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1 Pierce, John Robinson
[br]b. 27 March 1910 Des Moines, Iowa, USA[br]American scientist and communications engineer said to be the "father" of communication satellites.[br]From his high-school days, Pierce showed an interest in science and in science fiction, writing under the pseudonym of J.J.Coupling. After gaining Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena in 1933, 1934 and 1936, respectively, Pierce joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City in 1936. There he worked on improvements to the travelling-wave tube, in which the passage of a beam of electrons through a helical transmission line at around 7 per cent of the speed of light was made to provide amplification at 860 MHz. He also devised a new form of electrostatically focused electron-multiplier which formed the basis of a sensitive detector of radiation. However, his main contribution to electronics at this time was the invention of the Pierce electron gun—a method of producing a high-density electron beam. In the Second World War he worked with McNally and Shepherd on the development of a low-voltage reflex klystron oscillator that was applied to military radar equipment.In 1952 he became Director of Electronic Research at the Bell Laboratories' establishment, Murray Hill, New Jersey. Within two years he had begun work on the possibility of round-the-world relay of signals by means of communication satellites, an idea anticipated in his early science-fiction writings (and by Arthur C. Clarke in 1945), and in 1955 he published a paper in which he examined various possibilities for communications satellites, including passive and active satellites in synchronous and non-synchronous orbits. In 1960 he used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 30 m (98 1/2 ft) diameter, aluminium-coated Echo 1 balloon satellite to reflect telephone signals back to earth. The success of this led to the launching in 1962 of the first active relay satellite (Telstar), which weighed 170 lb (77 kg) and contained solar-powered rechargeable batteries, 1,000 transistors and a travelling-wave tube capable of amplifying the signal 10,000 times. With a maximum orbital height of 3,500 miles (5,600 km), this enabled a variety of signals, including full bandwidth television, to be relayed from the USA to large receiving dishes in Europe.From 1971 until his "retirement" in 1979, Pierce was Professor of Electrical Engineering at CalTech, after which he became Chief Technologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, also in Pasadena, and Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Stanford University.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Morris N.Liebmann Memorial Award 1947; Edison Medal 1963; Medal of Honour 1975. Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Award 1960. National Medal of Science 1963. Danish Academy of Science Valdemar Poulsen Medal 1963. Marconi Award 1974. National Academy of Engineering Founders Award 1977. Japan Prize 1985. Arthur C.Clarke Award 1987. Honorary DEng Newark College of Engineering 1961. Honorary DSc Northwest University 1961, Yale 1963, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute 1963. Editor, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 1954–5.Bibliography23 October 1956, US patent no. 2,768,328 (his development of the travelling-wave tube, filed on 5 November 1946).1947, with L.M.Field, "Travelling wave tubes", Proceedings of the Institute of RadioEngineers 35:108 (describes the pioneering improvements to the travelling-wave tube). 1947, "Theory of the beam-type travelling wave tube", Proceedings of the Institution ofRadio Engineers 35:111. 1950, Travelling Wave Tubes.1956, Electronic Waves and Messages. 1962, Symbols, Signals and Noise.1981, An Introduction to Information Theory: Symbols, Signals and Noise: Dover Publications.1990, with M.A.Knoll, Signals: Revolution in Electronic Communication: W.H.Freeman.KF -
2 Pierce, George Washington
SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology[br]b. 11 January 1872 Austin, Texas, USAd. 25 August 1956 Franklin, New Hampshire, USA[br]American physicist who made various contributions to electronics, particularly crystal oscillators.