A History of the Marconi Company 1874-1965 Hardcover - 1998

From the rear cover

In 1896 a young Italian arrived in England with some mysterious scientific apparatus as part of his personal luggage. The Customs officials, who had seen nothing like it before, examined it so thoroughly that the delicate apparatus was completely wrecked. This was the inauspicious beginning of a venture that was destined to remould the pattern of twentieth century living. The book begins with a brief resume of early scientific discoveries up to 1896 and goes on to record the fortunes of the Marconi company. In the course of the book the author covers in detail the story of radio communications from the first wireless signals across the Atlantic to the transmission of colour television programmes via satellite. The narrative includes the development of electronic devices during two world wars and the histories of such specialist fields as sound broadcasting, television, aviation electronics and radar. The technical stories are told against the backcloth of a Company's successes and setbacks and commercial "wars". A lively reading, which can be readily understood by the lay reader. For the technical man, circuit diagrams of early apparatus give added interest. The text is generously illustrated with photographs from the Marconi archives.