Valdemar Poulsen
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Science • Historical Archive • 🇩🇰 Denmark • 0 views

Valdemar Poulsen 🇩🇰

Valdemar Poulsen (Known as "Valdemar Poulsen")
Electrical Engineer, Inventor of Magnetic Recording and Poulsen Arc Transmitter
Born 1869-11-23 🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark
Passed Away 1942-07-23 Gentofte, Denmark
Lifespan 72 years old
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Notice / Correction
"Magnetism can hold the human voice as faithfully as stone holds a chisel's mark."

Archival Overview

Genius Danish electrical engineer who invented the Telegraphone in 1898—the world's first magnetic sound recording device—and developed continuous-wave radio transmitters.

Biographical Record

Valdemar Poulsen was born on November 23, 1869, in Copenhagen, the son of a Supreme Court judge. While working for the Copenhagen Telephone Company, he realized that sound could be recorded magnetically on a steel wire.

In 1898, Poulsen patented the Telegraphone, stunning visitors at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle by recording the voice of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I—the oldest surviving magnetic audio recording. In 1903, he invented the Poulsen arc radio transmitter, which generated continuous radio waves and enabled the first reliable voice broadcasts across long distances, laying the technical foundation for all modern audio, video tape, and hard drive recording.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Gentofte Kirkegård
Gentofte, Denmark
GPS: 55.7500, 12.5500
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