ed. The possibilities of Guglielmo (William) Marconi's
invention are just beginning to be realised, and what it has already
accomplished would seem too wonderful to be true if the people of these
marvellous times were not almost surfeited with wonders.

It is of the boy and man Marconi that this chapter will tell, and
through him the story of his invention, for the personality, the
talents, and the character of the inventor made wireless telegraphy
possible.

It was an article in an electrical journal describing the properties of
the "Hertzian waves" that suggested to young Marconi the possibility of
sending messages from one place to another without wires. Many men
doubtless read the same article, but all except the young Italian lacked
the training, the power of thought, and the imagination, first to
foresee the great things that could be accomplished through this
discovery, and then to study out the mechanical problem, and finally to
steadfastly push the work through to practical usefulness.

It would seem that Marconi was not the kind of boy to produce a
revolutionising invention, for he was not in the least spectacular, but,
on the contrary, almost shy, and lacking in the aggressive enthusiasm
that is supposed to mark the successful inventor; quiet determination
was a strong characteristic of the young Italian, and a studious habit
which had much to do with the great results accomplished by him at so
early an age.

He was well equipped to grapple with the mighty problem which he had
been the first to conceive, since from early boyhood he had made
electricity his chief study, and a comfortable income saved him from the
grinding struggle for bare existence that many inventors have had to
endure. Although born in Bologna (in 1874) and bearing an Italian name,
Marconi is half Irish, his mother being a native of Britain. Having been
educated in Bologna, Florence, and Leghorn, Italy's schools may rightly
claim to have had great influence in the shaping of his career. Certain
it is, in any case, that he was well educated, especially in his chosen
branch.

Marconi, like many other inventors, did not discover the means by which
the end was accomplished; he used the discovery of other men, and turned
their impractical theories and inventions to practical uses, and, in
addition, invented many theories of his own. The man who does old things
in a new way, or makes new uses of old inventions, is the one who
achieves great