Ernst alex anderson biography

Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson was a Swedish-American electrical engineer and inventor who was a pioneer in radio development.
Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson was a Swedish-American electrical engineer and inventor who was a pioneer in radio development.
Ernst F.W. Alexanderson was an electrical engineer and television pioneer who developed a high-frequency alternator (a device that converts.

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PIONEER PROFILES for FEBRUARY 1998

DR. ERNST ALEXANDERSON

PIONEER INVENTOR

by Barry Mishkind

TUCSON, Arizona - Perhaps it shouldn't surprise us, but the majority of broadcast station staffers have never seen a transmitter. In fact, few ever even stop to consider the mechanics of how their voice gets from the microphone to the listener's radio receivers.

Perhaps this matters more to the technical folks than the rest, but the story of the invention of transmitters capable of sending music and voice is fascinating and involves a key pioneer who is nevertheless relatively unknown today: Dr. Ernst Alexanderson.

The very early wireless pioneers like Hertz and Marconi developed spark transmitters which opened up the airwaves to telegraphic communication. Soon, Morse code filled the air, crossed the ocean, and brought the world much closer. News could be transmitted instantly, but only using the inefficient "crashes" of the spark machines.

The real breakthrough that led to the vibrant industry of broadcasting was the ability to send voice and music to recei

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Ernst Alexanderson

Electrical engineer and inventor, Ernst Fredrick Werner Alexanderson, developed pioneering technological concepts during the early 20th century that contributed to the birth of the broadcasting industry. Alexanderson’s numerous discoveries formed the basis for the technology that would make the transmission of voice, music, and pictures possible. His more than 340 patents and affiliations with some of the world’s foremost scientists and business executives made him a central figure in the early years of broadcasting and earned him a place on the list of the most prolific U.S.-based inventors of all time.

Born on January 25, 1878, in Upsala, Sweden, Alexanderson graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a degree in electrical engineering in 1900 and went on to do post-graduate work at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany. There, he read the book “Alternating Current Phenomena” by General Electric’s Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz and was inspired to travel to the United States with the hope of having an opportunity to meet and work wit

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Ernst Alexanderson

Swedish-American electrical engineer and inventor (1878–1975

Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson (Swedish:[ɛʂntalɛkˈsandɛʂɔn]; January 25, 1878 – May 14, 1975) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer and inventor who was a pioneer in radio development. He invented the Alexanderson alternator, an early radio transmitter used between 1906 and the 1930s for longwave long distance radio transmission. Alexanderson also created the amplidyne, a direct current amplifier used during the Second World War for controlling anti-aircraft guns.^[2]

Background

Alexanderson was born in Uppsala, Sweden.^[3] He studied at the University of Lund (1896–97) and was educated at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1902 and spent much of his life working for the General Electric and Radio Corporation of America.^[4]

Engineering work

Alexanderson designed the Alexanderson alternator, an early longwaveradio transmitter, one of t