MARCONI'S LOST SECRET

Evening Star, Issue 23237, 10 April 1939, Page 14

MARCONI'S LOST SECRET

Shortly before he died . Marconi showed his wife two little yeUow stones, “It is goldl ”he told her. ' For months, his yacht anchored in the blue Mediterranean, he had been working alone, using a secret process to produce gold from sea water. His experiments were almost at an end when death struck, and his secret died with him. Only his wife and little daughter, Elettra, had seen the tiny nuggets, which would have meant unlimited gold for Italy. Marchesa Marconi, in London on a visit to friends, told of her husband’s experiments. ■ “ They were almost finished, she said, .“when death took him awayi For seven months he had lived on the yacht, working secretly in his laboratory. He actually produced gold from the sea water by using electrical waves, “ One day he showed me two little yellow stones and told me they were gold. ... “ 1 Later,’ he said, ‘we will return and complete the experiments.’ _ But he. died, and his secret died with him. He was working quite alone and left, no notes. “ Only our daughter and I saw the gold. One of the nuggets was a bright yellow, the other slightly darker. ■“ His. discovery would have astonished the scientists of the world if hia secret had become known.” Marconi, wizard of the radio, left the bulk of his fortune, said to amount to two or three million pounds, to hia seven-year-old daughter. Elettra. His widow, formerly Countess Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scala, whom ho married in 1927, has a life income from it.