Q 01/05

In which Italian city was Guglielmo Marconi born in 1874?

A) Turin

B) Florence

C) Bologna

D) Milan

Answer · why

C) Bologna

Bologna. Italy's ministry of posts took no interest in his invention, so in 1896 he left for London with his mother to find backers for his wireless.

Q 02/05

Marconi's mother Annie was the granddaughter of the founder of which famous brand?

A) Guinness stout

B) Jameson Irish Whiskey

C) Bushmills whiskey

D) Waterford Crystal

Answer · why

B) Jameson Irish Whiskey

Jameson Irish Whiskey. The family tie paid off in London, where his cousin Henry Jameson Davis financed the first patent and helped him set up his com...

Q 03/05

In 1910 a ship's Marconi wireless message led to the arrest of which murderer as he fled across the Atlantic?

A) Jack the Ripper

B) Dr Crippen

C) H. H. Holmes

D) George Joseph Smith

Answer · why

B) Dr Crippen

Dr Crippen. He was fleeing to Canada with his lover when the ship's captain grew suspicious and radioed Britain, and the pair were arrested on arrival...

Q 04/05

How was the young Marconi mostly educated?

A) Private tutors at home

B) A Jesuit boarding school

C) A military cadet school

D) A naval academy

Answer · why

A) Private tutors at home

Private tutors at home, for the most part: the family spent long spells in Florence and Livorno, and the teacher who mattered most to him was Vincenzo...

Q 05/05

Which physics professor let the young Marconi use his university's laboratory and library?

A) Galileo Ferraris

B) Antonio Pacinotti

C) Édouard Branly

D) Augusto Righi

Answer · why

D) Augusto Righi

Augusto Righi. He had refined the spark oscillator used to make radio waves in the laboratory, and Marconi built his first wireless transmitters aroun...