[br]Pierce entered the University of Texas in 1890, gaining his BSc in physics in 1893 and his MSc in 1894. After teaching and doing various odd jobs, in 1897 he obtained a scholarship to Harvard, obtaining his PhD three years later. Following a period at the University of Leipzig, he returned to the USA in 1903 to join the teaching staff at Harvard, where he soon established new courses and began to gain a reputation as a pioneer in electronics, including the study of crystal rectifiers and publication of a textbook on wireless telegraphy. In 1912, with Kennelly, he conceived the idea of motional impedance. The same year he was made first Director of Harvard's Cruft High- Tension Electrical Laboratory, a post he held until his retirement. In 1917 he was appointed Professor of Physics, and for the remainder of the First World War he was also involved in work on submarine detection at the US Naval Base in New London. In 1921 he was appointed Rumford Professor of Physics and became interested in the work of Walter Cady on crystal-controlled circuits. As a result of this he patented the Pierce crystal oscillator in 1924. Having discovered the magnetostriction property of nickel and nichrome, in 1928 he also invented the magnetostriction oscillator. The mercury-vapour discharge lamp is also said to have been his idea. He became Gordon McKay Professor of Physics and Communications in 1935 and retired from Harvard in 1940, but he remained active for the rest of his life with the study of sound generation by birds and insects.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsPresident, Institute of Radio Engineers 1918–19. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1929.Bibliography1910, Principles of Wireless Telegraphy.1914, US patent no. 1,450,749 (a mercury vapour tube control circuit). 1919, Electrical Oscillations and Electric Waves.1922, "The piezo-electric Resonator", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 10:83.Further ReadingF.E.Terman, 1943, Radio Engineers'Handbook, New York: McGraw-Hill (for details of piezo-electric crystal oscillator circuits).KFBiographical history of technology > Pierce, George Washington
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3 Kompfner, Rudolph
[br]b. 16 May 1909 Vienna, Austriad. 3 December 1977 Stanford, California, USA[br]Austrian (naturalized English in 1949, American in 1957) electrical engineer primarily known for his invention of the travelling-wave tube.[br]Kompfner obtained a degree in engineering from the Vienna Technische Hochschule in 1931 and qualified as a Diplom-Ingenieur in Architecture two years later. The following year, with a worsening political situation in Austria, he moved to England and became an architectural apprentice. In 1936 he became Managing Director of a building firm owned by a relative, but at the same time he was avidly studying physics and electronics. His first patent, for a television pick-up device, was filed in 1935 and granted in 1937, but was not in fact taken up. In June 1940 he was interned on the Isle of Man, but as a result of a paper previously sent by him to the Editor of Wireless Engineer he was released the following December and sent to join the group at Birmingham University working on centimetric radar. There he worked on klystrons, with little success, but as a result of the experience gained he eventually invented the travelling-wave tube (TWT), which was based on a helical transmission line. After disbandment of the Birmingham team, in 1946 Kompfner moved to the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford and in 1947 he became a British subject. At the Clarendon Laboratory he met J.R. Pierce of Bell Laboratories, who worked out the theory of operation of the TWT. After gaining his DPhil at Oxford in 1951, Kompfner accepted a post as Principal Scientific Officer at Signals Electronic Research Laboratories, Baldock, but very soon after that he was invited by Pierce to work at Bell on microwave tubes. There, in 1952, he invented the backward-wave oscillator (BWO). He was appointed Director of Electronics Research in 1955 and Director of Communications Research in 1962, having become a US citizen in 1957. In 1958, with Pierce, he designed Echo 1, the first (passive) satellite, which was launched in August 1960. He was also involved with the development of Telstar, the first active communications satellite, which was launched in 1962. Following his retirement from Bell in 1973, he continued to pursue research, alternately at Stanford, California, and Oxford, England.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsPhysical Society Duddell Medal 1955. Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Medal 1960. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers David Sarnoff Award 1960. Member of the National Academy of Engineering 1966. Member of the National Academy of Science 1968. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1973. City of Philadelphia John Scott Award 1974. Roentgen Society Silvanus Thompson Medal 1974. President's National medal of Science 1974. Honorary doctorates Vienna 1965, Oxford 1969.Bibliography1944, "Velocity modulated beams", Wireless Engineer 17:262.1942, "Transit time phenomena in electronic tubes", Wireless Engineer 19:3. 1942, "Velocity modulating grids", Wireless Engineer 19:158.1946, "The travelling-wave tube", Wireless Engineer 42:369.1964, The Invention of the TWT, San Francisco: San Francisco Press.Further ReadingJ.R.Pierce, 1992, "History of the microwave tube art", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers: 980.KF -
