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Manuscript/Mixed Material Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stationery, ca. 1915.

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About this Item

Title

  • Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stationery, ca. 1915.

Created / Published

  • 1915

Headings

  • -  Inventors
  • -  Inventions
  • -  Communications
  • -  Radio
  • -  Audion
  • -  De Forest, Lee (1873-1961)
  • -  Electronics
  • -  Sketches
  • -  Manuscripts

Genre

  • Manuscripts

Notes

  • -  Reproduction number: A27 (color slide; page 1); A28 (color slide; page 2)
  • -  The prolific American inventor Lee De Forest (1873-1961), is one of several contenders for the title "Father of Radio." Having obtained a doctorate from Yale University in 1899 after writing what was possibly the first dissertation on the newly discovered Hertzian (or radio) waves, De Forest experimented with receiving long-distance radio signals and in 1907 patented an electronic device named the audion. Until this time, radio was considered little more than "wireless telegraphy," since it sent Morse code (dots and dashes) instead of conveying actual sound like the telephone does. De Forest's new three-electrode (triode) vacuum tube boosted radio waves as they were received and made possible what was then called "wireless telephony." To the great surprise and pleasure of nearly everyone, De Forest's invention allowed the human voice, music, or any broadcast signal to be heard loud and clear. De Forest went on to make other contributions to radio and motion pictures, but his audion remains undoubtedly the most important development in electronics until the transistor was invented in 1948. Shown here are examples of De Forest's schematic diagrams and notes scribbled hurriedly on hotel stationery around 1915.

Source Collection

  • Lee De Forest Papers

Repository

  • Manuscript Division

Online Format

  • image

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stationery. 1915. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.010/.

APA citation style:

(1915) Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stationery. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.010/.

MLA citation style:

Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stationery. 1915. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/mcc.010/>.