Who made the first radio transmission from the Eiffel Tower in 1898?

Eugène Ducretet made the first radio transmission from the Eiffel Tower in 1898.

On 5 November 1898, French scientific-instrument maker Eugène Ducretet publicly demonstrated wireless telegraphy between the Eiffel Tower and the Panthéon, roughly 4 kilometres away. The equipment transmitted Morse signals rather than spoken audio, so “radio transmission” here means an early wireless telegraph experiment, not a later entertainment broadcast.

Ducretet had begun experimenting after learning about Guglielmo Marconi’s work. In 1897, he reportedly transmitted signals between his workshop and the Panthéon, becoming the first person to transmit radio waves in France. The Eiffel Tower demonstration showed that the landmark could serve a practical communications role as well as a symbolic one.

Heinrich Hertz had earlier proved the existence of electromagnetic waves, while Marconi developed influential long-distance wireless systems. Neither made this particular 1898 Eiffel Tower demonstration. Regular radio use at the tower came later, especially after Gustave Eiffel supported Gustave Ferrié’s military wireless experiments from 1903.