L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano T here is a very good reason why, on May 11, the Leonardo da Vinci Society, in collaboration with the San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute, presented "Guglielmo Marconi-A Conference." It was the second in a cycle of confer- ences celebrating Italian scientists who have made unique and stel- lar contributions to the world at large and have left their imprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is no surprise to those of us who recognize and appreciate San Francisco's many legacies, to hear that the City by the Bay has had its share of innovation throughout its centuries-old histo- ry, including that of Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), inventor of wireless communications. Conference representative, Paola Tonelli, Cultural Chair of the da Vinci Society, spoke about Marconi, one of the most influen- tial figures in the history of mod- ern technology. Also speaking at the Marconi Conference were two Italian sci- entists, Marco Pavone and Fabrizio Capobianco, who described their work and their achievements, both in Italy and in the Bay Area. Marco Pavone's areas of expertise lie in the fields of con- trols and robotics. He is Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, where he also holds other appointments, besides being a Research Affiliate at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Fabrizio Capobianco, a soft- ware engineering expert, is an Italian serial entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. He is the founder and CEO of the sports social network TOK.tv and also serves as President and Chairman of Funambol, a white-label, "per- sonal cloud" provider. L'Italo-Americano asked Capobianco why Marconi, and the conference, are important. "Because Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio! The radio was the first social platform. It changed everything. The conference is about one of the most important Italian scientists of all time. He won a Nobel Prize for inventing the radio. His story is really fascinating and worth knowing. We talk a lot about Elon Musk these days, but Marconi was a scientist and a businessman at the same time. Different times, same impact." How is your current work as a software engineer part of this important topic? "I am no scien- tist, just a simple engineer con- verted to businessman. My last company (TOK.tv) is making TV social again, allowing friends to talk while they watch soccer on TV. There is a line that goes from radio to TV, and to the social communication voice providers. Voice is the way we share emotions, and it is going to power the live social conversa- tion in the future (whether you are watching with a friend who lives on the other side of town, or on the other side of the planet). The invention of the radio was the first spark for wireless com- munications. Now life on mobile is social by definition. I am pushing the envelope a bit in that direction, thanks to our partnership with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Tottenham." Today Marconi's achieve- ments continue to inspire scien- tists. His presence in the Bay Area was marked by the con- struction of powerful Pacific Coast stations in Bolinas and Marshall in 1914, to connect his round-the-world services across the Pacific. After WWI, the Radio Corporation of America obtained the sites and commer- cial maritime radio services con- tinued until 1997. Today these historic stations are part of Point Reyes National Seashore in part- nership with the Maritime Radio Historical Society. The Marconi Conference Center and State CATHERINE ACCARDI Guglielmo Marconi & His San Francisco Bay Area Connections Historic Park is at the site of the transoceanic Marshall Receiving Station. It all began in 1894, in Bologna, Italy, when Marconi began experimenting with Electromagnetic Waves (Radio Waves). In an unused portion of his parents' attic, he constructed devices for sending and receiving Morse code across the room without the use of wires. In 1899, he successfully transmitted radio waves across the English Channel. In 1909, Marconi was award- ed the Noble Prize for Physics. Three years later, he would be credited with saving the 712 sur- vivors of the Titanic disaster. Marconi came to San Francisco in 1913 to build one of the largest wireless stations in the world and, soon after his arrival, he established the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. By 1912, Marconi had acquired, through a lawsuit and merger, over 70 land stations and more than 500 ship-board instal- lations. One of these stations was Station KPH, San Francisco's first radio station. During World War I, the United States government appro- priated control of this technolo- gy. After the war, the Marshall/Bolinas Station was returned to the Marconi Company and again became sta- tion KPH. In 1920, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed and then purchased the American Marconi Company. On April 27, 1934 Marconi celebrated his 60th birthday by receiving an honorary citizenship of San Francisco. During the pre- sentation, Marconi fondly recalled his first visit to San Francisco and the fact that California had welcomed thou- sands of Italians to her bosom. And San Francisco fondly recalls him. On Lombard Street, before it winds up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, sits a monument to Guglielmo Marconi, a stone bench designed in 1939 by artist Attilio Piccirilli. The Latin inscription carved in Raymond California granite on the base reads: "Outstripping the light- ning, the voice races through the empty sky." Marco Pavone, Consul General Ortona & Fabrizio Capobianco. Photographs courtesy of Amelia Antonucci Marconi monument at the base of Coit Tower, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, July 8, 1939. Photograph courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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