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Augusto Righi, Italian physicist, (b. August 27, 1850 d. June 8, 1920 Bologna, Italy). Educated at Bologna University, became professor of physics from 1873 to 1880 at the Bologna Technical Institute; 1880 to 1885 at the Palermo University; 1885 to 1889 at Padua University and then at the University of Bologna.

From 1872 to 1918, Righi published more than 200 scientific papers on such subjects as electro-atomic phenomena, the action of magnetism; electrified particles in gases; electric waves; electric oscillations Hertzian waves and telegraphy without wires.

After Hertz announced his discovery of electromagnetic waves, Righi investigated them, especially their optical properties, and published the results in a treatise, Optice Elettrica, in 1897. He noticed that the smaller the spheres on the exciters, the shorter the waves, approaching those of light.

It was remarked by a veteran Marconi engineer that before describing methods Marconi devised by which he realized his ambition, it is advisable to refer to the work of those pioneers who influenced Marconi in his early experiments, and of whose work he had knowledge: Maxwell, Hertz, Righi and Branly.

Bologna was Marconi's home. It was there that Righi, as professor of Physics at the University, propagated electric waves as short as 2.5 centimeters, whereas Hertz had produced them 30 centimeters in length. Righi improved the Hertz oscillator that generated the waves; he placed the spark gap in vaseline oil and made the waves more consistent and steady.

He contributed a new detector by cutting thin lines on the back of a mirror, dividing the metallic surface with a diamond point into narrow discontinuous strips. This provided a spark-distance much finer than could be attained by a micrometer gap, hence affording greater sensitivity.

But it is said that Righi's work in generation and detection of electric waves was not in itself as important as the fact that it was partly through him that Marconi found encouragement. Although Marconi was never enrolled as a student at the University of Bologna, he did hear Righi lecture.

In Marconi's first test of wireless he used the induction coil as the electric-wave emitter, and the ball discharger or spark gap described by Professor Righi in his scientific papers. It consisted of four brass balls separated by small gaps and immersed in vaseline oil. To control the electric discharge across the gap a telegraph key was connected in the primary circuit of the induction coil. This, of course, permitted the formation of dots and dashes.

After Marconi's success in opening transatlantic wireless service in January, 1903, with an exchange of greetings between President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII, he returned to Bologna; the entire town turned out to greet him, and in the throng was Professor Righi, who at the reception said:

"Perhaps no one can appreciate better than I his exceptional inventitive power and his unusual intellectual gifts. It is to the credit of Marconi that he has proved how much those are in error who regard with disdainful or indifferent eyes the work carried on in the silence of the laboratory by modest students of science.

Source: Orrin E. Dunlap Jr., Radio's One Hundred Men of Science

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