4 Electronics and information technology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Byron, Ada AugustaNapier, JohnRiche, Gaspard-Clair-François-MarieSchickhard, WilhelmBiographical history of technology > Electronics and information technology
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5 Aerospace
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Caproni, Giovanni BattistaDassault, MarcelGiffard, Baptiste Henry JacquesJohnson, Clarence LeonardKorolov, Sergei PavlovichSopwith, Sir Thomas Octave MurdochTsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich -
6 Cady, Walter Guyton
[br]b. 10 December 1874 Providence, Rhode Island, USAd. 9 December 1974 Providence, Rhode Island, USA[br]American physicist renowned for his pioneering work on piezo-electricity.[br]After obtaining BSc and MSc degrees in physics at Brown University in 1896 and 1897, respectively, Cady went to Berlin, obtaining his PhD in 1900. Returning to the USA he initially worked for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, but in 1902 he took up a post at the Wesleyan University, Connecticut, remaining as Professor of Physics from 1907 until his retirement in 1946. During the First World War he became interested in piezo-electricity as a result of attending a meeting on techniques for detecting submarines, and after the war he continued to work on the use of piezo-electricity as a transducer for generating sonar beams. In the process he discovered that piezo-electric materials, such as quartz, exhibited high-stability electrical resonance, and in 1921 he produced the first working piezo-electric resonator. This idea was subsequently taken up by George Washington Pierce and others, resulting in very stable oscillators and narrow-band filters that are widely used in the 1990s in radio communications, electronic clocks and watches.Internationally known for his work, Cady retired from his professorship in 1946, but he continued to work for the US Navy. From 1951 to 1955 he was a consultant and research associate at the California Institute of Technology, after which he returned to Providence to continue research at Brown, filing his last patent (one of over fifty) at the age of 93 years.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsPresident, Institute of Radio Engineers 1932. London Physical Society Duddell Medal. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Morris N.Liebmann Memorial Prize 1928.Bibliography28 January 1920, US patent no. 1,450,246 (piezo-electric resonator).1921, "The piezo-electric resonator", Physical Review 17:531. 1946, Piezoelectricity, New York: McGraw Hill (his classic work).Further ReadingB.Jaffe, W.R.Cooke \& H.Jaffe, 1971, Piezoelectric Ceramics.KF -
7 Clarke, Arthur Charles
[br]b. 16 December 1917 Minehead, Somerset, England[br]English writer of science fiction who correctly predicted the use of geo-stationary earth satellites for worldwide communications.[br]Whilst still at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, Clarke became interested in both space science and science fiction. Unable to afford a scientific education at the time (he later obtained a BSc at King's College, London), he pursued both interests in his spare time while working in the Government Exchequer and Audit Department between 1936 and 1941. He was a founder member of the British Interplanetary Society, subsequently serving as its Chairman in 1946–7 and 1950–3. From 1941 to 1945 he served in the Royal Air Force, becoming a technical officer in the first GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) radar unit. There he began to produce the first of many science-fiction stories. In 1949–50 he was an assistant editor of Science Abstracts at the Institution of Electrical Engineers.As a result of his two interests, he realized during the Second World War that an artificial earth satellite in an equatorial orbital with a radius of 35,000 km (22,000 miles) would appear to be stationary, and that three such geo-stationary, or synchronous, satellites could be used for worldwide broadcast or communications. He described these ideas in a paper published in Wireless World in 1945. Initially there was little response, but within a few years the idea was taken up by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in 1965 the first synchronous satellite, Early Bird, was launched into orbit.In the 1950s he moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to pursue an interest in underwater exploration, but he continued to write science fiction, being known in particular for his contribution to the making of the classic Stanley Kubrick science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on his book of the same title.