Lee de Forest
| Lee de Forest | |
|---|---|
Lee de Forest circa 1900-1910
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| Born |
August 26, 1873 Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 30, 1961 (aged 87) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Inventor |
| Known for | Three-electrode vacuum-tube (Audion), sound-on-film recording (Phonofilm) |
| Spouse(s) |
Lucille Sheardown (m. 1906; div. 1906) Nora Stanton Blatch Barney (m. 1908; div. 1911) Mary Mayo (m. 1912; div. 1923) Marie Mosquini (m. 1930; his death 1961) |
| Parent(s) | Henry Swift DeForest Anna Robbins |
| Relatives | Calvert DeForest (grandnephew) |
| Awards |
IEEE Medal of Honor (1922) Elliott Cresson Medal (1923) |
Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor, self-described "Father of Radio", and a pioneer in the development of sound-on-film recording used for motion pictures. He had over 180 patents, but also a tumultuous career—he boasted that he made, then lost, four fortunes. He was also involved in several major patent lawsuits, spent a substantial part of his income on legal bills, and was even tried (and acquitted) for mail fraud. His most famous invention, in 1906, was the three-element "Audion" (triode) vacuum tube, the first practical amplification device. Although De Forest had only a limited understanding of how it worked, it was the foundation of the field of electronics, making possible radio broadcasting, long distance telephone lines, and talking motion pictures, among countless other applications.
Lee de Forest was born in 1873 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of Anna Margaret (née Robbins) and Henry Swift DeForest. He was a direct descendant of Jessé de Forest, the leader of a group of Walloon Huguenots who fled Europe in the 17th Century due to religious persecution.
De Forest's father was a Congregational Church minister who hoped his son would also become a pastor. In 1879 the elder de Forest became president of the American Missionary Association's Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, a school "open to all of either sex, without regard to sect, race, or color", and which primarily educated African-Americans. Many of the local white citizens resented the school and its mission, and Lee spent most of his youth in Talladega isolated from the white community, with several close friends among the black children of the town.
De Forest prepared for college by attending Mount Hermon Boys' School in Mount Hermon, Massachusetts for two years, beginning in 1891. In 1893, he enrolled in a three-year course of studies at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School in New Haven, Connecticut, on a $300 per year scholarship that had been established for relatives of David de Forest. Convinced that he was destined to become a famous—and rich—inventor, and perpetually short of funds, he sought to interest companies with a series of devices and puzzles he created, and expectantly submitted essays in prize competitions, all with little success.
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