Vacuum Electronics Chronology

Take a look through the chronological history of how Vacuum Electronics came to fruition.

Year

Event

Year

Event

1884

Edwin Houston. discussed the Edison effect, a curious trickle of current through the lamps that was to become the physical basis of electron tubes.

1905

John Ambrose Fleming employed this effect in his “oscillation valve,” which served as a detector of wireless transmissions.

1906

Lee De Forest invented the Triode vacuum tube amplifier.

1912

In America, Lee de Forest and Reginald Fessenden used the triode vacuum tube amplifier to function as an amplifier in radio.

1916

In America, Lee de Forest and Reginald Fessenden used the triode vacuum tube amplifier to function as an amplifier in radio.

1920

The term “electronics” emerged to defined the new science field.

1920

H. Barkhausen and K. Kurz invented the Retarded Field Tube, the first transit time tube.

1921

A. Hull invented the Magnetron.

1923

The “double-grid” Philips type Q.

1926

S. G. Holst and B. Tellegen invented the Pentode.

1935

Magnetrons with multisegment anodes (which, in fact, appear as closed-loop slow-wave structures) were proposed by K. Posthumus.

1937

Sigurd and Russell Varian working at Stanford University invented the Klystron

1938

The first Conference on Electron Tubes, held at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York.

1938

N. F. Alekseev and D. D. Malairov developed a prototype of the modern cavity magnetron with a copper anode and hole-slot resonators.

1940

Henry Boot and John Randall invented the Resonant Cavity Magnetron.

1940

The MIT Radiation Laboratory developed comprehensive radar systems with the cavity magnetron as the core element.

1943

Rudolf Kompfner invented the Traveling-Wave Tube, at Birmingham in 1943.

1943

Charles Litton patented Multistage Depressed-Collector (MSDC).

1947

John Pierce developed a working theory of TWT operation, based on the interaction between an electron beam and slower electromagnetic waves traveling within the tube.

1950

Undulator production of radiation by H. Motz.

1952

BWO was invented by R. Kompfner.

1952

Epsztein invented a Backward-Wave Oscillator of M-type, the carcinotron.

1953

CFAs were invented  by Brown under the name platinotron.

1954

Maser invented by J.P. Gordon.

1954

Invention of Gyrotron by M. Petelin at Nizhny Novograd

1957

Invention of the Ubitron/FEL by R.M. Phillips

1959

Theory for Gyroton from R. Q. Twiss and J. Schneider.

1960

Traveling-wave tubes for satellite communications first used in Echo and Telstar satellites.

1964

Nizhny Novgorod invented the Gyrotrons.

1967

Girocon, that introduced the working principle of the Magnicon, invented by G.I. Budker.

1969

Orotron invented by Rusin and Bogomolov.

1977

Flyagin, Gaponov, Petelin and Yulpatov invented the modern Gyrotrons.