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September 1961 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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The price of fame and
fortune is often fraught with great tribulations and trials - literally. This
eulogy of Audio vacuum tube inventor Lee de Forest which was written in
1961 by Radio-Electronics magazine editor Hugo Gernsback, summarizes
many of the great accomplishments of the inventor / engineer, but does not
mention the battles he fought both to protect his work from misappropriation by
others and to defend himself from accusations of the same. All the industry
greats - Edison, Armstrong, Tesla, Westinghouse, Noyce, Sarnoff, even Einstein -
suffered similar experiences. Mr. Gernsback, a prolific inventor and
publisher himself - was a good personal friend of
Dr. de Forest, and featured his work often over more than three decades through
his (Gernsback's) many trade magazines. A list of many of the articles is at the
bottom of this page. If you are not familiar with the story of how de Forest
arrived at his amplifying Audion tube, please read "How the Audion Was Invented.
The journey began with the use of an open candle flame as a signal detector for
CW (continuous wave) signals in wireless telegraphy. Interestingly, Mr.
Gernsback deemed having a close-up photo of Dr. de Forest's hands was in
important piece of the historical record. de Forest was just shy of
88 years old; Gernsback was 77 at the time.
Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, 1873-1961
  Lee De Forest, illustrious inventor of the Audion
tube, died on June 30 from a heart attack, at his home in Hollywood, Calif. He was
almost totally incapacitated since 1959 by an illness that kept him bedridden and
that was to last almost 2 years. His legion of friends will be comforted that he
died without suffering and in peace. His last signed letter to the present writer
- one of hundreds - was dated June 6, 1959.
So passes a great historic era which ushered in not only radio but electronics
as well. It was Dr. de Forest's vacuum tube - the Audion that lifted the whispering
wireless-crystal-detector age into the radio-loudspeaker age, where it has remained
ever since. No one doubts that the electronic age began in 1906 with his stupendous
invention, which in turn gave us amplification, regeneration and oscillation, making
possible the radiotelephone, broadcasting, radar, television and the host of other
incredible electronic wonders already here, with new ones still in the future.
Dr. de Forest inspects the newly invented transistor while Dr.
Shockley, who directed the team responsible for its invention, holds one of the
early Audions.
Because his Audion - the first practical detector-amplifier - was one of the
most brilliant and far-reaching inventions ever made, it fell to de Forest's unenviable
lot to be constantly immersed in a long, fierce and costly series of patent litigations.
So much was involved, not only in the US but in other countries as well, that everybody
wanted to get into the act and share in the fabulous profits. The vacuum-tube gold
rush was on.
First of the contenders was Dr. J. A. Fleming of England with his two-element
valve, which could neither amplify or regenerate. He had not even invented it, but
had lifted it - without credit - in, toto from the real inventor. Edison had observed
in 1883 the famed "Edison effect" which made it possible to send an electric current
between a cold conductor and a hot filament in a vacuum. (To the credit of English
scientists, Fleming a few years back was officially disowned as the inventor of
the three-element de Forest vacuum tube, despite the long patent battle.)
Then there were patent suits in behalf of German and French contenders, plus
a long list of American litigants, among whom were Maj. Edwin H. Armstrong, inventor
of the superheterodyne circuit as well as super-regeneration and the FM system now
in increasing use and Dr. Irving Langmuir for the General Electric Co.
The expensive, decades-long patent suits finally ended in 1934 in the US Supreme
Court in a full victory for de Forest, who by that time had gone through at least
four fortunes running into millions of dollars. In 1936, he went into personal bankruptcy,
with considerable liabilities and assets of only $390.
As is true of many inventors, de Forest had the misfortune of being associated
with too many unscrupulous business managers and associates who looked out for themselves
but not for him. Nor was he over much interested in business or money. His great
urge in life was inventing.
De Forest and Sarnoff before the plaque erected at the site of
the invention of the vacuum tube.
Fig. 1 - The earliest model of the flame or heat-operated detector.
Fig. 2 - Elements of the flame detector od Fig. 1 sealed in a glass envelope.
Fig. 3 - A near-Audion. Signal circuit connects to a separate electrode.
A prolific originator and inventor, he had well over 300 patents. Aside from
his Audion and numerous vacuum-tube circuit patents, here are a few of the more
outstanding ones: a tubeless (dynamic) amplifier, a gaseous microphone, a diffraction
microphone, a subterranean signaling system, a cautery high-frequency surgery device
(he was operated on with one several years before his death), a telegraphone. De
Forest was intensely interested in loudspeakers - he invented many different types
of various principles; a thermionic pickup; talking-picture devices; a thermophone,
a diaphragmless speaker. A television sign operated by remote control and various
television patents, including stereoscopic vision, large picture size and others,
were also among his achievements.
While de Forest, during his long and eventful life, had been honored with some
eleven outstanding medals and decorations, including the recently awarded Cross
of the Legion of Honor from the French Government, he was much disappointed that
he never had been awarded the Nobel Prize. In private talks with this writer, the
great inventor could not understand why Marconi should have been awarded the coveted
prize while he, de Forest, with a much greater contribution in the arts, should
not have been so honored.
Accordingly, in March 1955, Radio-Electronics and the undersigned started a widespread
campaign, petitioning the Nobel Fund, through the Swedish Academy of Science, in
de Forest's behalf. Yet after the usual deliberation of the Fund, the result was
negative. We were given to understand that the Nobel Prize in Science (physics)
nowadays is given only for pure science, rarely for an invention. Unofficially we
learned that there was not a sufficient number of votes for de Forest; certain individuals
did not wish to vote because of their industrial affiliations in their respective
countries. It became known, nevertheless, that the final voting was stormy. De Forest
was heartbroken and stated so in a communication to us.
The celebrated scientist-inventor, who saw his Audion blossom into a world-wide,
multibillion dollar business, died in very modest circumstances after a long protracted
illness that consumed all his life savings.
As the undersigned stated in the January 1947, de Forest Anniversary Issue of
this magazine, in a paraphrase of Winston Churchill:
"Verily, never in the history of the world has so much been owed by so many to
one man - Lee de Forest."
- Hugo Gernsback
Posted April 19, 2021
These articles and advertisements involving Lee De Forest appeared in
various issues of vintage electronics magazines.
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