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsClarke received many honours for both his scientific and science-fiction writings. For his satellite communication ideas his awards include the Franklin Institute Gold Medal 1963 and Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1976. For his science-fiction writing he received the UNESCO Kalinga Prize (1961) and many others. In 1979 he became Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka and in 1980 Vikran Scrabhai Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory of the University of Ahmedabad.Bibliography1945. "Extra-terrestrial relays: can rocket stations give world wide coverage?", Wireless World L1: 305 (puts forward his ideas for geo-stationary communication satellites).1946. "Astronomical radar: some future possibilities", Wireless World 52:321.1948, "Electronics and space flight", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 7:49. Other publications, mainly science-fiction novels, include: 1955, Earthlight, 1956, TheCoast of Coral; 1958, Voice Across the Sea; 1961, Fall of Moondust; 1965, Voicesfrom the Sky, 1977, The View from Serendip; 1979, Fountain of Paradise; 1984, Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography, and 1984, 2010: Odyssey Two (a sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey that was also made into a film).Further Reading1986, Encyclopaedia Britannica.1991, Who's Who, London: A. \& C.Black.See also: Pierce, John RobinsonKF -
8 Goodyear, Charles
[br]b. 29 December 1800 New Haven, Connecticut, USAd. 1 July 1860 New York, USA[br]American inventor of the vulcanization of rubber.[br]Goodyear entered his father's country hardware business before setting up his own concern in Philadelphia. While visiting New York, he noticed in the window of the Roxburgh India Rubber Company a rubber life-preserver. Goodyear offered to improve its inflating valve, but the manager, impressed with Goodyear's inventiveness, persuaded him to tackle a more urgent problem, that of seeking a means of preventing rubber from becoming tacky and from melting or decomposing when heated. Goodyear tried treatments with one substance after another, without success. In 1838 he started using Nathaniel M.Hayward's process of spreading sulphur on rubber. He accidentally dropped a mass of rubber and sulphur on to a hot stove and noted that the mixture did not melt: Goodyear had discovered the vulcanization of rubber. More experiments were needed to establish the correct proportions for a uniform mix, and eventually he was granted his celebrated patent no. 3633 of 15 June 1844. Goodyear's researches had been conducted against a background of crippling financial difficulties and he was forced to dispose of licences to vulcanize rubber at less than their real value, in order to pay off his most pressing debts.Goodyear travelled to Europe in 1851 to extend his patents. To promote his process, he designed a spectacular exhibit for London, consisting of furniture, floor covering, jewellery and other items made of rubber. A similar exhibit in Paris in 1855 won him the Grande Médaille d'honneur and the Croix de la Légion d'honneur from Napoleon III. Patents were granted to him in all countries except England. The improved properties of vulcanized rubber and its stability over a much wider range of temperatures greatly increased its applications; output rose from a meagre 31.5 tonnes a year in 1827 to over 28,000 tonnes by 1900. Even so, Goodyear profited little from his invention, and he bequeathed to his family debts amounting to over $200,000.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsGrande Médaille d'honneur 1855. Croix de la Légion d'honneur 1855.Bibliography15 June 1844, US patent no. 3633 (vulcanization of rubber).1853, Gum Elastic and Its Varieties (includes some biographical material).Further ReadingB.K.Pierce, 1866, Trials of an Inventor: Life and Discoveries of Charles Goodyear.H.Allen, 1989, Charles Goodyear: An Intimate Biographical Sketch, Akron, Ohio: Goodyear Tire \& Rubber Company.LRD -
9 Kay, Robert
