Ferdinand Braun: A Life of the Nobel Prizewinner and Inventor of the Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope

By Friedrich Kurylo

Ferdinand Braun was one of the great scientists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and one of the most productive. He discovered the rectifier effect, the basis of modern solid-state electronics-the seed from which grew today's semiconductors, transistors, silicon chips. He invented the cathode-ray oscilloscope, one of the most useful and versatile scientific instruments of the twentieth century-and the basis for our indispensible TV tubes. And he made pioneering and fundamental contributions to "wireless telegraphy"-the work for which he and the universally remembered Marconi were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1909 and which led to today's radio, radar, and television transmissions. Add to this Braun's further accomplishments in pure science-his thermodynamic studies, his development of magnetic compounds-and it becomes clear that Braun has been unjustly neglected in the modern era whose technological foundation owes so much to his work. This scientific biography, however, does considerably more than restore Braun to his proper reputation: it has a fascinating story to tell. Of particular interest is its account of the early days of radio transmission, and the competition of Braun and his associates with Marconi and company to extend the range and improve the reception of radio signals. The technical basis of Braun's contributions are clearly explained. The book follows Braun from his birth in 1850 through his university years in Marburg and Berlin, his teaching positions in Wurzberg, Leipzig, Marburg, and Strasbourg, his most productive, creative years at Karlruhe, Tubingen, and again Strasbourg with their commercial ventures and succession of honors, to his death in 1918 in New York, where he was stranded as an enemy alien by World War I.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262110776
• ISBN13: 9780262110778
• Release Date: August 1981
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 308 Pages