Highfields Amateur Radio Club Innovators Pages. Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson. 1878 - 1975. Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson was born on January 25, 1878, in Uppsala, Sweden. His father, Aron M. Alexanderson, was a judge, a professor of Greek and taught classical languages at the University of Uppsala. He later became chair of classical languages at the University of Lund. Ernsts mother was Amelie (nee, von Heidenstam). Ernst was educated at Lund High School and continued to the University of Lund for a year before moving to the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, graduating in engineering in 1900. because of his fathers command and teaching of languages Ernst, as a boy, learned English, German, French and Latin in addition to his native Swedish. The following year (1901) saw Ernst at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany, studying advanced electrical engineering under Adolf K. H. Slaby, the inventor of a primitive form of radio communication. Whilst in Berlin Ernst read an English copy of Alternating Current Phenomena by Dr. Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the mathematics genius at General Electric. This inspired and prompted Ernst to travel to America to meet Dr Steinmetz and apply for a position at General Electric by the end of that year. After a short time as a draftsman for the C&C Electric Company in New Jersey, Ernst joined the General Electric Company in Schenectady, NY, in 1902, aged 24. In 1904, after passing General Electrics engineering exams, Ernst was assigned the task (his first major task for GE), which was regarded as impossible by all the experts, of designing a high-frequency generator of 100 kHz, and with the requirement of an output measured in kW for radio pioneer Reginald A. Fessenden. Ernst accepted the challenge, and on Christmas Eve 1906 Fessenden was able to broadcast the first ever radio programme with song and music via Ernsts 2 kW high-frequency alternator for undamped oscillations. 1910 Ernst joined the Consulting Engineering Department of GE, headed by Dr Steinmetz, which afforded him still greater opportunities and allowed him to concentrate on continued work with the alternator. In 1918 Ernst became manager of the newly established Radio Engineering Department. 1915 saw Marconi visiting America and, after meeting with Ernst, purchase one of the 50-foot alternators for the transatlantic Marconi Center in New Jersey. Marconi purchased more alternators and, using a 200-foot Alexanderson alternator, he broadcast radio transmissions during World War I that were heard all over Europe. In 1916, Alexanderson made another important contribution to radio broadcasting when he unveiled his tuned radio receiver, which allowed for selective tuning. It quickly became an integral part of radio systems and led, in part, to his being honoured in the Inventors Hall of Fame. Marconi, after seeing the possibilities while using the altenators he had purchased, desired to buy the exclusive right to sell the alternators on the world market. He made an offer for this right to General Electric in 1919. President Woodrow Wilson appealed to General Electric not to sell, since he feared that Marconi would become completely dominant in the field of world communications. Instead, an entirely new corporation was created, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), for the purpose of marketing the alternators. Ernst was installed as Chief Engineer at the new corporation, and subsequently shared his working time between GE and RCA until 1924, when he returned to working full time at GE. In 1919, Ernst made history when more of his inventions, his multiple-tuned antenna, antistatic receiver, and magnetic amplifier, were used to transmit the first two-way radio conversation. This great event took place 900 miles out to sea, between the Trans-Atlantic Marconi Company station at New Brunswick and the steamship George Washington, with the American President, Woodrow Wilson, on board as a witness. In the 1920s there were intensive trials with shortwave radio, experiments in wireless picture telegraphy and television. On June 5, 1924, the first wireless telegraph picture was transmitted across the Atlantic. This was a handwritten page from a letter from Ernst to his father Professor Alexanderson, in Sweden. Two years later, Ernst sent the first facsimile transmission to go around the world. Passing through successive relays, the picture was reproduced on machine in the same room as the transmitter after just two minutes. In 1927 he staged the first home reception of television at his own home in Schenectady, New York, using high-frequency neon lamps and a perforated scanning disc. On January 13, 1928, the first television play was transmitted, and the television transmissions from Alexs lab at General Electric were received and shown on a screen measuring roughly 2 x 2 meters (6 ft 6in x 6 ft 6in or 280 cm / 110 inch screen, as we measure them today) with the aid of Ernsts new TV projector. This same year he demonstrated Microwave Television transmissions. During the 1930s, Ernst became interested in the transmission of high-voltage direct current with the help of mercury arc inverters, thyratrons, which had previously been developed by himself and his good friend Dr. Irving Langmuir. A test station for transmission via high voltage direct current was built between Mechanicville and Schenectady, and remained in operation until 1948. The 1940s found Ernst working, among other things, on an early version of colour television. He retired in 1948 he intended to serve only as a consultant to various companies as and when requested. In 1952 RCA approached Ernst asking for his help in developing a practical system for broadcasting colour television before CBS, RCAs main rival in the field, could finish theirs. Ernst agreed to take on the challenge and, after several failures, the RCA team introduced a system that not only produced a good colour image on new sets, but was also compatible with existing black-and-white televisions. The CBS system could not be received at all on the existing sets. Ernst continued to work as a television consultant until his death. Ernst General Electrics most prolific inventor, receiving a total of 322 (some sources state 344 or 345) patents, the last filed in 1968 at age 89. His work was not just in Radio and Television, he produced inventions in such fields as railway electrification, motors and power transmissions, telephone relays, and electric ship propulsion as well. 2 of Alexandersons alternators at Grimeton Ernst died at the age of 97 on May 14, 1975 and was buried at Vale Cemetery in Schenectady, New York. Several of the original Alexanderson Alternators can be found today in the museum set up in Grimeton, Sweden. The uniqueness of Grimeton is the entirety, almost everything that was built in the 1920s is still there. Visitors can find the well preserved buildings, the world unique antennas and the little radio village. In 1996 one of the transmitters was turned on during the 80th anniversary celebration. The station worked just it as it did in 1916 and transmitted signals back to the US. Some of Ernsts honours and awards: 1919 The Gold Medal of the Institute of Radio Engineers. 1924 Knight of the Polish order of the Polonia Restituta (though some sources say 1925). 1925 Knight of the Order of the Northern Star. 1926 honorary degree from Union College, Schenectady, New York 1928 the John Ericcson Medal. 1938 honorary degree from University of Uppsala, Sweden. 1940 his name was listed on a Wall of Fame honouring foreign born citizens who have made notable contributions to American democracy. 1944 the Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. 1945 the Cedergren Medal of the Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden. 1946 the Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal. 1946 the Royal Danish Medal. 1948 honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. 1983 awarded, posthumously, a place in the American National Inventors Hall of Fame. Member, fellow, and later president of the Institute of Radio Engineers. Member and president of the Institute of Radio Engineers. Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. elected the first Commodore of the Lake George Yacht Club in New York (in his spare time and after retirement, he enjoyed sailing).
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 20:23:21 +0000
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