Édouard Branly (23.10.1844-24.03.1940) was a French physicist and a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1911). He was born in Amiens. He graduated from the École Normale (1865). In 1873 he received the degree of Doctor of Science and in 1882 that of Doctor of Medicine. In 1875-97 he was professor of physics and in 1897-1916 professor of medicine at the Catholic University in Paris.
His research was on electromagnetic waves, ultraviolet rays, the electrical conduction of gases and wireless telegraphy. He invented (1890) the coherer — a glass tube with metal filings poured into it — and showed that it becomes conducting under the action of electrical oscillations. Branly's coherer was used by A. S. Popov in his receiver. _