2 July 1897: Marconi is awarded a patent for radio

On 2 July 1897, the young Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, was granted a patent for his radio.

When Guglielmo Marconi wrote to the Italian Ministry of Post and Telegraphs asking it to fund his experiments into wireless telegraphy', he never got a reply. Instead, the minister in charge, Pietro Lacava, wrote on the letter that the young inventor from Bologna had better take himself off to an insane asylum. Marconi packed his bags for England.

Arriving in 1896, the 21-year-old Marconi found a more receptive audience. The Post Office and the Admiralty showed a keen interest in his work.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

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