Updating the Historical Record: Gustav Engisch, Not Marconi, Believed to Have Conducted Early Wireless Experiments in Switzerland

In February 2006, Microwave Journal published an article about the IEEE dedication of a “Historical Milestone,” acknowledging some of the first wireless experiments conducted in 1895 by Guglielmo Marconi in Salvan, Switzerland. The Historical Milestone was based on the memories of Maurice Gay-Balmaz, 70 years later, who recalled assisting a wireless researcher when Gay-Balmaz was about 10 years old. Further investigation concludes the researcher was not Guglielmo Marconi, nor the date 1895. It is now thought it was Gustav Engisch, a young electrical engineer from Vevey, Switzerland—a short distance from Salvan—who began to experiment with wireless technology in 1897.