Q 01/05

Which physicist shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Marconi for wireless telegraphy?

A) Nikola Tesla

B) Heinrich Hertz

C) Ferdinand Braun

D) Lee de Forest

Answer · why

C) Ferdinand Braun

Braun invented the cathode-ray tube oscilloscope and a crystal detector; the two laureates never worked together.

Q 02/05

Where did Marconi report hearing the letter S sent across the Atlantic from Cornwall on 12 December 1901?

A) Cape Cod, Massachusetts

B) Signal Hill, Newfoundland

C) Halifax, Nova Scotia

D) Cape Race, Newfoundland

Answer · why

B) Signal Hill, Newfoundland

Storms had wrecked his planned Cape Cod receiving site, and the letter 'S' he heard was never automatically recorded, so historians still debate it.

Q 03/05

Roughly how long was the kite-supported receiving antenna Marconi used for his 1901 transatlantic test?

A) 100 feet

B) 200 feet

C) 350 feet

D) 500 feet

Answer · why

D) 500 feet

The transmitting station at Poldhu in Cornwall did the heavy lifting; the kite simply hoisted a wire into the Newfoundland sky.

Q 04/05

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

A) Guinness stout

B) Bushmills whiskey

C) Jameson whiskey

D) Bass ale

Answer · why

C) Jameson whiskey

That Irish connection later helped Marconi find backers in Britain when Italy showed little interest in his experiments.

Q 05/05

Marconi was born in 1874 in which Italian city?

A) Milan

B) Bologna

C) Rome

D) Genoa

Answer · why

B) Bologna

He never received formal schooling; private tutors taught him at home, and a professor at the local university let him use its lab.