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Erschienen in:
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2012 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

1. Born to Invent

verfasst von : Mike Adams

Erschienen in: Lee de Forest

Verlag: Springer New York

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Abstract

In this story of the three important decades of Lee de Forest, it is his inventions of the vacuum tube and the radio that will make the talking picture possible. But this is not just the story of one inventor or a single invention. It is about many interesting and influential people and how they transformed Nineteenth Century science into Twentieth Century art. In this story of invention the film is shown to evolve from a chemical process into entertainment, and wireless telegraphy into radio broadcasting. Lee de Forest puts it all together and creates the sound motion picture. While this story concentrates on the decade of the 1920s and talking pictures, it is also about the creation of the electronic entertainment media and its audiences.

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Nächstes Kapitel The Race for Wireless
Fußnoten
1
A teenage Lee de Forest, in his diary quoted in his autobiography: Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follett and Company, Chicago, 1950, p34. This book is abbreviated later in this book as FOR.
 
2
Edison biographies; de Forest autobiography: George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926; William Adams Simonds, Edison, His Life, His Work, His Genius, Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1934, Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, John Wiley, New York, 1998; Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follett and Company, Chicago, 1950.
 
3
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, John Wiley, New York, 1998, p 17.
 
4
De Forest was a prolific writer. As a college student, undergraduate and in his doctoral program, he contributed to the Yale Sheffield Scientific School Journals; after graduation he worked in Chicago as a technical writer; His autobiography, Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follet and Company, Chicago, 1950.
 
5
Edison biographies, de Forest biographies, FOR.
 
6
George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926.
 
7
Edison biographies, de Forest biographies, FOR.
 
8
Both de Forest and Edison, like most successful inventors have sued and were sued many times for their intellectual property, each believing that he or she was the first inventor, causing many to abandon their claims due to the legal cost, or lose the case outright, sometimes because the court did not understand the science. There are many stories of inventors who preceded their more famous counterparts in inventing something, but lost out to the better-financed, better-represented inventor. It is not enough to invent – you must continue to protect your invention.
 
9
Edison biographies.
 
10
George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926, p 251.
 
11
George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926; William Adams Simonds, Edison, His Life, His Work, His Genius, Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1934, Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, John Wiley, New York, 1998.
 
12
George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926, p 97.
 
13
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p 278.
 
14
George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926, p 89.
 
15
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p 401.
 
16
The author’s previous work traced the technology leading to radio between 1900 and 1920. This included voice transmission experiments using the spark, the arc, and finally the vacuum tube: Michael Adams, “The Race for Radiotelephone,” AWA Journal, Vol 15, 1996.
 
17
Victor H. Laughter, Operator’s Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Handbook, Drake, Chicago, 1909, p 11.
 
18
Michael Adams, “The Race for Radiotelephone,” AWA Journal, Vol 15, 1996.
 
19
Hugh G.J. Aitken, Syntony and Spark, the Origins of Radio, Princeton, University Press, 1985, p 50.
 
20
ibid., pp 49–50.
 
21
Victor H. Laughter, Operator’s Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Handbook, Drake, Chicago, 1909, p13.
 
22
Reginald Fessenden, “Wireless Telephony,” a paper presented to the 25th annual convention of the American Institute of Electric Engineers, Atlantic City NJ, June 29, 1908, p2. This is a reprint from Lindsay Publications.
 
23
John P. Schaeffer, An Ansel Adams Guide to Basic Techniques of Photography, Little, Brown Co., Boston, 1992, p8.
 
24
Peter Kobel and the Library of Congress, Silent Movies, the Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movies Culture, Little Brown and Co., NY, 2003, p3.
 
25
ibid.
 
26
I have viewed hundreds of films from the first half of the twentieth century to add a perspective to the written word. This book is about the audio and visual media, and throughout there are references to films and radio programs. A reenactment of the Marey experiments are shown in an early French educational film, “The Biography of the Motion Picture Camera,” Les Films du Compas, French, 1948.
 
27
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998; Randall Stross, The Wizard of Menlo Park, Crown Publisherrs, NY, 2007; educational film, “The Biography of the Motion Picture Camera,” Les Films du Compas, French, 1948.
 
28
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p292; Randall Stross, The Wizard of Menlo Park, Crown Publisherrs, NY, 2007, p198.
 
29
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p293.
 
30
There was an early ad that promoted the early Kodak camera, various magazines, 1890s.
 
31
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p294.
 
32
Edison letter to F.H. Richardson, “SMPE Transactions,” September 1925. As the major film industry organization of technical professionals, the SMPE (Society of Motion Picture Engineers) records were very useful in my research. The organization is now the SMPTE, for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
 
33
ibid.
 
34
ibid.
 
35
Peter Kobel and the Library of Congress, Silent Movies, the Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movies Culture, Little Brown and Co., NY, 2003, p9.
 
36
Paul Israel, Edison, a Life of Invention, Wiley and Son, NY, 1998, p294.
 
37
ibid., p300.
 
38
Louis Lumiere, “SMPE Journal,” vol 27, Dec 1936, Society of Motion Picture Engineers.
 
39
ibid.
 
40
ibid.
 
41
Peter Kobel and the Library of Congress, Silent Movies, the Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movies Culture, Little Brown and Co., NY, 2003 p1.
 
42
William K. Everson, American Silent Film, Da Capo Press, NY, 1998, p19.
 
43
ibid.
 
