phase difference between the current and the voltage. For Fleming's acquaintance with such techniques in power engineering, see Hong Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti Effect Isis 1995 86
- Fleming . April 1901 . Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu April , 18–19 (unpaginated)
- Fleming . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , 35 – 35 .
- Fleming . May 1901 . Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu May , 28 (unpaginated)
- Fleming . January 1901 . Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu January , 26–29 note on 5 June (unpaginated). For Fleming's work on the condensers, see Fleming to Marconi, 3 June 1901; 13 June 1901, MCA, Chelmsford. On the communication between Poldhu and St Catherine's, see Fleming to Marconi, 21 June 1901, MCA, Chelmsford. For the Crookhaven communication, see G. S. Kemp to Marconi, 29 June 1901, MCA, Chelmsford. For the July experiment, see Fleming (note 48), ‘Sending to Crookhaven’, 4 July 1901 (unpaginated).
- Fleming . Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy 451 – 451 . in his note 4, on deliberately distinguishes his own achievements from Marconi's. It is noteworthy that the success in the transmission to St Catherine's and to Crookhaven was attributed to Marconi without specifying the exact date: In the interests of scientific history, it may be well just to mention briefly the facts and dates connected with the first serious attempt at transatlantic wireless telegraphy. The machinery specified by the author, after consultation with Mr. Marconi, began to be erected at Poldhu in November, 1900, and Mr. Marconi at the same time decided the nature of the aerial that he proposed to employ …. In December, 1900, the building work was so far advanced that the writer was able to send down drawings showing the arrangement proposed for the electric plant in the station. This being delivered and erected, experiments were tried by the author at Poldhu in January, 1901 …. At Easter, 1901, the author paid a second long visit to the Poldhu station, and, by means of a short temporary aerial, conducted experiments between Poldhu and the Lizard, a distance of 6 miles …. During the next four months much work was done by Mr. Marconi and the author together, in modifying and perfecting the wave generating arrangements, and numerous telegraphic tests were conducted during the period by Mr. Marconi between Poldhu, in Cornwall, and Crookhaven, in the south of Ireland, and Niton [close to St. Catherine's], in the Isle of Wight.
- Fleming . July 1901 . Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu July , from 5 (unpaginated)
- Fleming . January 1901 . “ Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu ” . In Fleming Collection January , 26–29 UCL MS Add. 122/20 8 July 1901, and pages under the heading of ‘Experiments at Poldhu July 10th 1901’; Kemp (note 47), 178. The various provisional specifications of Fleming's double-transformation system, filed in 1900 and in early 1901, do not mention tuning at all. Only with the complete specification of his patent No. 20,576, (note 38), filed after the July experiment on 13 August 1901, did Fleming begin to mention tuning between three circuits.
- Fleming . The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy Vol. I , 38 – 38 .
- Marconi also detected signals with his ordinary coherers at Crookhaven. If the new coherer were about ten times more efficient than ordinary ones, this would make a 2000-mile transmission feasible. Fleming The history of transatlantic wireless telegraphy I 42 42 Owing to this new coherer, however, Marconi was later involved in a bitter controversy over who invented the coherer. For this, see V. J. Phillips, ‘The “Italian Navy Coherer” affair: a turn-of-the-century scandal’, IEE Proceedings, 140 (May 1993), 173–85. Phillips demonstrates that this coherer actually operated as a rectifier, which was totally different from ordinary coherers.
- Anonymous Experiments in wireless telegraphy Electrical World 1901 38 990 990 Vyvyan recalled that Marconi was committed to secrecy because ‘if he stated his purpose beforehand and failed, it would throw some discredit on his system in its more modest scope, whereas if he succeeded the success would be all the greater by reason of its total unexpectedness’. Vyvyan (note 3), 29.
