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Happy 100th To The Vacuum Tube
williamw83 writes "Today, November 16, 2004 has been declared as the centennial of the birth of modern electronics by the American Vacuum Society. As the AIP Physics News Update reports, this marks 'British scientist John Ambrose Fleming's 1904 invention of the first practical electronic device. Known as the thermionic diode, this first simple vacuum tube, containing only two electrodes, could be used to convert an alternating current (AC) to a direct current (DC).' Today's celebration takes place as part of the AVS's 51st Annual Symposium & Exhibition in Anaheim, CA. Being a guitar player myself, I've come to truly appreciate the technology of the vacuum tube every time I crank up my amplifier. This 100-year-old grandfather of electronics, used by musicians and audiophiles across the world, has proven that profound advances in technology do not always render old technologies obsolete."
Yes, amplifiers are definitely the most important uses of vacuum tubes. I can't think of a single more important use in all of history that I would put down on the article had I written it...
My Systems
Vacuums suck!
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Bite Me Fanboy!!
Couldn't wait another 2 hours, could you?
What with the current crop of professional mixers so intent on recording at levels well above the maximum range of the media the music is written onto, it hardly seems necessary to invest in such outdated devices in an effort to recapture that unique sound of yesteryear.
As a musician I resent being in the same sentence as an audiophile.
Yes but the digital ones go up to 11.
My professor told me how once he had a radiograph machine that wasn't working, and when he asked for an explanation, the repair technician pointed to the tube and patiently explained to him that "All the vacuum leaked out."
Ultravox RULES OK?
"warm" sound - let me guess, for the times when you MUST listen to a CD, you put green marker on the outside to reduce jitter? Are you a gentoo user too? This just just more Rice
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Our only hope in case of an EMP (/nuclear). Vacuum tubes may be ugly and power hungry, but they are much more likely to withstand huge electromagnetic pulses (malicious or otherwise). ...but far less likely to survive a fall of 6 inches.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Sure, and to the rational mind, studying electrical engineering now in the West is pointless as all the good jobs are outsourced and what's left are pathetic contract jobs or insane pressure jobs where you're obsolete, unemployable and burnt at 40.
But are universities churning out the meat every year? You bet! Why?
Cuz some people like it that way.
Why didn't they make silicon based processors? Sand has been around forever..
Actually, that's a myth. Sand was invented by the British shortly before World War I, as something to fill all their at-the-time useless surplus "cannonball catching bags".
Unfortunately, even in the height of wartime, mass production far exceeded supply, and in a desperate move to cover up the multinational financial boondoggle and rescue what they could of the struggling world economy, the "sand" was dumped unceremoniously across africa and most of asia, as well as most poor, equotorial regions that thought the wealth of inventory would translate into increased economical benefit for their country.
By the time they realized the sand was nearly worthless, the newly formed UN began work on quietly covering up and brainwashing the world into believing that "sand" had always been around. Often tankers continued to run aground for a few years, or jettisoned their now-worthless cargo of sand into the ocean, where it washed up and covered beaches.
Tell everyone, before they silence you t]H]H]H NO CARRIER
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
The oldest known rocks on Earth are 3.96 billion years old. Sand comes from rocks being pulverized over a course of millions of years.
...the problem, of course, is that really we shouldn't have silicon circuits for another nine billion years. :)
The universe has had galaxies (and the vacuum in between) for at least 13 billion years.
Seems to me the vacuum tube is right in existing before the silicon circuit.
I sell the gold plated connectors and $2500 speaker (and power) cables!
www.blinkhighend.com
Tibbon
tibbon.com
They did - it's a key component of vacuum tubes.
BTW, I thought Edison invented the vacuum tube. (Which would make it more than 100 years old.) Edison didn't bother persuing it because he had no use for AC. Fleming renamed Edison's tube (he called it a "valve") and patented it. When Lee de Forest found a way to make it useful (he added a screen and called it a triode), Phlegming sued. (And you thought this SCO thing was new.) At the end of litigration the judge told Tree deForest and Phlegming to share.
(Under Common Law, lawyers merely pretend to be fighting it out in court. In truth, they are usually roommates from law school. The cases are usually decided over a poker game at the lawyers' favorite pub. The two most important things are 1) comparing notes to drag things out and milk the most money from the clients and 2) deciding who will pay for the drinks - that's why they call it the bar association.)
(For you British types: calling something a valve doesn't make it a valve. A vacuum tube is no more a valve than an oyster.)
In the USA these things are called 'Tubes'. In the UK we call them 'Valves'. Why?
:)
Well, they look like tubes, but they function as valves. And of course the people of the USA are more concerned with looks than functionality...
Baz
"he (Edison) had no use for AC"
That's because Menlo Park never had hot summers.