According to the story told in 1968 by a senior citizen of Salvan, in 1895 Guglielmo Marconi carried out some of his earliest wireless experiments in the vicinity of this picturesque village of the Swiss Alps. The IEEE duly acknowledged this event, and granted a “Historical Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing” to the site. Raymond Findlay, IEEE Past President, dedicated a commemorative plaque on 26 September 2003, in the presence of a number of VIPs.
An important delegation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, based in Geneva) visited the site on 9 September 2007 under the guidance of Dr. Hamadoum Touré, ITU Secretary General. He declared: “Coming to Salvan is in fact a pilgrimage. As an engineer in satellite communications and ITU Secretary General, it is a privilege for me. Tomorrow’s world will be more and more placed under the sign of Hertzian communications, and the great inventor Marconi will remain for ever a guide for all of us.”
On 26 September 2008, for the first time in its history, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU /UIT) will recognize a particular site for its invaluable contribution in the Telecommunication Heritage. This honor will be granted to the township of Salvan, in Valais, Switzerland where, in 1895, Guglielmo Marconi carried some of his first experiments in wireless telegraphy.
The Salvan Marconi Foundation, in association with the ITU, has the great pleasure of inviting you to a series of lectures and to the official ceremony that will mark this worldwide first — in the presence of the ITU Secretary General, of Marconi’s daughter Elettra, of the President of Switzerland and of other dignitaries. A new exhibition also welcomes you in the Salvan Marconi Museum, and you may walk along the Marconi path.
Additional information can be obtained from the Marconi Foundation (Switzerland): www.fondation-marconi.ch and info@fondation-marconi.ch.