Haven Hotel and Marconi*

‘I DIDN’T KNOW THAT’ SERIES HAVEN HOTEL AND MARCONI* S.C. ROY e visited Brownsea island, a beautiful island at built in 1887 in place of the earlier North Haven Inn. At the mouth of Poole Harbour in the Dorset the Sandbanks jetty, one can not miss the Haven Hotel, Wcounty of England. Poole Harbour, by the way, not for its beauty and grandeur but for its strategic location is the second largest natural harbour in the world, after facing the sea, which reminded us of the common sight of Sydney, Australia. sea-facing hotels in Puri in India. In order to go to Brownsea island, we had to take a And there was not much reason to pay attention to ferry from Sandbanks, the entrance to Poole Harbour. At this hotel till I KNEW that in October 1898, Guglielmo Sandbanks, there is a hotel called Haven Hotel, which was Marconi established one of the World’s earliest Radio Stations at this Haven Hotel and carried out many of the early experiments on wireless transmission. Although Marconi was credited with Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1909, but Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose in India demonstrated the use of radiowaves before Marconi. The first successful experiment on wireless signaling was done by Marconi in May 1897, while J.C. Bose presented his demonstration of exploding gun powder remotely using microwaves in 1895, two years before Marconi. J.C. Bose was reluctant to apply for patent because in his opinion knowledge should be free to all. However, recently in 1997, 60 years after the death of Bose, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.) of the USA recognized J.C. Bose as the discoverer of radiowaves. Fransisco Marconi (also a physicist), grandson of Guglielmo Marconi, during his visit to Bose * This series originates from our visit to England and the USA in Institute (established by J.C. Bose), Kolkata in 2006 the summer of 2014. This is not a travelogue, neither is it an informative document on the places that we visited. These are admitted that J.C. Bose performed the first wireless some of the facts which are not usually available in travel experiment before his grandfather did. He remarked, “This documents and which I DID NOT KNOW before this travel. I is a wonderful experience for me since J.C. Bose actually hope our readers will enjoy reading it as many of the facts may not be known to all the readers of the journal. The author performed the first wireless experiment before that of my may be reached at [email protected] grandfather Guglielmo Marconi.” VOL. 81, NOS. 9–10 269 One of the east-facing ground floor large rooms of station at the Haven Hotel was the First IN THE WORLD the hotel was Marconi’s main laboratory and was used to to receive long distance messages. Marconi worked from receive signals from a small transmitter built at the Royal this laboratory and lived here with his family till 1926. Needles Hotel in the Isle of Wight, another laboratory set The hotel has been generous enough to put up a plaque up by Marconi in the East. Many experiments were carried directing the room which contains photographs and out here, which led to the setting up of the First Trans information on experiments which he did to establish long Atlantic Radio Station at Poldhu in Cornwall. In 1904, the distance wireless transmission. 270 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2015.

Load more