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."

Comments

Re:The quality of music is dropping

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't you say that that's a problem only with perhaps 0.001% of all amplified guitarists? The number of guitarists who are good enough that a vacuum tube amplifier improves the listening experience of the audience is infinitesimal.

For every Steve Vai there are 10000 Kurt Cobains, and not nearly enough of them are blowing their heads off with shotguns.

Re:Why did they make relay-based computers?

[ncc74656]

He explained that, no, the tubes were plenty reliable, but the solid-carbon resistors used in those days didn't handle the high voltages used in the tube circuits very well, and thus constantly failed.

Resistors aren't the only components that tended to crap out. Capacitors were usually not much more than a couple strips each of aluminum foil and paper, rolled up and sealed with more wax, with wires sticking out each end of the roll. Over time, the heating and cooling caused by switching a device on and off would lead to the outer coating becoming compromised, letting moisture in to do various nasty things. When getting an old radio working, the first thing you usually end up doing is yanking out all of the old "wax firecrackers" and replacing them with metal-film capacitors that you'll probably never need to replace again.

May you...

[vyke4lyfe]

continue to suck....