By Ben King, 12 December 2001 15:35
NEWS Marconi is today celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founder and namesake's historic transatlantic wireless communication. Exactly 100 years ago today, the 27-year-old Guglielmo Marconi, sitting on a blustery cliff in Newfoundland, picked up a message from a transmitter in Poldhu, Cornwall. The message was a simple letter "S" in morse code - just three dots, which Marconi and his assistant believed they could hear above the hiss of background radiation. Marconi had earlier proved that radio signals did not just travel in straight lines but could be transmitted over long distances. The anniversary comes during tough times for the company which bears Marconi's name. However, Marconi's own company was in similarly tough straights in the days before the transatlantic transmission. Like most technology demos, there is a widespread suspicion that the results were somehow fudged, if not actually faked. But the publicity gained from the experiment was enormous, and helped Marconi's company to turn its fortunes around. Marconi PLC will be hoping that the good PR following the centenary of the transmission will give a similar boost to its fortunes.
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