Lee De Forest

"This book is not so much an analysis of de Forest's contribution to technology as it is a chronicle of his spiritual quest. Lee de Forest was an important inventor, and this biography attempts to explain what moved him to become one. It tries to show how - in a universe from which deity had seemingly disappeared - de Forest's devotion to invention was part of his search for a new light. The book is not a study in the history of technology but in the history of the religion of technology." "In 1906, de Forest created the "Audion," the three-electrode vacuum tube, which became the foundation of the electronics industry for half a century. He was a pioneer in radio and talking pictures, and he worked on projects ranging from television to solar energy. Holder of more than three hundred patents, he was one of the most prolific inventors in American history." "But he was more than that. Lee de Forest had an immense curiosity that extended beyond science and engineering to politics, literature, and religion. His active and far-ranging mind became a register for many social and intellectual events during his long life: from Populism to McCarthyism, and from Darwinism to agnosticism. But while his interests were diverse, his vision was not. For him invention was not merely a vocation but a worldview. He represented a technological progressivism that advocated reform, but reform stemming less from social engineering than from real engineering. Although he favored certain improvements in law and education, he did not think that these would be the basis of social transformation. Instead, he believed that inventions - ranging from radios to war planes - would reform the human condition and that the future was more in the hands of inventors than statesmen. The millenium would be a technical innovation, with himself as one of its principal inventors." "As a young man, de Forest came to spurn conventional notions of an immortal soul; but he never ceased to seek ways to overcome death - not merely the physical death of the body but also the spiritual death of living without purpose. The fame of his inventions would, he hoped, keep him forever alive in the memory of posterity. Moreover, the good that his inventions did for humanity - his contribution to progress - would give meaning to his existence. For Lee de Forest, then, invention was a substitute for religion. By helping to build the future, he sought to become an indelible part of it."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The life-long inventor, Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube used between 1906 and 1916 as a detector, amplifier, and oscillator of radio waves. Beginning in 1918 he began to develop a light valve, a device for writing and reading sound using light patterns. While he received many patents for his process, he was initially ignored by the film industry. In order to promote and demonstrate his process he made several hundred sound short films, he rented space for their showing; he sold the tickets and did the publicity to gain audiences for his invention. Lee de Forest officially brought sound to film in 1919. Lee De Forest: King of Radio, Television, and Film is about both invention and early film making; de Forest as the scientist and producer, director, and writer of the content. This book tells the story of de Forest’s contribution in changing the history of film through the incorporation of sound. The text includes primary source historical material, U.S. patents and richly-illustrated photos of Lee de Forest’s experiments. Readers will greatly benefit from an understanding of the transition from silent to audio motion pictures, the impact this had on the scientific community and the popular culture, as well as the economics of the entertainment industry.

A new look at the early history of wireless communication. By 1897 Guglielmo Marconi had transformed James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic waves into a workable wireless telegraphy system, and by 1907 Lee de Forest had invented the Audion, a feedback amplifier and oscillator that opened the way to practical radio transmission. Fifteen years after Marconi's invention, wireless had become an essential means of communication, as well as a hobby for many. This book offers a new perspective on the early days of wireless communication. Drawing on previously untapped archival evidence and recent work in the history and sociology of science and technology, it examines the substance and context of both experimental and theoretical aspects of engineering and scientific practices in the first years of this technology. It offers new insights into the relationship between Marconi and his scientific advisor, the physicist John Ambrose Fleming (inventor of the vacuum tube). It includes the full story of the infamous 1903 incident in which Marconi's opponent Nevil Maskelyne interfered with Fleming's public demonstration of Marconi's syntonic (tuning) system at the Royal Institution by sending derogatory messages from his own transmitter. The analysis of the Maskelyne affair highlights the struggle between Marconi and his opponents, the efficacy of early syntonic devices, Fleming's role as a public witness to Marconi's private experiments, and the nature of Marconi's "shows." It also provides a rare case study of how the credibility of an engineer can be created, consumed, and suddenly destroyed. The book concludes with a discussion of de Forest's Audion and the shift from wireless telegraphy to radio.

Empire of the Air tells the story of three American visionaries—Lee de Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff—whose imagination and dreams turned a hobbyist's toy into radio, launching the modern communications age. Tom Lewis weaves the story of these men and their achievements into a richly detailed and moving narrative that spans the first half of the twentieth century, a time when the American romance with science and technology was at its peak. Empire of the Air is a tale of pioneers on the frontier of a new technology, of American entrepreneurial spirit, and of the tragic collision between inventor and corporation.

On March 7, 1876, the U.S. Patent Office issued to a young inventor named Alexander Graham Bell what is arguably the most valuable patent ever: entitled "improvements in telegraphy," in truth it secured for Bell the basic principles involved in a telephone. On the same day that Bell filed his patent application, a caveat (a preliminary patent document) was filed by Elisha Gray. This coincidence sparked the first of many debates over whether Bell was the true inventor of the telephone. In the early 1860s Johann Phillipp Reis developed a version of the instrument, but his claims against Bell were hampered by the bungling of his lawyers in demonstrating his instrument in court. This work is a first look at the many men who developed the telephone and an examination of their claims against Bell's patent. A lay description of the phone is also provided, as well as a history of the development of the telephone system.

Makers of the Modern World is the third volume of William Gurstelle's unique, hands-on journey through history. Each chapter examines a remarkable character from the past, one of the people whose insights and inventions helped create our modern world. What sets this series apart from other history books - including other histories of technology - is that each chapter also includes step-by-step instructions for making your own version of the historical invention. History comes to life in a way you have never experienced before when you follow the inventors' steps and recreate the groundbreaking devices of the past with your own hands. This volume brings you to the early modern era and the invention of the electric light, the movie projector, and the automobile. Inside, you will discover: Alessandro Volta and Electroplating Humphrey Davy and the First Electric light George Cayley and the Aeronautical Glider The Lumiere Brothers and the Movie Projector Rudolf Diesel and the Automobile Engine Hans Goldschmidt and the Thermite Reaction August Mobius and the Mobius Strip Louis Poinsot's Loads, Moments, and Torques Be sure to also check out ReMaking History, Volume 1: Early Makers and ReMaking History Volume 2 :Industrial Revolutionaries.

Hugh Aitken describes a critical period in the history of radio, when continuous wave technology first made reliable long-distance wireless communication possible and opened up opportunities for broadcasting voice and music. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.