View source for Christos Tsigiridis

{{Short description|Greek electrical engineer}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name        = Christos Georgiou Tsigiridis
| image       = Tsiggiridis.jpg
| caption     = Christos Tsigiridis picture in color, hosted by Thessaloniki Radio Museum
| birth_date  = 1877
| birth_place = [[Filibe]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (today [[Plovdiv]], [[Bulgaria]])
| death_date  = {{death date|1947|12|17|df=y}} (aged 69 or 70)
| death_place = [[Thessaloniki]], [[Greece]]
| nationality = {{flagicon|Greece}} [[Greek people|Greek]]
| field       = [[Electrical engineer]]
| alma_mater  = [[University of Stuttgart|Stuttgart]], 1900s
| known_for   = [[Radio]], founder of the 1st radio station in South-Eastern Europe, in 1926
}}

'''Christos Tsigiridis''' ({{langx|el|Χρίστος Τσιγγιρίδης}}, pronounced {{IPA|el|ˈxristos tsiɟiˈriðis}}; 1877–1947) was a [[Greek people|Greek]] [[electrical engineer]] and technological pioneer of his era. He is mainly known for setting up the first [[radio station]] in Greece and the wider [[Balkans]] based in [[Thessaloniki]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Noesis {{!}} Μικρόφωνο REISZ Του Πρώτου Ραδιοφωνικού Σταθμού Που Λειτούργησε Στην Ελλάδα Από Το Χρήστο Τσιγγιρίδη |url=http://archive.noesis.edu.gr/repository/handle/11609/001-00634.html |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=archive.noesis.edu.gr}}</ref><ref name=":0">Βογαζλής, Δ. Κ. (1946-47). «[https://he.duth.gr/erg_laog/arxeio/arxeio_thrakikou_laografikou_glossikou_thisavrou_t13.pdf Χρήστος Τσιγγερίδης]». ''Αρχείον του Θρακικού Λαογραφικού και Γλωσσικού Θησαυρού'' (Athens) '''Vol. 13''': p. 265. (in Greek)</ref>

==Biography==
Christos Tsigiridis was born in 1877 in [[Filibe]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]] (today [[Plovdiv]], [[Bulgaria]]) to ethnic [[Greeks|Greek]] parents.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-19 |title=Μουσείο Ραδιοφωνίας Θεσσαλονίκης |url=http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-01.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |archive-date=2019-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019025646/http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-01.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He grew up under difficult circumstances due to the death of his father. He attended the [[French High School of Plovdiv|French High School]] in his hometown and at the age of 20 he moved to [[Stuttgart]] in [[Germany]], where he lived with one of his brother, who also owned a small tobacco factory. In Germany, Tsingiridis also studied electrical engineering at the [[Technical University of Stuttgart]]. In 1906 he returned to Plovdiv, but he departed quickly due to the persecution of the Greek minority in Bulgaria, moving back to Stuttgart.<ref name=":0" />

During his second stay in Germany, he became involved in the tobacco trade and at the same time met his wife, Marie Louise Vogel, a German aristocrat of Belgian origin, with whom he had two daughters, Elaia and Georgette. The latter became a distinguished ballet soloist and choreographer. A few years later, Tsigiridis decided to settle permanently in Greece.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ζωρζέτ Τσιγγιρίδη, μια μπαλαρίνα ετών 90 – DW – 27/02/2018 |url=https://www.dw.com/el/%CE%B6%CF%89%CF%81%CE%B6%CE%AD%CF%84-%CF%84%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B7-%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CE%B5%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD-90/a-42753248 |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=dw.com |language=el}}</ref>

After moving to Greece, he settled in [[Larissa]], taking over the management of the city's electricity and water supply, and in 1925 he relocated to [[Thessaloniki]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-19 |title=Μουσείο Ραδιοφωνίας Θεσσαλονίκης |url=http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-02.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |archive-date=2019-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019180408/http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-02.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Χατζηδάκης |first=Γιώργος |date=1995-12-31 |title=H ραδιοφωνική πρωτοπορία. Oι πρώτες πειραματικές απόπειρες, το Ράδιο Tσιγκιρίδη και η δημιουργία της YPE |url=http://wwk.kathimerini.gr/kath/7days/1995/12/31121995.pdf |journal=Epta Imeres |publisher=I Kathimerini |page=8-9 |accessdate=2023-09-17 |archivedate=2013-11-03 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103133203/http://wwk.kathimerini.gr/kath/7days/1995/12/31121995.pdf |url-status=}}</ref> The following year Tsigiridis participated in the first [[Thessaloniki International Fair|International Fair of Thessaloniki]], presenting loudspeakers and amplifiers as a representative of the German company [[Siemens & Halske]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-21 |title=Μουσείο Ραδιοφωνίας Θεσσαλονίκης |url=http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-03.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |archive-date=2019-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021000308/http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-03.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is presumed that between 1925 and 1926, he conducted his first experimental radio broadcasts.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Ιστορίες: Ραδιόφωνο, Τσιγγιρίδης και ΔΕΘ |url=https://www.makthes.gr/istories-radiofono-tsiggiridis-kai-deth-664319 |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=www.makthes.gr |language=el}}</ref>

It is claimed<ref name=":1" /> that on March 25, 1927, on the occasion of the [[Celebration of the Greek Revolution|National Holiday]], Tsigiridis produced his first experimental radio broadcast, lasting half an hour. The following year, the regular operation of ''Radio Tsigiridis'' officially began, broadcasting from the Mars Field in Thessaloniki. It was the first radio station in the country and the Balkans. The cost of its operation was covered by Tsigiridis, as well as by advertising revenues.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-19 |title=Μουσείο Ραδιοφωνίας Θεσσαλονίκης |url=http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-05.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |archive-date=2019-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019023304/http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-05.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1936 to 1938, Radio Tsigiridis partnered with [[Ioannis Vellidis]]' newspaper ''[[Makedonia (newspaper)|Macedonia]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Macedonia" Newspaper |url=https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/corpora/makedonia/content.html?c=17&t=1,5505 |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=www.greek-language.gr}}</ref>

During the [[Axis occupation of Greece|Occupation of Greece]], the German authorities temporarily imprisoned Tsigiridis and at the same time confiscated his business.  After the Liberation, the transmitter was temporarily under the control of [[ELAS]] before being returned to its owner in 1945, but in 1947 it was requisitioned by the [[National Radio Foundation]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-19 |title=Μουσείο Ραδιοφωνίας Θεσσαλονίκης |url=http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-06.htm |access-date=2023-11-21 |archive-date=2019-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019023309/http://www.radiomuseum.gr/tsiggiridis-06.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Tsigiridis passed away on December 17, 1947. His funeral was paid by the [[Thessaloniki (municipality)|Municipality of Thessaloniki]].

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20191029213414/http://radiomuseum.gr/ Thessaloniki Radio Museum]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051218091924/http://www.radiofono.gr/museum/ Athina 9.84 Radio Museum]

== Further reading ==
* Plechova, Olga: ''The first Greek radio... and the first of Balkans'', Barbounakis publications 2002, {{ISBN|960-267-107-6}}
* Tyrovouzis, Nestoras: ''"Macedonia" newspaper and "Radio tsigiridis"'', University Studio Press 2005, {{ISBN|960-12-1440-2}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsigiridis, Christos}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Plovdiv]]
[[Category:Greek electrical engineers]]
[[Category:History of radio]]
[[Category:Radio pioneers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece]]
[[Category:Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in Germany]]