History of Radio: How Lee De Forest, a Con Artist, Created Radio

Who created radio? Well, Lee de Forest would argue that he did, and he had a point: he created the idea of broadcast radio, some of the first broadcasts, and the vacuum tube! However, it all had to do with his willingness to take other's ideas. This is a crazy story.
The music is by the fabulous Kim Nalley
The video of a historian talking about de Forest and the clip from "This is Your Life" both come the (excellent) PBS documentary "The Empire of the Air" which can be seen at:
• Video

[@scharkalvin]

Deforest spent many years attempting to invent a radio detector that wouldn't infringe on patents held by others. All of his previous detectors would not pass the patent test as being uniquely original. He noticed that when he keyed a spark transmitter in his lab, the flame of a bunsen burner would seem to vibrate in time to the morse code being sent. He believed that the flame could detect the radio signal. He then inserted two wires into the flame and connected them to his radio receiving set. He tried different combos of metals, and flame settings, and it seemed that the ionized gas within the fire was detecting the radio signal. He realized that the device would be dangerous to use with the open flame, so he made up a light bulb which contained some of the gas used in the bunsen burner and the two wires. He also tried using the filament as one of the wires. His detector worked, but it was probably using the thermionic emission principle rather than his ionized gas theory, and thus was in violation of Flemings patent by using the 'Edison Effect'. He tried re-arranging the elements within the bulb, and also filled the bulb with different gases, along with a vacuum. One of these combinations showed promise, that of the three element triode. So by blind luck, and lots of experiments (a method also used by Edison), DeForest stumbled upon the triode tube. He never really understood how it worked, so most vacuum tube circuits were later perfected by Armstrong, and other engineers working at RCA. His business tactics were bordering on selling snake oil, but in many ways Edison was no better. Edison also didn't truly invent many of his patented discoveries, but he did vastly improve upon the work of others. The electric light is a good example of that, as there were other examples of incandescent electric lights already in existence when Edison started his experiments. However none of these combined the three important elements that made Edison's bulb unique, a high voltage, low current filament, a slender heated element instead of a large one, and operation in a vacuum instead of open in air.

[@robertv4076]

In other words, Edison invented the light bulb, the first practical light bulb.

[@riazhassan6570]

People have had ‘ideas’ for ages. Transforming some of them into workable possibilities is a huge step forward, worthy of much respect. Often, the process requires the stubborn persistence of men such as these. What their other characteristics were is not relevant. Copying, plagiarizing and cheating have been around for a long time, especially in matters of invention, commerce, warfare and industry

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Edison’s light bulb wasn’t sufficiently unique to be patentable, though.

[@scharkalvin]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 The US patent office thought it was, QED

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

@@scharkalvin Actually, no. Guess who got the patent for the light-bulb?

[@maxxie878]

This is an underrated video series. I already have an appreciation for maxwell's equations, but this historical take adds a whole new dimension to them that I never thought of.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

maximal ideal so glad u liked it. Did you mean this comment to go with my Maxwell video?

[@George-jg6ry]

I totally agree.

[@robertv4076]

You can't get a rounded picture of a life in a 10 minute video. Read a biography.

[@wdonno]

@@robertv4076 now I can because I saw this great video !

[@benjamindeforest9363]

​@KathyLovesPhysics Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the device that made wireless radio broadcasting practicable: the "triode" or "audion" amplifier. This is according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also known as MIT. I will take their word for it.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Look, I know I have a bit of a thing about the Fleming (Marconi Co.) vs de Forest spat. But, you know how harmful this protracted patent wrangling was to the US? NO Triode radio tubes were manufactured in the USA until 1920 because, legally, nobody could assemble them, let alone sell them there. Which is why France, Great Britain were commercially making triodes by the hundred thousands and why their radio industries got a huge advantage over America's and why at end of WW1, the armies of GB and France used modern tube radios whilst the USArmy Signal Corps was stuck with spark transmitters!

[@scottgfx]

Probably part of the reason the U.S. Navy asked General Electric to start a new venture called the Radio Corporation of America.

