Scientist-engineers, electron theory, and early wireless technology

Scott A. Walter (1)

1 CFV - Centre François Viète : épistémologie, histoire des sciences et des techniques - EA1161

The scientists and engineers who studied wireless waves in the early days of wireless relied on several theoretical frameworks, some of which served, like the electron theories of H. A. Lorentz, Joseph Larmor, and J. J. Thomson, as a guide to extending knowledge, or to improving the efficiency of electronic devices. The pioneers of wireless science and technology, including Hertha Ayrton, William Duddell, J. A. Fleming, André Blondel, Heinrich Barkhausen, Ferdinand Braun, Reginald Fessenden, Lee de Forest, Peder Pedersen, Valdemar Poulsen, Henri Poincaré, Edwin Armstrong, and Irving Langmuir, were all trained in, or were familiar with electron theory, and many of them sought to understand wireless waves in terms of electron behavior. American research journals in wireless phenomena featured electron-theoretical models of wireless phenomena as a matter of course. My talk will review the role of electrons and electron theory in engineering and laboratory practice, with a focus on related publications in the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, from 1913 to 1934.

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Scott A. Walter. Scientist-engineers, electron theory, and early wireless technology. Interactions of Interwar Physics: Technology, Instruments and Other Sciences, Shaul Katzir, Oct 2015, Tel Aviv, Israel. ⟨halshs-01619035⟩