- The choice of s (composed of three dots) is apparently due to the Poldhu system's defect that pressing the key for a long time for dashes created the dangerous arc across the spark gap. See Marconi's recollection in his ‘Transatlantic wireless telegraphy’ Proceedings of the Royal Institution 1908 19 114 114 (Friday Lecture on 13 March 1908) Just after the success in December 1901, Marconi, however, told the New York Sun that ‘the test letter is changed from week to week, and when the transatlantic message was received at Newfoundland it happened to be the turn to telegraph “s”’. Electrical World, 39 (1902), 24.
- For Marconi's own account of the reception of the signal, one repeated in much of the secondary literature, see Dunlap Marconi: The Man and His Wireless New York 1937 94 98 Also Degna Marconi (note 3), 90–4; H. E. Hancock, Wireless at Sea (New York, 1974), 34. Different opinions have been in existence concerning the wavelength that Marconi used. In several places, Fleming estimated it as 700–1000 m, but H. M. Dowsett, an engineer of the Marconi Company, gave 366 m as its wavelength from his test in June 1901; Baker (note 3), 68. The wavelength was not important in the actual reception of the signal, since Marconi, because of the swing of the kite that caused the variation of its capacitance, abandoned the tuned system for an untuned one with the mercury coherer. There is a modern calculation which casts doubt on Marconi's claim by showing that his untuned kite (500 feet) could have responded with frequencies > 5 MHz (its wavelength being < 60 m). J. A. Ratcliffe, ‘Marconi: reactions to his transatlantic radio experiment’, Electronics and Power (2 May 1974), 322; ‘Scientists’ reactions to Marconi's transatlantic radio experiment’, IEE Proceedings, 121 (September 1974), 1033–8. For historians, however, what is more interesting than such technical estimation is examining how the authority and authenticity of Marconi's claim was then constructed—a subject on which further research is required.
- For various professional and nonprofessional reactions to Marconi's claim, see Danna The trans-atlantic radio telegraphic experiments of Guglielmo Marconi, 1901–1907 University of Missouri 1967 40 61 unpublished PhD thesis Elihu Thomson's strong support for Marconi contributed much to the change of the American engineers' opinions. For this, see Degna Marconi (note 3), 103.
- Blake , G.G. 1928 . History of Radio Telegraphy and Telephony 101 – 101 . London
- Woodbury , David O. 1931 . Communication 146 – 147 . New York A similar passage can also be found in his Beloved Scientist: Elihu Thomson (New York, 1944), 235.
- Fleming . 1934 . Memories of a Scientific Life 124 – 124 . London
- Fleming . January 1901 . “ Notebook: Experiments at UCL and at Poldhu ” . In Fleming Collection January , 26–29 UCL MS Add. 122/20 a page under the heading of Decbr, 1901.
- On Marconi's interview with the New York Herald, see Marconi signals across the Atlantic Electrical World 1901 38 1023 1025 For AIEE dinner, see ‘The Institute Annual Dinner and Mr. Marconi’, Electrical World, 39 (1902), 124–6. For Marconi's mention of Fleming in his address at the AIEE, see Marconi ‘Address’ (at the AIEE annual dinner), Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 19 (1903), 99. For Marconi's speech in Britain, see G. Marconi, ‘Address’ (at the fifth general meeting of the Marconi Company), Electrician, 48 (1902), 712–3. For contemporary popular reports in which Fleming's contribution was neglected, see P. T. McGrath, ‘Marconi and his transatlantic signal’, The Century Magazine, 63 (1902), 769–82; and R. S. Baker, ‘Marconi's achievement: telegraphing across the ocean without wires’, McClure's Magazine, 18 (1902), 291–99.
- Anonymous Notes Electrician 1902 48 761 762
- Thompson , S.P. 1902 . The inventor of wireless telegraphy . The Saturday Review , 93 : 425 – 425 . Thompson's main point was to prove that the inventor of wireless telegraphy was Oliver Lodge, not Marconi. For the analysis of Thompson's attack in the context of the priority dispute over wireless telegraphy, see Hong (note 13). For the priority dispute over the Italian Navy coherer, see Phillips (note 65).
- Marconi to Fleming Fleming Collection 1902 May 19 UCL MS Add. 122/47
- (A copy of) Fleming to Marconi Fleming Collection 1902 May 21 UCL MS Add. 122/47 (emphasis added).
