Citizen Memorial: Guglielmo Marconi Memorial - Providence, RI

Guglielmo Marconi Memorial

Providence, RI

N 41° 47.203 W 071° 24.551

Short Description: 

The Guglielmo Marconi Memorial is located Fredrick C. Green Memorial Blvd. near Carr Street, in Roger Williams Park, Providence, RI.

Long Description:

An 18' high by 4' square granite monument is erected, by the Italian-American community of Providence, in Roger Williams Park to honor the inventor of wireless telegraphy, Gugliemo Marconi. The monument was created by Oresto DiSaia and dedicated on October 25, 1953.

The top of the monument contains a frieze depicting wireless communication. The front has a relief sculpture of Marconi and the inscription:

MARCONI

TO

GUGLIELMO MARCONI

FATHER OF

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY

A GRATEFUL GENERATION ERECTS THIS

MONUMENT IN THANKSGIVING FOR

THE WONDROUS GIFT OF AERIAL

COMMUNICATION WHICH HAS ENRICHED

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, FOSTERED

THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, BRINGING

TREASURES OF GREATER KNOWLEDGE

AND HAPPINESS INTO THE HEARTS

AND HOMES OF MANKIND 

Guglielmo Marconi was an electrical engineer of Italian and Irish. descent. He was born into a noble Italian family on April 25, 1874. He studied at the University of Bologna under physicist Augusto Righi, and at the Istituto Cavallero in Florence.

At age 20 he began his experiments with radio telegraphy as was able to send electrical signals wirelessly for short distances. He improved his methods and eventually was able to achieve wireless radio transmission over long distance and even across the Atlantic Ocean. This made ship to shore communication possible and later led to worldwide communication. In 1909, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics his contributions to radio communications.