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. probably before 1747d. 1801 Bury, Lancashire, England[br]English inventor of the drop box, whereby shuttles with different wefts could be stored and selected when needed.[br]Little is known about the early life of Robert Kay except that he may have moved to France with his father, John Kay of Bury in 1747 but must have returned to England and their home town of Bury soon after. He may have been involved with his father in the production of a machine for making the wire covering for hand cards to prepare cotton for spinning. However, John Aikin, writing in 1795, implies that this was a recent invention. Kay's machine could pierce the holes in the leather backing, cut off a length of wire, bend it and insert it through the holes, row after row, in one operation by a person turning a shaft. The machine preserved in the Science Museum, in London's South Kensington, is more likely to be one of Robert's machine than his father's, for Robert carried on business as a cardmaker in Bury from 1791 until his death in 1801. The flying shuttle, invented by his father, does not seem to have been much used by weavers of cotton until Robert invented the drop box in 1760. Instead of a single box at the end of the sley, Robert usually put two, but sometimes three or four, one above another; the boxes could be raised or lowered. Shuttles with either different colours or different types of weft could be put in the boxes and the weaver could select any one by manipulating levers with the left hand while working the picking stick with the right to drive the appropriate shuttle across the loom. Since the selection could be made without the weaver having to pick up a shuttle and place it in the lath, this invention helped to speed up weaving, especially of multi-coloured checks, which formed a large part of the Lancashire output.Between 1760 and 1763 Robert Kay may have written a pamphlet describing the invention of the flying shuttle and the attack on his father, pointing out how much his father had suffered and that there had been no redress. In February 1764 he brought to the notice of the Society of Arts an improvement he had made to the flying shuttle by substituting brass for wood, which enabled a larger spool to be carried.[br]Further ReadingA.P.Wadsworth and J. de L.Mann, 1931, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, Manchester.A.Barlow, 1878, The History and Principles of Weaving by Hand and by Power, London; and R.L.Hills, 1970, Power in the Industrial Revolution, Manchester (for details about the drop box).RLH -
10 Kennelly, Arthur Edwin
[br]b. 17 December 1871 Colaba, Bombay, Indiad. 18 June 1939 Boston, Massachusetts, USA[br]Anglo-American electrical engineer who predicted the ionosphere and developed mathematical analysis for electronic circuits.[br]As a young man, Kennelly worked as office boy for a London engineering society, as an electrician and on a cable-laying ship. In 1887 he went to work for Thomas Edison at West Orange, New Jersey, USA, becoming his chief assistant. In 1894, with Edwin J.Houston, he formed the Philadelphia company of Houston and Kennelly, but eight years later he took up the Chair of Electrical Engineering at Harvard, a post he held until his retirement in 1930. In 1902 he noticed that the radio signals received by Marconi in Nova Scotia from the transmitter in England were stronger than predicted and postulated a reflecting ionized layer in the upper atmosphere. Almost simultaneously the same prediction was made in England by Heaviside, so the layer became known as the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Throughout most of his working life Kennelly was concerned with the application of mathematical techniques, particularly the use of complex theory, to the analysis of electrical circuits. With others he also contributed to an understanding of the high-frequency skin-effect in conductors.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsPresident, American Institute of Electrical Engineers 1898–1900. President, Institution of Electrical Engineers 1916. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1932; Edison Medal 1933.Bibliography1915, with F.A.Laws \& P.H.Pierce "Experimental research on the skin effect in conductors", Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 34:1,953.1924, Hyperbolic Functions as Applied to Electrical Engineering.1924, Check Atlas of Complex Hyperbolic \& Circular Functions (both on mathematics for circuit analysis).Further ReadingK.Davies, 1990, Ionospheric Radio, London: Peter Peregrinus. See also Appleton, Sir Edward Victor.KF -
11 Telecommunications
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12 Varian, Russell Harrison
