History of education of telecommunications engineers in italy

AbstractThe paper analyzes the history of education of telecommunications engineers in Italian engineering, schools, the aim being to provide a stimulus to analyzing the parallel development of this education also in other European countries. It covers the time from the 19‐th century, when telegraphy and telephony were the first practical applications of scientific knowledge concerning electrical phenomena, to recent years, when a “laurea” (5 year degree course) and a “diploma universitario” or D.U. (3 year degree course) in telecommunications engineering were introduced into Italian universities. The evolution of the teaching of telecommunications engineering is compared with the parallel development of telecommunications services and of related scientific knowledge. Whereas the main Italian engineering schools introduced curricula for electrical engineering early in the 19‐th century, due to early recognition of the importance of electrical energy applications, there was some delay in the introduction of telecommunications disciplines into engineering curricula (though such applications were born before). The paper points out some reasons for this delay. Brief biographies of some important professors are given.