Thomas Tommasina

Thomas Tommasina (1855 – 29 January 1935)[1] was an artist turned physicist who worked on atmospheric ionization and gravitational theories mainly after moving to Switzerland.

An experimenter as well as a theoretician, he invented a radio-receiver-like device while studying ionospheric disturbances in the upper atmosphere and used it in long-range weather prediction.

Following the works of Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel he joined Édouard Sarasin in studies on the ionization of air and related phenomena.

He also wrote an introduction to a French translation of a book by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1907 - "La place de l'homme dans l'univers : études sur les résultats des recherches scientifiques, sur l'unité et la pluralité des mondes".

When Marconi claimed a patent there were several counter-claims and it was suggested that the true inventor of the so-called "mercury-coherer" used in the first transatlantic telegraphy was Tommasina.