[@beetsinmyhouse5988]

There's some criticism in the comments on Kathy's "harsh" take on LDF, but I think the most important takeaway is how LDF clearly knew how important it was to control a narrative. He did take credit for others work and combined that with his own ideas, but he positioned himself as the "Father of Radio" in a way many others who had that opportunity could not have. It makes an interesting story. I guess from there, we can judge his character

[@robertakerman3570]

His story may have been supressed academically. My professor hadn't heard of Him(circa 1981). I only knew because of an obscure text on VacTubes.

[@RayPointerChannel]

One thing about deForest was that he was the last of the independent inventors. All others were pretty much in the employ of corporations. What people need to understand is that this was a cut throat field with no rules. So it was a matter of beating out the competition, like it or not.

[@RayPointerChannel]

@@robertakerman3570 The Ken Burns PBS adaptation of EMPIRE OF THE AIR lost my respect for him. It was aimed totally against deForest with interviews, one of which a portion of was used here, that came from people who were not born when deForest was active. They were merely repeating industry gossip from rival companies, whether true or slightly true. So they have questionable credibility. The book was far more objective and balanced. The Ken Burns documentary was not.

[@robertakerman3570]

@@RayPointerChannel I didn't see that Burns' doc. Maybe I shouldn't now. Thanx 4 the "heads up".

[@marcelomarins9075]

At 1904 Landell de Moura demonstrated in New York his wireless voice transmitter/receiver and got the Patent 771.917, of October 11 of 1904

[@Garnish4Zombies]

Kathy, that was awesome. Another brilliant source of light amidst the void. (I'm dealing with depression - your videos are helping an awful lot) nice one :) "let's go!" she says, and i just start smiling, and soaking up the history, and the OUTRAGEOUS INTRIGUE that Kathy uncovers! It's shocking! How human, our heroes....deep gratitude K! from me and my cat x

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I’m so glad I can help. Depression is so hard - you take care of yourself and your cat. Kathy.

[@MAINTMAN73]

Kathy, this is great content. From a ham radio addict it is really awesome to hear the history and physics behind some of these things. Keep up the great content! 73 DE, N0NZG

[@marcelomarins9075]

The wireless voice transmission done by Landell de Moura was reported in the press at the time and witnessed by the British consul

[@dbmail545]

Dang! I am binge watching this because every one is better than the last (even though I am watching them out of order)

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Your unconscious is just picking better and better ones then 🤣

[@dbmail545]

@@Kathy_Loves_Physics IDK. I think you are just providing the perfect intro to the next, even out of order. They all are about the history of electricity so all of a single vast topic.

[@Hortonfarms1]

My grandfather Harry Mack HORTON, was Lee de Forest’s operator and went on to create the trailing antenna and broadcast transmissions out to sea and in the airplane. I would have loved to witness all these amazing achievements.

[@edcooper5841]

As always, great video. Now I know why Kathy is such a great presenter, she was a high school teacher. The best professors I ever had in university got started by teaching in high school. Teachers like Kathy do so much for the world and are woefully underappreciated. Kudos for all your work.

[@RayPointerChannel]

Dr. Lee deForest was certainly a controversial figure worth discussing objectively. But the presentation is not very engaging, nor objective. And with no intended disrespect to Ms Love, she does not have a good on screen presence. She should comb her hair and try not to look so ANGRY! This would be improved greatly by featuring full screen images to show what she is talking about to avoid the static "talking head." The background "music" is also a distraction to her narration. It is unnecessary.

[@alanpecherer5705]

When I first got interested in radio, probably age 8, for some reason De Forest was my first hero. Also Edison, because this was New Jersey and we would go visit his labs on school field trips. This was 60 years ago, and my older brother had left some electronic parts and wires in a box in our attic that I fooled with but they were not enough to actually get anything done. Later on, on another school trip we visited the RCA tube factory in Harrison NJ, fantastic old brick buildings from the 1880's that RCA actually bought from Edison. The machines that built up the tubes were just fascinating and I have been searching for years to find footage of those machines working. Mesmerizing, though after 8 hours (as a factory worker) they would be irritating. It was several years later that I discovered that De Forest never had the slightest idea how his Audion worked, nor how the external components used in circuits related to the internal elements of the tube. No idea whatsoever. Whereas Armstrong was a revolutionary, spectacular genius.

