Roberto Landell de Moura

Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and inventor (1861–1928)

Father Roberto Landell de Moura (January 21, 1861 – June 30, 1928), commonly known as Roberto Landell, was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and inventor. He is best known for his attempts in the 1880s to develop long distance audio transmissions device that combined an improved megaphone device and a photophone (using light beams) Landell received patents in Brazil and the United States during the first decade of the 1900s in which he also included designs that he claimed could transmit voice using radio waves.

Robert Landell de Moura was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1861. His father was Ignacio de Moura, and he had five brothers: João, Edmundo and Ricardo (all apothecaries), Dr. Ignacio Landell, a physician, and Pedro Landell de Moura, a São Paulo merchant. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1886 in Rome, and also conducted studies in the physical sciences.

Landell began experiments in wireless communication in Campinas and São Paulo in the period 1893–1894. A biographical review recounted that he " invented his apparatus in Porto Alegre, and as soon as he arrived in São Paulo in 1896, he began with preliminary experiments, to achieve his object — to transmit human voice through the air. Shortly thereafter, the newspaper's June 16, 1900 issue printed the text of a letter Father Landell sent to Lupton prior to the demonstration, which noted that he would only be able to demonstrate five of his numerous inventions: the "Telauxiofono", "Caleofono", "Anematofono", "Teletiton" and "Edifono". In 1907 The Brazil of To day provided English language descriptions of these devices:

Telauxiofono (also spelled "telauxiophono" and "telauxiophone") "is the last word of the telephone, not only because of the force and intelligibility with which it transmits the words, but also because with it telephoning at great distances becomes a practical and economical reality." Caleofono (also spelled "caleophono", "kaleophono" and "kaleophone") "works also with wire, and presents the originality of not needing to ring the bell to call, to hear the articulated sounds, or that of the instrument." Anematofono (also spelled "anematophono" and anematophone") and teletiton "are wireless telephones. The perfect operation of these apparatus, according to what their inventor says, reveals laws entirely new and is altogether most curious." Edifono (also spelled "ediphono" and "ediphone") "is useful to purify and soften the phonographed voice of the parasitical vibrations, reproducing it just as the natural voice." Dr. José Rodrigues Botet took exception to this report, and the December 16, 1900 issue of the La Voz de España carried a letter from him insisting that it was actually Landell who deserved credit for developing the underlying technology used by the Gouraudphone. Botet's letter stated that over the years he had personally witnessed Landell, working alone, develop advanced wire and wireless telegraphy and telephony equipment, while never receiving the recognition he deserved as "Brazil's eminent son".

Landell returned to Brazil after receiving the U. S. patents. An article in the March 11, 1905 Jornal do Commercio stated that his inventions "can reach easily from 30 to 50 kilometers and even at greater distances". In December 1905 he submitted a request to the São Paulo state legislature for funding to support experimentation, however, this was not approved. After this he apparently ended research into long distance communication. Later reports stated that he was working on ideas for a "Telephotorama", or "The Distance Vision". He also did photography research and reported effects similar to Kirlian photography. On January 21, 2011, Brazil issued a stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of Landell's birth, which shows him using a device described in one of his 1904 United States patents.