CHAPTER 2
THE CHAL L ENGER
T
esla gave public demonstrations of his Tesla coil, and soon
after, word spread about the “mad scientist” who was
working on wireless communication. But he was not the only
player in the radio game. Guglielmo Marconi, a young Italian
inventor, started experimenting with radio waves in 1894
after reading every scientific journal and article he could find
about the topic—including those on Tesla’s inventions. He too
envisioned creating what Tesla called wireless
telegraphy
.
Even as a young boy, Guglielmo was interested in electrical science and
studied the works of scientists, including James Clerk Maxwell, Heinrich
Hertz, and Oliver Lodge.
