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©C1B534024
AUG !0 IS22
RADIO BROADCAST
Vol. I No. 5 September, 1922
The March of Radio
MARCONI'S VISIT
ON MANY other occasions we have unmistakably shown our appreciation of the inventor of radio, but never before have he and his work been of such widespread interest. Technical societies have, in the past, showered upon him tokens of their appreciation, universities have bestowed honorary degrees upon him in acknowledgement of his scientific achievements, but on this occasion a million radio enthusiasts from all over the country were directly interested in his comings and goings.
The outcome of his pioneer wireless work was of everyday interest to them. Tuning— staticwavelength — interference— words which on Marconi's previous visits had been meaningless terms to all but a few of the technical men, are terms which we use as glibly as we do spark plug and carbureter.
Probably no other inventor has seen the results of his early endeavors so rapidly become a part of the life of the people, or has seen himself so suddenly become a public figure. Of course a Babe Ruth can climb to popularity with even greater speed than has Marconi, but the reason for the popularity is hardly on the same plane with that which accounts for the reception Marconi has just received. The education which comes from seeing the ball fly out of bounds into the bleachers and that which one acquires in investigating and studying the action of a radio receiving set, are
hardly to be compared. Marconi's contribution to our lives is of lasting and growing importance; his work has probably stimulated popular interest in science more than the efforts of a hundred teachers of Physics and Electricity.
If we inquire as to just what specific contribution to the radio art of to-day is responsible for the bestowal of the much-coveted medals of the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, which Marconi has just received, the answer is not apparent. His improved coherer and magnetic detector have long been relegated to the museum, and his spark transmitting sets will soon rapidly disappear. It seems, after reading over his early experiments and efforts, that the most important of his contributions, which still dominates the radio art, is the grounded, vertical antenna.
Hertz, of course, had not found it necessary to ground either his transmitting sets or his receiving loops for getting his wireless signals; because of the short distance between his receiving and transmitting apparatus, the scheme worked perfectly well with ungrounded apparatus. Marconi, however, soon found: out that to communicate over greater distances, a high vertical antenna was all important, and that, further, its transmitting and receiving action were both much improved if the antenna was suitably connected to moist earth at its lower end. This grounding of the antenna