- Marconi , G. 1902 . The progress of electric space telegraphy . Proceedings of the Royal Institution , 17 : 195 – 210 . (Friday Lecture delivered on 13 June 1902)
- For Marconi's anxiety, see Marconi to H. Cuthbert Hall Gioia Marconi Braga Private Collection 1902 June 29 For the July experiment, Fleming (note 48), 4–7 July 1902. For Marconi's reception of signals on board Carlo Alberto, see L. Solari, ‘The radio-telegraphic expedition of H.I.M.S. “Carlo Alberto”’, Electrician, 50 (1902), 22–6. For Marconi's ‘show’ in front of the Russian emperor, see Aitken (note 3), 295, n. 83.
- Marconi to H. Cuthbert Hall (one page, typewritten), 22 Gioia Marconi Braga Private Collection 1902 August Also in Susan J. Douglas, Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899–1922 (Baltimore, 1987), 36, n. 14.
- Marconi to H. Cuthbert Hall (three pages typewritten) Gioia Marconi Braga Private Collection 1902 August 22 For Marconi's anger toward Fleming, see Marconi to H. Cuthbert Hall, 2 October 1902, Gioia Marconi Braga Private Collection. In it, Marconi complains: He [Dr Fleming] informed Mr. Entwistle that the designs ought, as a matter of courtesy, to be referred to himself for approval before being sent to the office. This attitude on his part opens up again the wider question of his general position in the Company and I am desirous that this should be clearly defined to him without further delay. It should be explained to him that his function as Consulting Engineer is simply to advise upon points which may be expressly referred to him and in no way places upon the Company any obligation to seek his advice upon any matters in which it is deemed unnecessary. In this particular case I can see no reason for consulting him whether based on courtesy or any other consideration. He was asked in the first instance to prepare a design and, this having proved unsatisfactory, I dealt with the matter myself in conjunction with Mr. Entwistle. I do not wish to inflict any unnecessary wound on Dr. Fleming's susceptibilities, but, unless you are able to put the matter before him effectively in a right light, I shall feel bound to make a formal communication to the Board with reference to his general position.
- February 1903 . Marconi to Fleming February , 2 (a copy of) Fleming to Marconi, 10 February 1903, UCL MS Add. 122/47, Fleming Collection.
- In a letter to Lodge, written just after Marconi's death in 1937, Fleming stated that: Marconi was always determined to claim everything for himself. His conduct to me about the first transatlantic transmission was very ungenerous. I had planned the power plant for him and the first sending was carried out with the arrangement of circuits described in my British patent No. 3481 of 1901. But he took care never to mention my work in connection with it. Fleming to Lodge, 29 UCL MS Add. 89/36 Lodge Collection 1937 August in
- For Fleming's education and research in Cambridge, refer to Hong Forging the scientist-engineer: a professional career of John Ambrose Fleming Seoul National University 1994 unpublished PhD dissertation chapter 1.2, ‘Cambridge period and Maxwell's influence’.
- Marconi's learning by ‘mind's eye’ is best described in Aitken Syntony and Spark: The Origin of Radio New York 1975 179 297 passim. Among Marconi's own statements, his ‘Syntonic wireless telegraphy’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 49 (1901), 506–15, is the most important source to illuminate Marconi's design ability. Fleming once commented on Marconi's method that Marconi ‘did not arrive at any of his results by mathematical prediction. In fact I think his mathematical knowledge was not very great …. In addition to this power of intuitive anticipation he possessed enormous perseverance and power of continuous work.’ Fleming, ‘Guglielmo Marconi and the development of radio-communication’, Journal of the Society of Arts, 86 (1937), 42–63 (57).
- Fleming once noted, ‘although easy to describe, it requires great dexterity and skill to effect the required tuning [with Marconi's jigger]’. Fleming Electric oscillations and electric waves Journal of the Society of Arts 1901 49 69 131 (90)
- Buchanan , R.A. 1985 . The rise of scientific engineering in Britain . British Journal for the History of Science , 18 : 218 – 233 .
