Lucia Borgonzoni: "Ireland in the heart and destiny of Guglielmo Marconi"

Undersecretary of Culture: "His mother Annie Jameson, originally from Dublin, was a central figure in his education, she transmitted to him from an early age the taste for knowledge, the intuition for the unknown, the freedom of thought"

"Guglielmo Marconi and Ireland, a deep and lasting bond between innovation, identity and roots. It was not just a question of science, nor just of geography. Ireland is part of Marconi's heart and destiny". These are the words of the Undersecretary of Culture Lucia Borgonzoni read during the meeting that took place today in Rome, at the Unimarconi University, in the presence of the Nobel Prize winner in Physics' daughter, Elettra, his nephew Guglielmo, the Irish Ambassador Patricia O'Brien, Giulia Fortunato president of the Marconi 150 Committee and the Marconi Foundation, the journalist Sandro Sassoli, the deputy general director of Unimarconi, Marco Belli.

And he adds: "Guglielmo Marconi's mother, Annie Jameson, an Irishwoman from Dublin, belonged to a cultured family that transmitted to him from an early age a taste for knowledge, an intuition for the unknown, and freedom of thought. It was she, a central figure in his education, who encouraged his interest in science and supported him in his first experiments, when the dream of speaking through the air still seemed impossible, preparing him from an early age to think big and to move in an international context".

"After his marriage to Beatrice O'Brien - continues Borgonzoni - Ireland was not only a landing place for his radio waves, but also home, memory and affection. It was from Clifden, in the wild and evocative region of Connemara, that in 1907 the first regular transatlantic radiotelegraphic communication service between Europe and North America started. Remembering this story - concludes Lucia Borgonzoni - means celebrating not only the inventor, but also the human and cultural roots that made his genius possible".