چکیده (انگلیسی):

Guglielmo Marconi has long been regarded as one of the greatest personalities of the history of science and technology of the twentieth century. A writer, citied in the text, has called him “The father of radio, the great grandfather of TV and the great, great grandfather of the Internet” (at least of Wi-Fi). Many things, both positive and negative, have been said about him. Perhaps the most famous story about him concerns his “death ray,” a formidable weapon, operating by radio waves, able to kill a great many people and to destroy tanks, airplanes, and ships. According to serious historians, these are purely tales. This, however, is not the author’s views. Starting with what is known, and given the evidence of some recent particle-beam weapons tests and some elements of the story that have gone unknown until today, the author has deduced that Marconi could have had a clear idea of how to make a particle-beam weapon without even trying to build one.