The Council Bluffs–born inventor whose vacuum tube made radio, television, and the electronic age possible.
Lee de Forest was born on August 26, 1873, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. A restless inventor, he earned a doctorate at Yale and set out to master the new field of wireless.
In 1906 he invented the Audion — the three-element vacuum tube (triode) that could amplify electrical signals. It became the key component behind radio broadcasting, long-distance telephone, television, and early computers, earning him the title “Father of Radio.”
De Forest's vacuum tube powered the first half-century of electronics until the transistor. He is one of the most consequential inventors America produced — and he was born in Iowa.
He received an Academy Award and other honors for his later work on sound-on-film.
The Council Bluffs–born inventor whose vacuum tube made radio, television, and the electronic age possible.
Lee de Forest was from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
1873–1961.
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