[@dimension2788]

Thankyou Kathy I just love this stuff. I repaired an old amp yesterday by changing the tube...... WH6DSF

[@myownwebsite0000]

Ty. DeForrest was also the first to put sound on film. This probably inspired wire and tape recorders which used magnetic intensity instead of light intensity on film to represent or store the sound. A crude wire recording concept was made by Valdemar Poulsen before DeForrest made his amplifier and later, sound on film and there is a good chance this inspired DeForrest somewhat. DeForrest made radio and all amplified things much more practical with his electronic amplifier.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Well said. De Forest also invented the first spech amplifier for long distance telephone lines - vital to the development of telecoms in America. His 'Audion' was a useless RF amplifier but the world's first electronic audio amp. De Forest is notorious for his bumbling and dishonest radio work - he OUGHT to honoured for his much more useful audio discoveries.

[@jackd.ripper7613]

Brilliant! I really look forward to your videos. I've learned something new from each one.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Jack D. Ripper I’m so glad you liked it. Sorry it took me so long to make this video. Also, Jack D. Ripper, please don’t kill me 😉

[@boggy7665]

Calvert DeForest, the Larry 'Bud' Melman character on Late Night with David Letterman, was Lee DeForest's great nephew.

[@x-rockfm92hd81]

THANKS KLP&H GOOD INFOMATION

[@benjamindeforest9363]

Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the device that made wireless radio broadcasting practicable: the "triode" or "audion" amplifier. This is according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also known as MIT. I will take their word for it...

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I never claimed he didn’t make the triode, I claimed he didn’t make the triode on purpose, but instead made it to get around a patent lawsuit. I also claimed that he wasn’t the person who figured out how to make it sing so to speak (that was Armstrong).

[@timothystockman7533]

I am so glad you have this channel where you can talk about how our present day technical knowledge came about. I the 1980s, I was an engineer at an FM broadcast station and it saddened me that most of the other people at the station had never heard the name Edwin (Howard) Armstrong, the father of their industry. It's as if an US citizen had never heard the name George Washington. DeForest may have invented the triode, but Armstrong figured out how it worked.

[@mikebarnes7734]

That snarl certainly conveys a real contempt for hustlers

[@GraemePayne1967Marine]

A long time ago, I worked in the eletronics calibration lab at the (now closed) Naval Shipyard in Charleston SC.At one time, probably after the government's decision to close the shipyard had been announced, several of us were clearing out and inventorying the contents of some large storage cabinets of electronic parts. At the back of one of the lower drawers, I found several dusty DeForest vacuum tubes, in the original boxes, with Lee DeForest's signature stamped on the bases. If I was a less honest person, one of those might have joined my personal collection.

[@Typing.._]

Keeping me hooked for the next video 😂

[@stinklerton]

Your videos are a massive help! It's tough to find interesting videos or material covering these subjects, my professor is useless and making us watch 12 ken burns documentaries instead of teaching us herself.

[@raveskaters]

This is one of my great grandfathers!

[@AcceleratedEcstasy]

Me too! Was waiting to find a comment like this

[@thehilligan]

Excellent-I didn t know the details about De Forest. Thank you

[@techlife4233]

Great job my beautiful teacher.

[@franciagonzalez5720]

This is a great video. Thank you for sharing this information!

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Glad you liked it

[@michaelrichardson8078]

Thank you, Kathy. Isn't the triode vacuum tube the grandfather of the transistor and every computer. I have to admit that I haven't heard of de Forest before :-)

[@marcelomarins9075]

Before 1900 the Brazilian priest Landell de Moura transmited wireless voice over a distance more than 10 km in São Paulo

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Hi Dr Kathy. As I've pointed to you before, the vacuum tube was invented by Englishman Dr John Fleming. His 'thermionic valve', a two electrode diode, consisted of a metallic anode and incandescent cathode in the hardest available vacuum, contained in a glass envelope. It was the world's first electronic radio wave detector/demodulator - used for both telegraphy AND AM telephony - and later applied (in WW2) as an RF oscillator at UHF/SHF wavelengths. De Forest's Audion was NOT a vacuum tube because he insisted it required the presence of GAS molecules to operate. It was therefore a low pressure gas, not a vacuum, tube and behaved not so much as a triode but as a thyratron, a fast electronic switch later used as a radar modulator. Useful, but NOTHING to do with broadcast radio. The Audion was pretty much useless until Armstrong (or was it really the Europeans?) developed the principle of regeneration and until Langmuir and Arnold at RCA turned it into a triode by proper vacuum techniques.