[br]b. 24 April 1898 Washington, DC, USAd. 28 July 1959 Juneau, Alaska, USA[br]American physicist who, with his brother Sigurd Varian and others, developed the klystron.[br]After attending schools in Palo Alto and Halcyon, Russell Varian went to Stanford University, gaining his BA in 1925 and his MA in 1927 despite illness and being dyslexic. His family being in need of financial help, he first worked for six months for Bush Electric in San Francisco and then for an oil company in Texas, returning to San Francisco in 1930 to join Farnsworth's Television Laboratory. After a move to Philadelphia, in 1933 the laboratory closed and Russell tried to take up a PhD course at Stanford but was rejected, so he trained as a teacher. However, although he did some teaching at Stanford it was not to be his career, for in 1935 he joined his brothers Sigurd and Eric in the setting up of a home laboratory.There, with William Hansen, a former colleague of Russell's at Stanford, they worked on the development of microwave oscillators, based on some of the latter's ideas. By 1937 they had made sufficient progress on an electron velocity-bunching tube, which they called the klystron, to obtain an agreement with the university to provide laboratory facilities in return for a share of any proceeds. By August that year they were able to produce continuous power at a wavelength of 13 cm. Clearly needing greater resources to develop and manufacture the tube, and with a possible war looming, a deal was struck with the Sperry Gyroscope Company to finance the work, which was transferred to the East Coast.In 1946, after the death of his first wife, Russell returned to Palo Alto, and in 1948 the brothers and Hansen founded Varian Associates to make microwave tubes for transmitters and linear accelerators and nuclear magnetic-resonance detectors. Subsequent research also resulted in the development of a satellite-borne magnetometer for measuring the earth's magnetic field.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsHonorary DSc Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute 1943. Franklin Institute Medal.Bibliography1939, with S.F.Varian, "High frequency oscillator and amplifier", Journal of Applied Physics 10:321 (describes the klystron).Further ReadingJ.R.Pierce, 1962, "History of the microwave tube art", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 979 (provides background to development of the klystron).D.Varian, 1983, The Inventor and the Pilot (biographies of the brothers).See also: Varian, Sigurd FergusKFBiographical history of technology > Varian, Russell Harrison
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13 Varian, Sigurd Fergus
[br]b. 4 May 1901 Syracuse, New York, USAd. 18 October 1961 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico[br]American electrical engineer who, with his brother Russell, developed the klystron microwave tube.[br]Sigurd Varian left school in 1920 and entered California Polytechnic to study engineering, but he soon dropped out and trained as an electrician, taking up employment with the Southern Californian Edison Company. As a result of working on an airfield he developed an interest in flying. He took lessons and in 1924 bought a First World War biplane and became a "barnstorming" pilot, giving flying displays and joy-rides, etc., to earn his living. Beset by several prolonged bouts of tuberculosis, he used his periods of recuperation to study aerial navigation and to devise navigation instruments. In 1929 he took a permanent job as a pilot for Pan American in Mexico, but in 1935 he went to California to work on electron tubes with his younger brother, Eric. They were soon joined by Russell, and with William Hansen they developed the klystron. For details of this part of his life and the founding of Varian Associates, see under Russell Varian. In later years, his health increasingly poor, he lived in semi-retirement in Mexico, where he died in a plane crash while flying himself home.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFranklin Institute Medal.Bibliography1939, with R.S.Varian, "High frequency oscillator and amplifier", Journal of Applied Physics 10:321 (describes the klystron).Further ReadingJ.R.Pierce, 1962, "History of the microwave tube art", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 979 (provides background to development of the klystron).D.Varian, 1983, The Inventor and the Pilot (biographies of the brothers).KF -
14 Yagi, Hidetsugu
