Wireless Telegraphy - Defense of Marconi

There are two errors in connection with wireless telegraphy that are being constantly repeated, viz., that Marconi has done nothing new, and that the British Post Office neglected the work of Dr. Oliver Lodge and took up that of Marconi. When such a statement is reiterated by so eminent an authority as Prof. Silvanus Thompson, one feels constrained to enter some protest. At a lecture on "Signalling without Wires," recently delivered at the London Institution, Prof. Thompson, after very properly extolling the magnificent work of Hertz and Lodge, asked what had Marconi done? Nothing new! But surely before Marconi came to this country there had been no serious attempts at signalling over considerable distances, We presume if either Dr. Lodge, or even Mr. Tesla, had thought they were so near such striking results, they would have been unceasing in their efforts to carry the experiments a little further than they did. Moreover, we feel sure that if Dr. Lodge had brought something definite before the British Postal authorities they would have taken up his discovery as readily as they did Marconi's. At the same time, whatever may be the commercial future of systems of signalling across space, its development may be said to be due to the minds of many.