Ernst Alexanderson Article Index for
Ernst
Website Links For
Ernst
 

Information About

Ernst Alexanderson




He had been employed at General Electric for only a short period of time when GE received an order from Canadian-born professor and researcher Reginald Fessenden for an alternator with 1000 times higher frequency than any in existence at that time. In the summer of 1906 Dr. Alexanderson presented a 50 KHz alternator that was installed in Fessenden's radio station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts . By fall it's output had been improved to 500 watts and 75 kHz. On Christmas Eve, 1906, Fessenden broadcast the first radio transmission with music and talk, playing the violin and reading the gospel himself. The transmission was heard as far away as the Caribbean Sea .

Dr. Alexanderson was also instrumental in the development of television. The first Television broadcast in the United States was to his GE Plot home at 1132 Adams Rd in 1927. Over his lifetime, Dr. Alexanderson received 344 patents, the last awarded in 1973 at age 94. The inventor and engineer remained active to an advanced age, working as a consultant to GE and RCA in the 1950 's . He is buried at Vale Cemetery in Schenectady , New York .

In 1983 , he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall Of Fame .


PATENTS

  • – ''High frequency alternator'' (100 KHz ), filed April, 1909; received, November, 1911

  • – ''Ignition system'', ( RFI suppressor), filed June, 1926; received August, 1929



SEE ALSO

Tuned Radio Frequency Receiver


REFERENCES

  • David E. Fisher and Marshall J. Fisher, ''Tube, the Invention of Television'' Counterpoint, Washington D.C. USA, (1996) ISBN 1887178171

  • E.F.W. Alexanderson. ''General Electric Review'', January, 1913

  • E.F.W. Alexanderson, "Transatlantic Radio Communication", Trans. AIEE, (1919), pp. 1077-1093



EXTERNAL LINKS