[br]b. 28 January 1886 Osaka, Japand. January 1976 Osaka, Japan[br]Japanese engineer who, with his student Shintaro Uda, developed the directional ultra-high frequency (UHF) aerial array that bears his name.[br]Yagi studied engineering at Tokyo Imperial University (now Tokyo University), graduating in 1910. For the next four years he taught at Engineering High School in Sendai, Honshu, then in 1914 he was sent to study resonance phenomena under Barkhausen at Dresden University. When the First World War broke out he was touring Europe, so he travelled to London to study under Ambrose Fleming at University College, London. Continuing his travels, he then visited the USA, studying at Harvard under G.W. Pierce, before returning to his teaching post at Sendai Engineering High School, which in 1919 was absorbed into Tohoku University. There, in 1921, he obtained his doctorate, and some years later he was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering. Having heard of the invention of the magnetron, he worked with a student, Kinjiro Okabe; in 1927 they produced microwave energy at a wavelength of a few tens of centimetres. However, he is best known for his development with another student, Shintaro Uda, of a directional, multi-element ultrahigh frequency aerial, which he demonstrated during a tour of the USA in 1928. During the Second World War Yagi worked on radar systems. After his retirement he became Professor Emeritus at Tohoku and Osaka universities and formed the Yagi Antenna Company.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsYagi received various honours, including the Japanese Cultural Order of Merit 1976, and the Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal.Bibliography1928, "Beam transmission of ultra-short waves", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 6:715 (describes the Yagi-Uda aerial).Further ReadingF.E.Terman, 1943, Radio Engineers' Handbook, New York: McGraw-Hill (provides a review of aerials, including the Yagi system).KF
См. также в других словарях:
Pierce — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Benjamin Pierce (1757–1839), US amerikanischer Politiker Bill Pierce (* 1948), US amerikanischer Jazz Saxophonist Charles Pierce (Musiker) (1890–??), US amerikanischer Jazz Saxophonist und Bandleader… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Pierce — may refer to:Places*Pierce, Colorado, a US town *Pierce, Idaho, a US city *Pierce, Nebraska, a US city *Pierce, Wisconsin, a US town *Mount Pierce (New Hampshire), USA, a peak in the White Mountains * Pierce County, several places * Pierce Range … Wikipedia
pierce — vt pierced, pierc·ing: to see through the usu. misleading or false appearance of the object of summary judgment is to pierce the pleadings and allow a judgment on the merits J. H. Friedenthal et al. the Internal Revenue Service may attempt to… … Law dictionary
Pierce — Pierce, NE U.S. city in Nebraska Population (2000): 1774 Housing Units (2000): 736 Land area (2000): 0.876814 sq. miles (2.270939 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.021368 sq. miles (0.055343 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.898182 sq. miles (2.326282 sq.… … StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places
Pierce — Pierce, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pierced}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Piercing}.] [OE. percen, F. percer, OF. percier, perchier, parchier; perh. fr. (assumed) LL. pertusiare for pertusare, fr. L. pertundere, pertusum, to beat, push, bore through; per through + … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
pierce — [pıəs US pırs] v [Date: 1200 1300; : Old French; Origin: percer, probably from Latin pertundere to make a hole through ] 1.) [T] to make a small hole in or through something, using an object with a sharp point ▪ Steam the corn until it can easily … Dictionary of contemporary English
Pierce — Pierce, v. i. To enter; to penetrate; to make a way into or through something, as a pointed instrument does; used literally and figuratively. [1913 Webster] And pierced to the skin, but bit no more. Spenser. [1913 Webster] She would not pierce… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Pierce, CO — U.S. town in Colorado Population (2000): 884 Housing Units (2000): 318 Land area (2000): 0.737487 sq. miles (1.910083 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.737487 sq. miles (1.910083 sq. km) FIPS… … StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places
Pierce, ID — U.S. city in Idaho Population (2000): 617 Housing Units (2000): 298 Land area (2000): 0.824168 sq. miles (2.134585 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.824168 sq. miles (2.134585 sq. km) FIPS code:… … StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places
Pierce, NE — U.S. city in Nebraska Population (2000): 1774 Housing Units (2000): 736 Land area (2000): 0.876814 sq. miles (2.270939 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.021368 sq. miles (0.055343 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.898182 sq. miles (2.326282 sq. km) FIPS… … StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places
Pierce [2] — Pierce (spr. Pihrs), 1) Grafschaft im Staate Wisconsin (Nordamerika); 26 QM.; Flüsse: Mississippi, St. Croix, Red Cedar, Rush u. Menomonie Rivers; große Prairien u. Waldungen; erst 1851 aus einem Theil der Grafschaft St. Croix gebildet;… … Pierer's Universal-Lexikon