Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody

General, United States Army Signal Corps Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody
Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody
Born	October 23, 1842 Highland County, Ohio
Died	January 1, 1933 (1933-02) (aged 90) Interlaken, New York
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1866–1904
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	Chief, Weather Bureau Chief Signal Officer, United States Volunteers Chief Signal Officer, U.S., in Cuba
Battles/wars	Spanish–American War
Relations	Ann E. Dunwoody
Other work	Vice President, American DeForest Wireless; Inventor of the carborundum radio detector; President, Aztec Copper Company

Chief, Weather Bureau Chief Signal Officer, United States Volunteers

Known in his own time for his work with the Army’s Weather Bureau, Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody invented the carborundum radio detector in 1906. It was the first practical mineral radio wave detector and the first commercial semiconductor device.

Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody was born October 23, 1842 in Highland County, Ohio to William Dunwoody and Sarah Murphy. He entered the United States Military Academy as a cadet September 1, 1862, and was appointed second lieutenant, 4th Artillery after graduating in 1866. He spent much of his career in weather forecasting with the Signal Office, working as chief weather forecaster and creating a system of distributed storm warnings. In 1883 he wrote a book on Weather Proverbs, still an often quoted work on the subject.

With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War he organized the Volunteer Signal Corps, serving as Chief Signal Officer, United States Volunteers, as a colonel, from May 20, 1898 to July 20, 1898, when he retired from volunteer service to return to regular duty in the Signal Corps. He served as Chief Signal Officer in Cuba from 1898–1901, overseeing the construction of telegraph lines on the island.

After May 1901 he was Acting Chief Signal Officer, Washington and supervised the installation of wireless stations along the Pacific coast, his first direct involvement with wireless.

In August 1902 while serving as the Signal Officer, Department of the East, Governors Island, he accepted a bid from the DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company for connecting Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hancock by wireless, replacing the telegraph cables connecting the forts and headquarters on Governor's Island which had frequently been severed by anchors and current. The stations were first tested on March 11, 1903. Dunwoody oversaw the tests at Fort Wadsworth, and C. G. Tompkins, general manager of the DeForest company was in charge of operations at Fort Hancock. The tests were considered a success, and secured future Army contracts for company founder Lee deForest.