[@goodmaro]

Yeah. You can't get the combination of linearity and rapid response unless the tube's evacuated.

[@Inkpaducah]

Fleming saw the two element bulb in operation at Edison’s lab in the 1890s, with one way electrical flow from hot filament to positive plate, 20 something years before he “invented” it as a radio detector.

[@surendrakverma555]

Very good and informative. Thanks 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@8546Ken]

I worked with a man in the 1980's who had worked with Lee de Forest in the 1940's on TV.

[@ronniedrozario8883]

Many contributed: 1st(precise Transist-or, wired, for news, music, sports commentary,...) - Germany's Hertz; 2nd(general Radio, wireless) - Lee de Forest, Fessendel, Child Herald, Popov, Marconi, Xaverian Jagadish Ch. Bosu,...Bose-da's general Wireless Telegraphic device, when fitted to wired Transistor, or wired Telephone made wireless each,- the Maestro's work was completed in late 1894, but by Britons' permission, he was allowed a demo. of his 'complete' work in 1895 at Calcutta/Kolkata, India Town Hall, where he had sent a signal through a wall, igniting gunpowder to ring a bell/the 1895 Britishers' organized demo. 'predates' all, including Marconi's patent in 1901, and with Tesla's earlier demo. being Induction, not Radio. Now, both precise Hertz & general Jagadish deserve a Nobel each, post-humously. Kolkata, India, & SHARE globally plz.❤

[@darryl3422]

He developed the first sound on film system years before the Jazz Singer which was a record played with the film pretty good for a con man

[@robbirdjonesanimal8869]

Awesome, I should have seen these years ago

[@zachreyhelmberger894]

Wonderful!!

[@martinmalloy8119]

Vielen Dank from Germany :) for this fantastic information packed video....

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Martin Malloy so glad you liked it

[@davidbatchelor3264]

Actor DeForest Kelly, who played Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on "Star Trek", was named after Lee De Forest.

[@scottgfx]

I was wondering if there was a connection.

[@santosakowski9846]

Why do you say he was a homely child? I think the photos prove otherwise. Interesting article. You have made me want to learn more! Thanks!

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

He was described that way it was a direct quote, I usually don’t call people homely

[@goodmaro]

Regarding the Fleming valve (diode), I hope somewhere in your KZbin series you have Edison's effort to delay the darkening of evacuated incandescent bulbs by introducing a biased element to suck up the particles the filament sprayed, and then his observation that the polarity of the bias mattered. I'm guessing you have this when you get into atomic theory.

[@AGirlofYesterday]

It's easy to call someone a "con artist" and get clickbait traffic, but the fact is that every inventor has built upon the work of other inventors in their quest to create something new. (As Don Draper says, "Why re-invent the wheel?") Lee de Forest grew up dirt poor and he was taken advantage of and maligned because he couldn't afford the slick legal teams that big companies have. And he needed money. So he sold his inventions for much less than they were worth, trusted people he shouldn't have trusted, and probably borrowed too freely from others. He was a terrible businessman and had a hankering for fame, this is true, and these faults were self-defeating. But he also worked incredibly hard for years to devise inventions that bettered society, and had sincere intentions to improve the world. He was not perfect but he was not a "con artist." What have you ever invented that changed the world? It's not as easy as it seems.

[@ronjon7942]

See my reply, two up from yours. The rules are, don't copy others' work, don't hijack others' patents, and if you use someone's patents, pay a license fee. It doesn't take a slick legal team to behave ethically and honestly. This jackwagon should have used his false genius to seek help and try to resolve his mummy and daddy issues. And yeah, it's super easy to call someone a con artist when, in fact, that someone's a con artist.

[@michaelbauers8800]

It almost seems inevitable for something like radio to have a murky history of patents. The time was probably the right time, when a lot of people were inventing and discovering what could be done with radio.

