Dipole antenna other monopole) antennas on the basis of dipole antennas of which they are one half. German physicist Heinrich Hertz first demonstrated the existence of radio waves in 1887 using what we now know as a dipole antenna (with capacitative end-loading). On the other hand, Guglielmo Marconi empirically found that he could just ground the transmitter (or one side of a transmission line, if used) dispensing with one half of the antenna, thus realizing the "vertical" or monopole antenna. For the low frequencies Marconi employed to achieve long-distance communications, this form was more practical; when radio moved to higher frequencies (especially
Guglielmo Marconi of spanning greater distances, with additional funding and research, and would prove valuable both commercially and militarily. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful radio transmission system. Marconi wrote to the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs, then under the direction of Pietro Lacava, explaining his wireless telegraph machine and asking for funding. He never received a response to his letter, which was eventually dismissed by the Minister, who wrote "to the Longara" on the document, referring to the insane asylum on Via della Lungara in Rome. In 1896, Marconi spoke with his family friend Carlo Gardini,