French inventor (1844–1940) primarily known for his involvement in wireless telegraphy. Important AMS by Edouard Branly on wireless telegraphy, ten pages, 5.5 x 8.5, no date, signed and inscribed on the first page in bold ink, "A Madame Paganon, Hommage et souvenir de collaboration, E. Branly." Handsomely custom-bound by R. Aussourd in olive morocco decorated on the covers with straight and curved gilt fillets, spine with decorated ribs, with the bookplate of Michel de Bry affixed to the front pastedown.
Branly's draft of his communication to the Academy of Sciences exposing the principles of wireless telegraphy. A brilliant and relentless scientist, Edouard Branly conducted his research in a small, very modest physics laboratory set up at the Catholic Institute of Paris to which he was attached. On November 24, 1890, Edouard Branly presented to the Academy of Sciences his invention of a spark-sensitive switch, or "coherer," the best-known form of which is the metal filing tube, which is the main organ of wireless telegraphy receiving devices.
The manuscript, written in the first person, contains numerous revisions, additions and corrections. After an introduction on electric telegraphy, Branly develops his invention (translated): "It was in 1890 that I discovered and studied in a complete way the switch sensitive to the spark…the demonstration of its operation will make you grasp the mechanism of wireless telegraphy." This switch, with its metal filing tube, obeys the spark at a distance of a few meters but also allows transmissions of 500 kilometers. He continues his explanation: "The radiation of the spark makes the filing conductive, which gives the filing tube the name of radioconductor."
Branly immediately thought of remote control and military applications and concluded that wireless telegraphy was superior, "which would be able to replace any other telegraphy." Branly did not worry about finding an industrial or commercial application for his invention and others knew how to take advantage of it. His findings were subsequently improved and practically applied by Oliver Lodge and Guglielmo Marconi, which resulted ten years later in the first successful transatlantic communications. In fine condition, with worn joints to the binding.
