Guglielmo Marconi

Immortalized as the inventor of radio, Marconi conducted his first experiments on wireless signals at his father's estate in Pontecchio, Italy, in 1895. His success in sending wireless signals over a distance of one-and-a-half miles made Marconi, at 21, the inventor of the first practical system of wireless telegraphy. One year later, he received the world's first patent for such a system. In 1899, Marconi established wireless communication between France and England. In 1901, one year after his famous patent No. 7777 for "tuned or syntonic telegraphy," Marconi transmitted the first wireless signals across the Atlantic Ocean, between Poldhu, Cornwall, and St. John's, Newfoundland—2100 miles. Marconi's research into shorter wavelengths culminated in the opening of the world's first microwave radiotelephone link in 1932.