[@MichaelJGrant]

Lee de Forest, not unlike many others in the early years of electricity and radio, made more than a few loose screws not all in their inventions. Lee de Forest died a bitter old man. deForest decided to settle the question once and for all who invented radio. He mailed an envelope addressed to simply to "The Father of Radio" relying on the United States Post Office to make the determination. He never received the letter much to his surprise and disappointment. Lee de Forest should not be confused with deForest Kelley, the actor who portrayed "Bones" McCoy, the ship's surgeon on the Enterprise. Dr. McCoy was quite accomplished in his own right, winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine in the 23rd Century for establishing a hereditary link to chronic diaherria. He proved it runs in a person''s jeans.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

ha! You got me with the last part.

[@alessandrofulignani3836]

This Woman is inventing history...

[@glenmartin2437]

The development of radio is a rough and tumble history, much like the OK Corral. Unfortunately, a lot of the history was not recorded or lost.

[@Isysnation]

Underrated

[@brianarbenz1329]

As Mark Twain said, it is amazing what can be accomplished when no one worries who gets credit. All these inventors could have done so much more and faster if they had pooled knowledge and worked as teams, instead of plotting against each other.

[@RayPointerChannel]

That's not quite the way the business worked then or even now. Having exclusivity to something of value was and continues to be a serious matter worth protecting. So the concept of "sharing" would work against the best interest of many of these men since not all of them were completely ethical and would surely use information from others for their own advancement. It still goes on today.

[@drphot6050]

@@RayPointerChannelSad but true

[@tonyduncan9852]

Damn. So far I haven't followed up anything. Where next?

[@markrowland1366]

Marconi did the same. Today Elon Musk, learning from all the patent thieves, has taken the option to lisence any who come forward. That is an option when seeking a patent. Everyone sees and uses the patents but must keep good faith. This stops the fighting and delays in court. It also creates a much quicker and bigger market. Been there. He is the master.

[@Jimwill01]

U.S. Government does the same. At one time I worked at Tinker AFB. They had a "suggestion" box that people could drop suggestions/idea's into and the government would evaluate them and if it was a money saving idea then the person that made the suggestion would get a bonus check. But it now belonged to the government. I made one suggestion and was informed that it was not cost effective so I forgot about it. Worked there about 1 more year then went elsewhere. A few years later I drove by and ... what do you know! They were using MY idea without having to pay me. I'm sure someone re-submitted my idea in their name and collected a good bonus check.

[@natolinas]

Your lectures are great. you deserve millions of subscribers

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Thank you!

[@pascalxavier3367]

Lee de Forest was the true father of electronics; would electronics have existed without him?

[@alastairbarkley6572]

Yes, because John Ambrose Fleming is credited with the discovery of 'electronics' through his thermionic diode - a vacuum tube which controls electrons by only allowing one way flow. The diode allows both rectification of alternating waveforms as well as the demodulation/detection of amplitude modulation. Fleming also understood the electronic principles of his invention because the electron had been discovered 5 years earlier by JJ Thompson, also an Englishman, using a specialised tube device invented by Crookes, also English. The effect described by Edison may have spurred Fleming on - but, of course, Edison at the time knew nothing about electrons or electronics.

[@drphot6050]

@@alastairbarkley6572Modern electronics yes but not electronic instruments for transmitting sound. Africa had already started using it in some countries

[@alastairbarkley6572]

@@drphot6050 'Africa' did what???

[@distantlands]

And Deforest Kelley, Bones 🦴 on Star Trek was named after Lee Deforest!

[@fuzzylon]

I'd always thought De Forest had some relationship with Bell Labs when he invented the triode. Am I mistaken or do Bell Labs figure in the picture somewhere?

[@bearcb]

The bipolar transistor was invented at the Bell Labs

[@fuzzylon]

@@bearcb Indeed! A whole raft of technologies have been invented and developed by Bell Labs.

[@RayPointerChannel]

Dr. deForest's relationship with Bell Lab was in their licensing of the Audion. At the same time, he licensed or "borrowed' some of their equipment in his experiments of sound motion pictures, and Western Electric felt it has claims on his developments that were made using their equipment.