44
Admiral Bradley Fiske quoted in George S. Bryan, Edison, the Man and his Work, Garden City Publishing, New York, 1926, p192.
 
45
Two de Forest biographies and an autobiography document the life of de Forest up to his death. De Forest’s friend and confidant Georgette Carneal wrote Conqueror of Space, an Authorized Biography of the Life and Work of Lee de Forest, Horace Liveright, NY, 1930. This is the first “official and authorized” de Forest biography in book form, one of two written between 1924 and 1930. The first of these was: William Arvin, “Life and Works of Lee de Forest” a biography based on personal interviews and access to the diaries of de Forest, serialized in Radio News, 1924. Both of the early works benefitted from personal interviews with de Forest and access to his diaries, papers, and patents. The third book that took advantage of unlimited access to de Forest was his own autobiography, Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follett, 1950, Chicago. All three of the works written in de Forest’s lifetime used material managed and selected by de Forest. These biographers in later references are abbreviated using their last names.
 
46
From the de Forest diaries, contained in biographies from Carneal, Hijiya, Arvin, and Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follett, 1950, Chicago.
 
47
ibid.
 
48
The information on the spelling of the de Forest family name was detailed in: Lee de Forest, Father of Radio, Wilcox and Follett, 1950, Chicago.
 
49
FOR, p9, for the abbreviation used for the de Forest autobiography, Father of Radio.
 
50
What has happened to Talladega College since the 17 year Henry de Forest presidency and the institutional improvements he was responsible for between 1878 and 1895? According to the Talladega College Website: “Peterson’s Guide ‘Top Colleges for Science’ identified Talladega College as one of 200 colleges and universities in the United States that offers an outstanding undergraduate program in science and mathematics” www.​talladega.​edu.
 
51
FOR, p21.
 
52
Georgette Carneal, Conqueror of Space, an Authorized Biography of the Life and Work of Lee de Forest, Horace Liveright, NY, 1930 p12 (to be known as “Carneral”).
 
53
James A. Hijiya, Lee de Forest and the Fatherhood of Radio, Lehigh University Press, London, 1992, p29 (to be known as “Hijiya”).
 
54
William Arvin, “Life and Works of Lee de Forest” a biography based on personal interviews and access to the diaries of de Forest, serialized in Radio News, 1924 (to be known as “Arvin, Radio News”).
 
55
ibid.
 
56
From the de Forest diary in Georgette Carneal, Conqueror of Space, an Authorized Biography of the Life and Work of Lee de Forest, Horace Liveright, NY, 1930 p30.
 
57
Information from diaries, biographies, FOR.
 
58
Carneal, p17.
 
59
FOR p27.
 
60
Arvin, Radio News.
 
61
A letter to father Henry and a note to mother Anna, 1890, in Carneal p 40.
 
62
Carneal, p40.
 
63
Arvin, Radio News.
 
64
ibid.
 
65
ibid.
 
66
ibid.
 
67
ibid.
 
68
ibid.
 
69
ibid.
 
70
Carneal, P56.
 
71
ibid., p62.
 
72
Arvin, Radio News.
 
73
FOR p71.
 
74
Hijiya, p47.
 
75
ibid., p50.
 
76
FOR p82.
 
77
ibid., p85.
 
78
Professor Michael Pupin, who would later become the mentor of de Forest rival Edwin Armstrong, was a star at Columbia.
 
79
From his diary, in FOR p87.
 
80
FOR, Carneal.
 
81
From his diary, in Carneal p63.
 
82
Carneal, p65.
 
83
From his diary, and as told to Carneal, P74.
 
84
From his diary, in FOR p91.
 
85
Arvin, Radio News.
 
86
ibid.
 
87
ibid.
 
88
ibid.
 
89
Heckman and LaFontaine, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007, from the Internet.
 
90
From the collection of dozens of de Forest class notebooks from his 6 years at Yale University. The major collection of de Forest papers used in the research for and writing of this book is from the Perham de Forest papers at History San Jose. This collection contains school notes, laboratory notes, letters, patents, speeches, and diaries. It also includes a large hardware collection including de Forest Audion vacuum tubes, radios manufactured by the de Forest companies, a large collection photographs, memorabilia including de Forest’s Oscar for sound-on-film.
 
91
Science education at the turn of the century: a remarkable collection of original Yale class notebooks is housed in the Perham de Forest papers at History San Jose. Most of the class notebooks in this collection show instruction in high-level physics, chemistry, mathematics and electricity, and theories and formulas from all of the known scientists of the day. It is a window into what de Forest was learning and into what post-graduate science education was in the 1890s, post-Hertz and pre-wireless.
 
92
FOR p97; An incomplete version of the de Forest Ph. D. thesis is also found in the Perham de Forest papers at History San Jose. This culminating work leading to the award of the doctor of science in physics appears to be a two-part endeavor. The author believes that the laboratory experiment was a 1 year project and the so-called “thesis” or written component was just a summary of the practical experiment. At most universities, the final doctoral work is known as a dissertation.
 
93
Hugh G.J. Aitken, Syntony and Spark, the Origins of Radio, Princeton, University Press, 1985, p8.
 
Metadaten
Titel
Born to Invent
verfasst von
Mike Adams
Copyright-Jahr
2012
Verlag
Springer New York
Buch
Lee de Forest

Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-0417-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4614-0418-7

Copyright-Jahr: 2012

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0418-7_1

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