Hertz had shown that the waves existed; his coherer, the first reliable detector, gave the means of receiving them. The Nobel Prize for Physics nonetheless went in 1909 to Marconi, and the paternity of wireless telegraphy still sets France against Italy. His election to the Académie was won against Marie Curie.
The story
Édouard Branly was born in Amiens on 23 October 1844. A physicist, he worked on the conductivity of metal filings and built a device whose resistance collapses the moment an electromagnetic wave passes through it.
This is the coherer, or Branly tube: the first reliable detector of radio waves. Hertz had shown that the waves existed; Branly supplied the means of receiving them, without which nothing is transmitted at all.
From 1895 Guglielmo Marconi assembled the parts of wireless telegraphy, coherer included, and took the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909. Who fathered radio is argued over to this day, France holding for Branly and Italy for Marconi — two national stories built around the same glass tube.
He worked as well on telemechanics, the operating of machines at a distance, and taught at the Institut Catholique in Paris. His standing in France was formidable: his election to the Academy of Sciences, in 1911, was won against Marie Curie.
He died on 24 March 1940, at ninety-five, and lies in Division 10. His daughter Élisabeth, his son-in-law the architect Paul Tournon — who designed the monument — and his two granddaughters rest with him.
The grave
An obelisk set on slabs, plain, designed by the architect Paul Tournon — Grand Prix de Rome, known for his churches, and the physicist's son-in-law. The grave is a family one and gathers four generations: Branly himself, his daughter Élisabeth Branly, his son-in-law the architect, and their two daughters Florence and Marion Tournon Branly. Nothing on the stone mentions the coherer or wireless telegraphy.
On site, do not miss
An obelisk with no other ornament, and on the stone four names from the same family — including that of the architect who designed it.
Visitors' questions
Where is Édouard Branly's grave?
In Division 10, Chemin Denon, first row, in the lower part of the cemetery — the same alley as the graves of Claude Chabrol and Pierre Desproges. An obelisk set on slabs marks it.
Pierre DesprogesWhat is the Branly coherer?
A tube whose electrical resistance collapses when a wave passes through it: the first reliable detector of Hertzian waves. Hertz had proved that the waves existed; Branly provided the means of receiving them — without which nothing gets transmitted.
Joseph FourierBranly or Marconi — who invented radio?
The quarrel is unresolved and covers two national histories. Marconi assembled the complete system from 1895, Branly's coherer included, and received the Nobel Prize in 1909; France has always upheld its physicist's priority.
Claude ChappeWho designed his monument?
Paul Tournon, his son-in-law, a Prix de Rome winner and architect of churches. He himself rests in the tomb, with the physicist's daughter, Élisabeth Branly, and their two daughters, Florence and Marion Tournon Branly.
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