Detail map of St. John

A: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, B: Helston, England, United Kingdom

Marconi Sends the First Transatlantic Radio Transmission?

12/12/1901
Guglielmo Marconi and his instrument inside Cabot Tower, Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Photo taken on 12 December 1901, the day he claimed to send a wireless signal across th
Image Source: www.nobelprize.org
Guglielmo Marconi and his instrument inside Cabot Tower, Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Photo taken on 12 December 1901, the day he claimed to send a wireless signal across the Atlantic Ocean.

On December 12, 1901 Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi believed that he heard the letter “S” transmitted by Morse Code from Poldhu in south Cornwall, England, to Signal Hill, St. John's Newfoundland.

For many years this feat was considered the first transatlantic radio transmission, but later researchers concluded that the reception may not have been possible, and that Marconi may have heard static caused by lightning instead of transmitted information.

Timeline Themes

Telecommunications
Radio