Lee de Forest was a telecommunications inventor, responsible for the Audion vacuum tube. In 1907, his "radiophone" allowed phonograph music and human voice to broadcast wirelessly. The device used a "singing arc" to generate radio carrier signals. The US Navy purchased six radiotelephones for installation on the Great White Fleet. This is one of the earliest radiotelephones made by de Forest.

Lee De Forest was an inventor, engineer, and the self-styled "Father of Radio." In 1906, he invented the Audion tube, allowing the detection and amplification of weak radio signals. In this image, De Forest is shown visiting Greenfield Village during the Light's Golden Jubilee event--a celebration held to honor Edison's invention of the incandescent lamp.

Dr. Lee De Forest was an inventor, engineer, and the self-styled "Father of Radio." In 1906, De Forest invented the Audion tube, allowing the detection and amplification of weak radio signals. As the first triode vacuum tube, the Audion revolutionized radio broadcasting--and made it more practical. By the late 1920s, vacuum tube radios were the widespread in people's homes.

Dr. Lee De Forest was an inventor, engineer, and the self-styled "Father of Radio." In 1906, De Forest invented the Audion tube, allowing the detection and amplification of weak radio signals. As the first triode vacuum tube, the Audion revolutionized radio broadcasting--and made it more practical. By the late 1920s, vacuum tube radios were the widespread in people's homes.

Dr. Lee De Forest was an inventor, engineer, and the self-styled "Father of Radio." In 1906, De Forest invented the Audion tube, allowing the detection and amplification of weak radio signals. As the first triode vacuum tube, the Audion revolutionized radio broadcasting--and made it more practical. By the late 1920s, vacuum tube radios were the widespread in people's homes.

Edwin H. Armstrong was a pioneer of radio engineering, credited as the inventor of FM radio. In 1918 he filed a patent for the superheterodyne radio circuit. This technology increased the sensitivity and selectivity of radio receivers. The radio depicted is the first portable superheterodyne radio receiver ever made. Armstrong gave it to his wife, Marion, on their 1923 honeymoon.

This photograph shows the first portable superheterodyne radio receiver, designed by Edwin Armstrong. Superheterodying was a major communications discovery made by Armstrong. High and low frequencies were mixed to produce powerful, selective radio waves. Following his untimely death, Edwin's wife Marion Armstrong continued to preserve his legacy; she donated this radio to The Henry Ford museum in 1967.

David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, is pictured here introducing monochrome television at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In 1946, he similarly introduced electronic color television. Sarnoff was a technology advocate and credited as the "father of broadcasting"--the idea that radio could serve as mass communication--rather than messages sent between one operator and another.

Vladimir Zworykin was an early pioneer of television development, employed by Westinghouse and the Radio Corporation of America. Here he presents a Vidicon camera tube, to be donated to the museum. Vidicon tubes allowed bulky, expensive broadcast television cameras to become smaller and cheaper beginning in the 1950s. Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope picture tubes were breakthroughs in television history.

Vladimir Zworykin was an early pioneer of television development, employed by Westinghouse and the Radio Corporation of America. Here he presents a Vidicon camera tube, to be donated to the museum. Vidicon tubes allowed bulky, expensive broadcast television cameras to become smaller and cheaper beginning in the 1950s. Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope picture tubes were breakthroughs in television history.

Vladimir Zworykin was an early pioneer of television development, employed by Westinghouse and the Radio Corporation of America. Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope picture tubes were breakthroughs in television history. Together they allowed electronic television to become a viable technology. Zworykin also headed the creation of the electron microscope and infrared tubes used in night vision "sniperscopes" during WWII.

Vladimir Zworykin was an early pioneer of television development, employed by Westinghouse and the Radio Corporation of America. Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope picture tubes were breakthroughs in television history. Together they allowed electronic television to become a viable technology. Zworykin also headed the creation of the electron microscope and infrared tubes used in night vision "sniperscopes" during WWII.