Abstract :
Summary form only given, as follows. Lee de Forest was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, August 26, 1873. He was graduated from Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1896 with the B.S. degree. In 1&99 he received the Ph.D. degree and in 1926 the D.Sc.Degree, from Yale University. During the Spanish American War he was a member of Battery A, First Artillery Company, Connecticut National Guard. Since 1901 Dr. de Forest has been identified with the development of radio communication. In 1906 he patented the audion or three-element vacuum tube. In the years that followed he has been an active worker in the application of the vacuum tube in its various uses. He has been the recipient of many honors, among them the Gold Medal of the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, for work in wireless telegraphy, and the Gold Medal of the San Francisco Exposition in 1915 for his work in radiotelephony. He has the cross of the Legion of Honor from France, the Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute, the Medal of Honor from the Institute of Radio Engineers, and the John Scott Medal from the City of Philadelphia. Dr. de Forest is a Fellow in the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He was elected by the membership to the Presidency of the Institute of Radio Engineers on January 8, 1930.
