.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This model airship is an important piece of scientific apparatus, incorporating devices developed by Edouard Branly (1844-1940) in the field of wireless communication and electromagnetism, including a Branly Cohéreur (an evacuated glass tube containing metal filings which, on receiving a radio-transmitted pulse, are agitated so as to make an electric contact; invented by Branly in 1890, an example is fitted to the gondola of this model).
After qualifying as a doctor (both of medicine and science), Branly did pioneering work in haematology and electro-therapy. Later, as professor of physics at the Catholic Institute in Paris, he devoted his researches to electromagnetism, making important discoveries in the fields of semi-conductors, radio waves and remote control. He is credited with inventing the telegraph printer in 1878, the incandescent lamp in 1879 and radio conductors, including the cohéreur, in 1890.
Hurm et Prevost were optical instrument makers at 14 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris from the late nineteenth century until the First World War; after the War the company name became simply H. Hurm.
In 1905 Branly performed a public demonstration of some of his devices at the Trocadéro in Paris, at which it was intended to show his remotely-controlled dirigible in action (see illustration - Le Grand Illusté). Branly's biographer, Philippe Monod-Broca, claims that there is no evidence that the flight of the machine actually took place on the day, but according to the article in Le Grand Illustré, it was certainly scheduled.
Although there is currently no proof that this model was the 1905 demonstrator, the early simple shape of the propeller blades and the style of the maker's name on the envelope (that used before the First World War) indicate that the model was at least a contemporary of the demonstrator. It was recently discovered in a Paris attic in remarkably original condition except for the envelope which is damaged - probably by rodents.
After qualifying as a doctor (both of medicine and science), Branly did pioneering work in haematology and electro-therapy. Later, as professor of physics at the Catholic Institute in Paris, he devoted his researches to electromagnetism, making important discoveries in the fields of semi-conductors, radio waves and remote control. He is credited with inventing the telegraph printer in 1878, the incandescent lamp in 1879 and radio conductors, including the cohéreur, in 1890.
Hurm et Prevost were optical instrument makers at 14 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris from the late nineteenth century until the First World War; after the War the company name became simply H. Hurm.
In 1905 Branly performed a public demonstration of some of his devices at the Trocadéro in Paris, at which it was intended to show his remotely-controlled dirigible in action (see illustration - Le Grand Illusté). Branly's biographer, Philippe Monod-Broca, claims that there is no evidence that the flight of the machine actually took place on the day, but according to the article in Le Grand Illustré, it was certainly scheduled.
Although there is currently no proof that this model was the 1905 demonstrator, the early simple shape of the propeller blades and the style of the maker's name on the envelope (that used before the First World War) indicate that the model was at least a contemporary of the demonstrator. It was recently discovered in a Paris attic in remarkably original condition except for the envelope which is damaged - probably by rodents.