- For the mind's-eye method, see Ferguson The mind's eye: nonverbal thought in technology Science 1977 197 For such British ‘traditional’ civil engineers as Watt, Brindley, and Brunel, see Samuel Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, 5 vols (London, 1904); and Thomas P. Hughes, ‘Introduction’, in Selections from Lives of The Engineers by Samuel Smiles (Cambridge, MA, 1966), 1–29. For Crompton, see Brian Bowers, R. E. B. Crompton (London, 1969); and for Ferranti, see Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930 (Baltimore, 1983), 237–46.
- Marconi to Fleming Fleming Collection 1902 May 19 UCL MS Add. 122/47
- Marconi , G. 1908 . Transatlantic wireless telegraphy . Proceedings of the Royal Institution , 19 : 107 – 130 . (Friday Lecture delivered on 13 March 1908) (117); Vyvyan (note 3), 35.
- For Fleming's establishment of professional credibility, see Hong Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti Effect Isis 1995 86 idem, ‘Efficiency and authority’ (note 35).
- For example, see Marini Bettolo G.B. Guglielmo Marconi: personal memories and documents Rivista di Storia della Scienza 1986 3 447 458 especially 449
- Fleming first mentioned J. J. Thomson's ‘corpuscle’ in his lecture on ‘Ether and Atom’ at the London Institution in January 1900. His elaboration of Larmor's electron theory and J. J. Thomson's ‘atom of electricity’ can also be found in his 1900 Cantor lecture quoted in note 87 (p. 111). For his 1902 Cantor lecture, see Fleming The electronic theory of electricity Proceedings of the Royal Institution 1902 17 163 181 (177). For Larmor's electron theory, see Jed Z. Buchwald, From Maxwell to Microphysics: Aspects of Electromagnetic Theory in the Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century (Chicago, 1985), 133–73; and Bruce Hunt, The Maxwellians (Ithaca, 1991), 209–39.
- Fleming . 1903 . Hertzian wave telegraphy . Journal of the Society of Arts , 51 : 709 – 784 . (Cantor lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, in March 1903) (715)
- Fleming . 1903 . Hertzian wave telegraphy . Journal of the Society of Arts , 51 : 744 – 744 . (Cantor lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, in March 1903)
- Fleming . 1903 . Hertzian wave telegraphy . Journal of the Society of Arts , 51 : 718 – 718 . (Cantor lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, in March 1903) The mechanism was similar to that of electrolysis. Also ibid., 751, n.
- It is noteworthy that Fleming shared the Maxwellian's commitment to the wave guide in the 1880s Buchwald Wave guides and radiators in Maxwellian electrodynamics (appendix) Recent Researches Chicago 1994 in The Creation of Scientific Effects: Heinrich Hertz and Electric Waves The idea of the earth as wave guide as well as the generation of half-waves from Marconi's transmitter had been suggested before Fleming by A. Blondel and R. A. Fessenden: A. F. Collins, Wireless Telegraphy (New York, 1905), 33. What was new in Fleming was the support of such claims with the help of the latest scientific theory.
- For such experiments, see Marconi G. A note on the effect of daylight upon the propagation of electrodynamic impulses over long distance Proceedings of the Royal Society 1902 70 344 347 and H. B. Jackson, ‘On some phenomena affecting the transmission of electric waves over the surface of the sea and earth’, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 70 (1902), 254–72. Some scientists attributed these effects to the absorption of the wave energy by ions or electrons. For example, J. J. Thomson, ‘On some consequences of the emission of negatively electrified corpuscles by hot bodies’, Philosophical Magazine, 4 (1902), 253–62; J. E. Taylor, ‘Characteristics of earth current disturbances and their origin’, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 71 (1903), 225–7.
- Fleming . 1903 . Hertzian wave telegraphy . Journal of the Society of Arts , 51 : 781 – 781 . (Cantor lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, in March 1903)
Annals of Science
Volume 53, 1996 - Issue 5
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