Édouard Eugène Désiré Branly (October 23, 1844 – March 24, 1940) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
inventorAn inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find...
,
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and
professorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
at the
Institut Catholique de ParisThe Institut Catholique de Paris, or the Catholic Institute of Paris, is a private university located in Paris, France. The institute was founded in 1875, under the name Université Catholique de Paris, by Maurice Le Sage d'Hauteroche d'Hulst....
. He is primarily known for his early involvement in
wireless telegraphyThe term wireless telegraphy is a historic term used today as applied to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices. Wireless telegraphy originated as a term to describe electrical signaling without the electric wires to connect the end points...
and his invention of the Branly
cohererThe coherer was a primitive form of radio signal detector used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of a capsule of metal filings in the space between two electrodes. It was a key enabling technology for radio, and was the first device used to detect radio signals in...
around 1890.
The
coherer was the first widely used
detectorA detector is a device that recovers information of interest contained in a modulated wave. The term dates from the early days of radio when all transmissions were in Morse code, and it was only necessary to detect the presence of a radio wave using a device such as a coherer without necessarily...
for
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
communication. Branly built upon the discoveries of
Temistocle Calzecchi-OnestiTemistocle Calzecchi Onesti was an Italian physicist and inventor born at Lapedona, Italy, who demonstrated in experiments in 1884 through 1886 that iron filings contained in an insulating tube will conduct an electrical current under the action of an electromagnetic wave...
, who demonstrated in experiments in 1884 through 1886 that iron filings contained in an insulating tube will conduct an electrical current under the action of an electromagnetic wave.
Édouard Eugène Désiré Branly (October 23, 1844 – March 24, 1940) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
inventorAn inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find...
,
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and
professorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
at the
Institut Catholique de ParisThe Institut Catholique de Paris, or the Catholic Institute of Paris, is a private university located in Paris, France. The institute was founded in 1875, under the name Université Catholique de Paris, by Maurice Le Sage d'Hauteroche d'Hulst....
. He is primarily known for his early involvement in
wireless telegraphyThe term wireless telegraphy is a historic term used today as applied to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices. Wireless telegraphy originated as a term to describe electrical signaling without the electric wires to connect the end points...
and his invention of the Branly
cohererThe coherer was a primitive form of radio signal detector used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of a capsule of metal filings in the space between two electrodes. It was a key enabling technology for radio, and was the first device used to detect radio signals in...
around 1890.
The
coherer was the first widely used
detectorA detector is a device that recovers information of interest contained in a modulated wave. The term dates from the early days of radio when all transmissions were in Morse code, and it was only necessary to detect the presence of a radio wave using a device such as a coherer without necessarily...
for
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
communication. Branly built upon the discoveries of
Temistocle Calzecchi-OnestiTemistocle Calzecchi Onesti was an Italian physicist and inventor born at Lapedona, Italy, who demonstrated in experiments in 1884 through 1886 that iron filings contained in an insulating tube will conduct an electrical current under the action of an electromagnetic wave...
, who demonstrated in experiments in 1884 through 1886 that iron filings contained in an insulating tube will conduct an electrical current under the action of an electromagnetic wave. The operation of the coherer is based upon the large resistance offered to the passage of electric current by loose metal filings, which decreases under the influence of radio frequency
alternating currentIn alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again...
. The coherer became the basis for radio reception, and remained in widespread use for about ten years. It was used by, amongst others,
Guglielmo MarconiMarchese Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, best known for his development of a radiotelegraph system, which served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies worldwide...
, in his early experiments.
Oliver Joseph LodgeSir Oliver Joseph Lodge, FRS was a physicist and writer involved in the development of key patents in wireless telegraphy . Lodge, in his Royal Institution lectures , coined the term "coherer." He gained the "syntonic" patent from the United States Patent Office in 1898...
improved Edouard Branly's coherer as a detector of radio waves by adding a "trembler" which periodically dislodged clumped filings, thus restoring the device's sensitivity. The next innovation in radio wave detection, between
Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He is frequently cited as one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th...
's and Guglielmo Marconi's progress in radio in the 1890s and the 1948 invention of the
transistorA transistor is a semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals. A transistor is made of a solid piece of a semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's...
, was
John Ambrose FlemingSir John Ambrose Fleming was an English electrical engineer and physicist. He is known for inventing the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, the diode, then called the kenotron in 1904. He also invented the right-hand rule, used in mathematics and electronics...
's
Fleming valveThe Fleming valve, also called the Fleming oscillation valve, was a vacuum tube diode invented by John Ambrose Fleming and used in the earliest days of radio communication...
which replaced Branly's device for many uses.
Branly was three times nominated for a Nobel prize, but he never received it. In 1911 he was elected to the
French Academy of SciencesThe French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
. His rival was
Marie CurieMarie Skłodowska Curie was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship...
. Both had opponents in the Academy: she was woman and he was a devout catholic, who left Sorbonne for a chair in the Catholic University of Paris. Finally, Branly won the election by two votes.
Edouard Branly died in 1940 and was interred in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
The quai Branly - a road that runs alongside the River
SeineThe Seine is a slow-flowing major river and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France. It is also a tourist attraction, with excursion boats offering sightseeing tours of the Rive Droite...
in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- is named after Branly. It is the name of this road, not of Branly himself, that led to the naming of the
Musée du quai Branly thumb|225px|Musée du quai BranlyThe Musée du quai Branly, known in English as the Quai Branly Museum, nicknamed MQB, is a museum in Paris, France that features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas...
.
See also
- Musée Edouard Branly
The Musée Edouard Branly is a museum dedicated to the work of radio pioneer Edouard Branly . It is located in the 6th arrondissement at the Institut Catholique de Paris-ISEP, 21, rue d'Assas, Paris, France, and open by appointment only....
, which preserves his laboratory
- Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
: History of radioThe early history of radio is the history of technology that produced radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy"...
, Invention of radioWithin the history of radio, several people were involved in the invention of radio and there were many key inventions in what became the modern systems of wireless. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy". Closely related, radio was developed along with two other key inventions, the...
- People: Alexander Stepanovich Popov
Alexander Stepanovich Popov was a Russian physicist who first demonstrated the practical application of electromagnetic waves, although he did not apply for a patent for his invention....
, Karl Ferdinand BraunKarl Ferdinand Braun was a German inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics . Braun contributed significantly to the development of the radio and TV technology: won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909.-Biography:...
- Other: List of people on stamps of France
External links and resources