Branly, Édouard

PHYSICIST, INVENTOR (FRANCE)
BORN 23 Oct 1844, Amiens, Somme: rue Martin Bleu Dieu - DIED 24 Mar 1940, Paris
BIRTH NAME Branly, Édouard Eugène Désiré
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 10, Chemin Denon, ligne 01)

Son of Édouard Joseph Branly, who became professor at the collège communal de Saint-Quentin in 1845. He was educated at the Ecole Normale Superieure and was brilliant at school. In 1873 he was promoted on his thesis "Electrostatic phenomena in Voltaic Cells".

He was engaged as professor at the Institut Catholique de Paris in 1876. In 1882 he married Marie Legarde at Verdun. They had three children. Marie died in 1927 and from 1928 to 1940 he lived at 87 boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris.

He is best remembered for his work in the field of wireless communication. In 1890 Branly demonstrated the "radio-conductor", renamed to the coherer by Oliver Lodge in 1893. This was a device that was able to detect radio waves. When Marconi sent his first radio communication across the Channel from england to France he directed it to Branly.

Branly was nominared for the Nobel Prize three times but he never received it. In 1911 he was elected into the French Academy of Sciences, winning over Marie Curie in the election process. After he died he received a state funeral at the Notre-Dame. The Quai Branly in Paris was named after him.

Family
• Daughter: Branly, Élisabeth

Images

The grave of Édouard Branly at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (24 Oct 2014)

 

The grave of Édouard Branly at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (24 Oct 2014)

 

Sources
Édouard Branly - Wikipedia
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Edouard Branly
Édouard Branly - Wikipédia


Branly, Élisabeth

Published: 02 Jul 2016
Last update: 05 Apr 2022