Making Waves – How Marconi's Wireless Legacy Takes us Ever Further Into Space

Speaker: Professor Francesco Paresce Marconi

Professor Francesco Paresce Marconi, grandson of Guglielmo Marconi, the founder of the world's very first wireless factory to Chelmsford, will talk about his grandfather, the Marconi family and how Guglielmo's discoveries and inventions continue to play an important role in modern communications both here on Earth and far out into space. This brilliance and dedication, however, had its personal costs in family and politics; Francesco will share his personal insight into an amazingly driven and visionary individual who had such a profound influence on creating the modern connected world.

The timing of this talk is particularly appropriate in the centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War, in which Marconi equipment designed and built in our city became so important to our Army, Navy and the Royal Flying Corps.

Professor Paresce Marconi is an experimental astrophysicist. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Rome and a PhD from the University of California, Berkley. His areas of expertise are advanced instrumentation and star formation. He has worked for NASA, ESA and ESO and is currently Senior Astronomer at the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome.

in association with Changing Chelmsford: Ideas Festival 2014