[@paulbaysa9133]

Lee deforest was rightly named to remove all those trees of scientific ignorance that roamed all over the place at that time although a technical scavenger what he did was beneficial to the progress of science of technology & of mankind. Greetings coming from the Philippines 🇵🇭👈🏾🙏

[@pamaran916]

ഈ ഭൂമിയിൽ ഏതെങ്കിലും കോണിൽ ഉള്ള മലയാളികൾ ഇത് കാണുന്നുണ്ടോ👍🇮🇳

[@mauriceupton1474]

There are the inventors and then there's the businessman that want to use inventions to make money. I quess we need both kinds of personalities to make a useful product, ones no good without the other.

[@truejeffanderson]

I don't quite get the ending. Was DeForest a smart man who invented the vacuum tube? Or was he just a thief again? Seems like that squiggly wire was important and if so... he must be a good inventor. But you spoke as if he just jammed some stuff on to another patent to get his own.

[@surendranmk5306]

Love you kathy! You are extra ordinary! You are doing a great job. I respect your dedication. Wish you all the best! 💯 💖

[@maryrafuse3851]

It all comes down to early original vision, a demonstration of that vision plus the technical ability to actually broadcast. So, while Lee de Forest dreamed of making lots of money a Canadian living in the United States broadcast a program of his own music and words. It was December 1906 and Reginald Fessenden accomplished the first radio broadcast. Not KDKA or CFCF. The first broadcast featuring both music and speech belongs to a Canadian living in the USA. Talk about going down the road and accomplishing something big and important.

[@rhiantaylor3446]

I'm sure glad Dr de Forest "stole" the ideas he put together to create the first active device in electronics. Similarly I am grateful that Crick & Watson "stole" the components that they put together to describe DNA. We rightly celebrate the people who turn these isolated discoveries into something that changes the world.

[@kenoliver8913]

Yep, it is no mean feat to steal a great lab idea someone else has come up with and turn it into a practical device useful outside the lab - the skills (not to mention the greed) needed to do that are at least as rare as the creative genius needed to come up with the idea in the first place. But it does show that the role of individual geniuses in the inventions that have tranformed our lives is simply less than we tend to think - all these things take the combined work of many fine minds to come to fruition.

[@siyunguo8176]

Thank you for the video!! You deserve so much more likes!!

[@Simcore999]

👍

[@AnbroBR]

Major Edwin Howard Armstrong was really the "father" of radio. De Forest invented the Audion triode tube but did not even know how it worked. Armstrong, working by himself, actually figured out exactly how it worked and then went on and designed & built circuitry that utilized the Audion for amplifying radio signals and also generating them. This is completely spelled out in PBS' documentary "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio." Thank you.

[@Simonjose7258]

😂 Too bad he wasn't born in the late 20th century so he could run for President! "I married a Genius" 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️

[@AMBER1BRANZ2]

My grandfather introduced poor Armstrong to De Forest! It's in a book that I can't find!!!

[@EVPaddy]

Who doesn‘t/didn‘t steal… Tesla and Marconi both are quite questionable in that regard, too

[@benjamindeforest9363]

Lee deForest invented the Audion vacuum tube. I would be careful about making accusations and insinuations when those who brought patent infringement actions against him were of very questionable moral character themselves.

[@RayPointerChannel]

Adding to what you say, when all sorts of optical recording systems came into being with the demand for sound films, deForest filed suit in 1929. The famous Powers Cinephone that Disney used to record his early sound cartoons starting with STEAMBOAT WILLIE was one of the patent infringers that deForest went after. It was admitted that Cinephone was a "bootleg" of the deForest Phonofilm process, though grossly inferior in recording and reproduction range by comparison. Cinephone was eventually put out of business by 1936, the year that deForest won his case and was awarded the position of "first to invent." Of course his Patents had expired by this time.

[@benjamindeforest9363]

@@RayPointerChannel Appreciate your insight and reply

[@benjamindeforest9363]

​@RayPointerChannel Thank you Sir....!

[@WVmedia]

The background music is annoying...

[@jimmydm3]

"Tesla designed the circuitry necessary for wireless communication, and was awarded the requisite patents in 1900. Before Tesla’s death in 1943, the Supreme Court negated Marconi’s patent for radio and granted full patent rights to Tesla, whose work substantially predated Marconi’s."

