The American
Marconi Foundation is a non-profit education and
research organization dedicated to the
continuation of the work of Nikola Tesla, Oliver
Heaviside, Proteus Steinmetz, Ernst Alexanderson
and all the others that contributed to the
advancement of electrical engineering. In
particular, the study of electrical engineering
with regards to the development of the New
Brunswick and Bolinas radio frequency electrical
substations and future technologies latent in
their design.
In 1971, Frank
Spicer - station engineer, Ivan Neilson -
machinist, Jim Bourne - outside-plant foreman and
Eric Dollard - engineering apprentice, who were
all part of the crew at the Bolinas site, created
an organization to continue operations and to
advance the technology. They received from R.C.A
the necessary station infrastructure for this
purpose and the Marconi Power House was selected
as a laboratory site.
This was the beginning of what is now the American Marconi Foundation, built out of the remains of R.C.A.
The American Marconi Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2008.
This was the beginning of what is now the American Marconi Foundation, built out of the remains of R.C.A.
The American Marconi Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2008.
The Bolinas Power
House was constructed in 1913 by the American
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and received
the call letters KET. In 1917 the U.S. Department
of the Navy took control of KET and installed the
Alexanderson System. Guglielmo Marconi was found
unsuited for future station operation by the
American Marconi Company due to his status as a
foreigner. Therefore the Navy Department
converted American Marconi into The Radio
Corporation in 1919. By 1930 David Sarnoff
developed The Radio Corporation of the U.S. Navy
into the now famous Radio Corporation of America,
which became to be known as R.C.A. The death of
David Sarnoff in 1971 spelled the impending
demise of R.C.A.
The merger of
General Electric with Marconi Wireless and the
resulting Radio Corporation of America required a
consortium of additional large companies to build
a patent pool and make it's business competitive.
This involved American Telephone & Telegraph
Co. (AT&T) and Westing House Electric
Company, who were both involved in wireless at
the time. AT&T held the Lee Deforest patents
and Westinghouse held the Tesla and Armstrong
patents. These patents led to major advances in
electrical and electronic engineering.
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