Lee de Forest

A lifelong innovator, Yale Ph.D. Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube which he developed between 1906 and 1916 as a detector, amplifier, and oscillator of radio waves. Beginning in 1918, he began to develop a system for recording and playing back sound by using light patterns on motion picture film. While he received many patents for this technology, he was ignored by the film industry. In order to promote and demonstrate his process he made hundreds of short sound films, found theatres for their showing, and issued publicity to gain audiences for his invention. Yet he didn t receive the acclaim he sought until 25 years later, when in 1959 he was awarded an Oscar. Why? This question is asked and answered in: Lee de Forest: King of Radio, Television, and Film.