WEBVTT - What's in the Secret Apartment Atop the Eiffel Tower?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbong here. The Eiffel Tower is one of the

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<v Speaker 1>world's most famous selfie backdrops, but it's also home to

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<v Speaker 1>a little known apartment with an intriguing history steeped in

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<v Speaker 1>science and secrecy. The Eiffel Tower was unveiled in Paris

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<v Speaker 1>as the Peace to Resistance of the nineteen nine World's Fair.

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<v Speaker 1>It was engineered as a testament to France's technological machinations

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<v Speaker 1>and as a monumental way to mark the one d

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<v Speaker 1>anniversary of the French Revolution. Gustav Eiffel, whose company designed

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<v Speaker 1>and built the tower, added a number of furtive extras

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<v Speaker 1>to it, ranging from a secret apartment to telegraph and

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<v Speaker 1>radio broadcast equipment. It was this apartment that may have

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<v Speaker 1>saved the Eiffel Tower from being torn down as a

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<v Speaker 1>temporary exhibit left over from the World's Fair, a demolition

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<v Speaker 1>that was slated for twenty years from the time of

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<v Speaker 1>its debut. Turns out, the French government discovered and appreciated

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<v Speaker 1>the wireless Yes wireless in eighteen eighty nine telegraphed transmitter

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<v Speaker 1>and radio antenna so much that it opted to keep

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<v Speaker 1>and care for the tower indefinitely. In nineteen o three,

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<v Speaker 1>just six short years before the tower was set to

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<v Speaker 1>be demolished, Eiffel doubled down on his invitations to scientists

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<v Speaker 1>to host brainy discussions and conduct research from within the

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<v Speaker 1>towers little known apartment. The apartment, about a thousand feet

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<v Speaker 1>or three ds off the ground, was outfitted with cozy rugs, chairs,

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<v Speaker 1>and other comforts, but it also had adjacent spaces to

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<v Speaker 1>serve as many laboratories. From this bird level apartment, the

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<v Speaker 1>atmosphere was measured, the stars and planets were observed, and

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<v Speaker 1>the bounds of physics were explored by some of the

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<v Speaker 1>greatest minds of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,

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<v Speaker 1>and in a French captain experimented with wireless broadcast signals,

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<v Speaker 1>eventually sending signals as far as North America. The Eiffel

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<v Speaker 1>Tower and its scientific purpose became too important to the

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<v Speaker 1>French government to be torn down. Just a few years later,

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<v Speaker 1>the tower would play a vital role in World War One,

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<v Speaker 1>when the French military used the our list communicators to

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<v Speaker 1>transmit to ships in the Atlantic Ocean. Today, the Eiffel

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<v Speaker 1>Tower receives about seven million visitors each year, and those

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<v Speaker 1>who purchase a ticket to the top of the tower

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<v Speaker 1>can look for a window at the apartment where Thomas

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<v Speaker 1>Edison once conversed with Eiffel and other invitation only guests.

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<v Speaker 1>For the most part, the apartment's original appearance has been preserved.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a pholstered furniture, a grand piano, and burnished web

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<v Speaker 1>cabinets against a backdrop of patterned wallpaper. The apartment's laboratory

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<v Speaker 1>areas still exhibits some of their original scientific equipment, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's an observatory above the apartment that's not open to

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<v Speaker 1>public viewing. And although you can't stay in the original

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<v Speaker 1>apartment at the Eiffel Tower, there's now another option. The

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<v Speaker 1>Gustav Eiffel Reception Room, situated at a hundred and eighty

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<v Speaker 1>seven feet or fifty seven meters off the ground, is

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<v Speaker 1>open for event rental for a starting fee of seventy

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<v Speaker 1>pounds sterling, which is about ten thousand dollars. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Laurel d and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>The brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's

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