[@lightninrodpbn]

ANOTHER EXCELLENT AND INTERESTING TECHNICAL PRESENTATION .... BUT PLEASE .... GET RID OF THAT DISTRACTING BACKGROUND.... '' NOISE'' .... SO THAT YOUR AUDIENCE CAN FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON YOUR EXCELLENT TECHNICAL PRESENTATION .... MUSIC IS EFFECTIVE FOR CONVEYING AN EMOTIONAL MESSAGE BUT IS TOTALLY UNNESSARY FOR A TECHNICAL PRESENTATION .... I SUGGEST THAT YOU STUDY .... KEN BURNS .... WONDERFUL CIVIL WAR DOCUMENTARY .... HE IS A GENIUS FOR CHOOSING SUITABLE MUSIC TO PRODUCE AN APPROPRIATE EMOTIONAL EFFECT ....

[@markradcliff2655]

What did DeForest get out of Edison's waste basket ?

[@mernokimuvek]

De Forest did not invent the triode. IT was invented a few month before him by Robert von Lieben.

[@rontaylor392]

Nice but you sure have some facts screwed up. For example you need to look up exactly what the rolls of Edison and Fleming were prior to De Forest. You called the Fleming valve a light bulb! It was never intended to be such, in fact it came the Edison effect that Edison had noticed and did not understand, just ignoring it. And a few other things.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

The next video clarified it. See if you still think I got it wrong.

[@drphot6050]

I once listened to my radio in The Forest! P.S. Do a videos on Black Inventors

[@alastairbarkley6572]

So, he's ithe father of radio BROADCASTING not 'radio'. Marconi had already created a GLOBAL empire of commercial wireless telegraphy - and disseminating publicly receivable telegraphic news, weather, shipping and stock ticket reports WAS a form of 'broadcasting' that pre-dated de Forest. Whether or not Marconi 'invented' radio is irrelevant. He WAS its father.

[@carolmizrahi3550]

Time to add early radio's clowning conductor and violinist Nat Brusiloff.

[@paulsontag9233]

I love any video that shows what a charlatan Lee Deforest was! See also “Empire of the Air”.

[@windhoek-land8339]

I expected to see a different hand salute by the germans on 2:09...

[@shawnmulberry774]

Certain German hand gestures didn't get use before 1933

[@windhoek-land8339]

Maybe you're right. Does it rain in Southern California today?

[@earfors]

I wish Nikola Tesla and Lee de Forest had have worked more closely together. Great minds.

[@chipco5150]

The first use of the word 'radio' was by Lee DeForest in 1907. So...tell us, again, why he cannot claim being its 'father'? Did you even READ his autobiography, for example?

[@wa9kzy326]

If memory serves, he lost a patent battle, in court, because he did not know how his triode vacuum tube worked or what could be done with it. Right or wrong (wrong to me), others were awarded patents for uses of his triode. Go figure.

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

chip co So you read his biography? Wow! Amazing commitment to research. What source of scientific information could be more accurate and informative than a biography? I am going to go out on a limb here, and say that you have probably read a biography of Tesla, also, and that you are convinced that you personally will be rich and famous as soon as you gain access to Tesla's lost papers and learn and the many secrets that have eluded modern science. Don't worry, practically every first year EE goes through this phase, and then most of them grow up.

[@goodmaro]

He may have started the use of the word in that context, but I'm sure it was used previously in regard to various known forms of radiation.

[@leevelasquez3278]

Its weird because my name is Lee De Forest

[@raymondgarafano8604]

Funny how DeForest swiped an idea, got sued, yet cried like a baby when his business partner eft him and Fessenden over royally. It seems Deforest was too into scamming than to really know what he did with the audio or triode by putting in a grid between the filament and the plate.

[@ricsanders69]

This is why in Ham Radio we celebrate International Marconi Day on or around 25th of May and not de Forest Day! :-D 73 de KN4FTT

[@edgarwalk5637]

He reminds me of the man who claims he founded PayPal, and invented the electric car.

[@noam65]

Did you just say the invention of the triode was a happenstance, a coincidence?

