GREAT MAN PASSES

Opunake Times, 23 July 1937, Page 3

GREAT MAN PASSES

MARCONI THE INVENTOR RADIO PIONEER

In the diversified and infinitely complex history of all that is summed up by the word wireless, one name will always stand out as that of the pioneer, the name of Guglielmo Marconi. His part in the developement of the many wonders of radio is clear cut and distinct. The way was paved for him by' investigators in the field of pure science, Clerk Maxwell, Hertz, Oliver Lodge and others. Starting with the first-named, thev established, first in mathematical theory and then by experiment and demonstration, the existence of what are popularly known as wireless waves. If they were first in the field of discovery and analysis, Marconi was the pioneer of utilisation. Setting to work deliberately with the idea of using the Hertizan waves for the purposes of direct communication without wire or cable, Marconi began in 1895 the process of ceaseless experimenting, which has ended only with his life. The subsequent workers in the same field have come to be legion. The enormous advances from his first crude spark apparatus to the elaborations required for regular, dependable, world-wide communication, for broadcasting, and lately for television, have been the work of many hands. So, in one sense, the name Marconi is only one in a long list. Yet in popular estimation it is linked with the development of wireless in a way no other is. This verdict is largely correct. He was not onlv the pioneer, he continued a tireless worker in the same field, he continued to keep_ pace with others in making additions to what he had inaugurated. His life has now ended, but he leaves behind a total of achievement in his chosen field that no man will easily outrival.