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I sure did. Most great discoveries were.

[@noam65]

@@Kathy_Loves_Physics - that's rattling to me. Armstrong, for example, one and intended what he designed. Sadly, history is often unnerving.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I have a bunch of videos about Armstrong. The absolute GOAT of wireless discovery. But even some ideas of his were happenstance. Like positive feedback where he just thought to add a condenser to the circuit for fun! Science history is wild.

[@klocugh12]

> Independently invent > Creatively rearrange > Borrow Love the euphemisms 😅

[@furetosan]

And then the lack of ethics did advance and popularize science

[@FreemonSandlewould]

Meh. Lee DeForest invented the triode. Anyone who understands what that is and was at the time understands Lee DeForest is a giant.

[@roycefaggotter6860]

Hey this is excellent, thank you.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

Royce Faggotter you are quite welcome.

[@Landrew0]

Appalling character, really. I watched him being honored on "This is your Life," and he was still undermining Fessenden, all those years later, long after he lied, cheated and stole his way through life..

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

The kicker (for me) was when Armstrong committed suicide and De Forest was gleeful. That is just beyond the pale gross.

[@shawnmulberry774]

It's a bit of a Martin Shkreli feeling.

[@jakewells9403]

@@Kathy_Loves_Physics You can thank David Sarnoff for all of Armstrong's pain. RCA fought Armstrong tooth and nail in court.

[@paulsontag9233]

It's depressing how far this guy went with his bs but there were some true geniuses of early radio like Fessenden and especially Armstrong.

[@benjamindeforest9363]

Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the device that made wireless radio broadcasting practicable: the "triode" or "audion" amplifier. This is according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also known as MIT. I will take their word for it.

[@actionjksn]

Between Marconi ripping off Tesla and this guy ripping off everyone else, radio sure has a sketchy history.

[@Michael-it6gb]

He did invent Phonofilm though, cuz he was a Phony guy

[@GianniBarberi]

Title deceiving

[@rickvia8435]

Fessenden; FESS' - in - dun. Not FEZ' - in - dun

[@rhondapickett2524]

Hi my name is Rhonda Lynn Pickett Etc the radip and I have been contact for a long time trying to figure out the problem O found out who I am maybe there was a radio communicatedthough back than lI am a lebeessee female from Lebtonon there was a plane crash and I was the only survivor somebody picked me up and I was with him for awhile and we were depressed I was three countries away from here and I am ready to go now we have been in contact you can also contact them too How are you enjoying my babies I am not sure how far I went back but you have to meet them let them interview for you and maybe as well get closer to home you let them do a show they are really talented but those people are doing something with our heads and radiator zooming in and out targeting

[@vtbn53]

One thing is ABSOLUTELY certain. Lee De Forest did NOT create radio!

[@benjamindeforest9363]

Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the device that made wireless radio broadcasting practicable: the "triode" or "audion" amplifier. This is according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also known as MIT. I will take their word for it.

[@benjamindeforest9363]

Lee De Forest (1873-1961) invented the device that made wireless radio broadcasting practicable: the "triode" or "audion" amplifier. This is according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also known as MIT. I will take their word for it.

[@maryrafuse3851]

Lee de Forest copied others who had the original ideas. In summary Lee de Forrest did what the Japanese did later on when they copied television technology developed in the US. The real Kudos goes rightly to Reginald Fessenden. His broadcast may not have been amplified by tubes but it was the first program of music featuring Fessenden's violin and his own words, words and music on the air.

[@WV591]

LOL, adding stray pieces of metal all over the place.

[@Kathy_Loves_Physics]

I was proud of that line

[@WV591]

@@Kathy_Loves_Physics A touch of exaggeration does go a long way in humor ;-)

[@marcopilati7464]

And I, a fellow citizen of Guglielmo Marconi, who as a child believed in the genius of these "romantic" individuals, only to discover, later, that they were all greedy businessmen... De Forest did not invent the triode at all. Although he considered himself a genius, in the eyes of modern man he is more and more a fool full of himself. Puah!

[@GlennSteffy]

he infringed on another inventor's work. the other one did the best research. he ultimately committed suicide; he jumped out of a hotel window......🤨😳

[@ronjon7942]

No shat?