John Ambrose Fleming facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir John Ambrose Fleming
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| Born |
John Ambrose Fleming
29 November 1849 |
| Died | 18 April 1945 (aged 95) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University College London Royal College of Science |
| Known for | Fleming's left hand rule Fleming's right-hand rule Fleming valve |
| Awards | Hughes Medal (1910) Albert Medal (1921) Faraday Medal (1928) Duddell Medal (1930) IRE Medal of Honor (1933) Franklin Medal (1935) Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineer and physicist |
| Institutions | University College London University of Nottingham Cambridge University Edison Electric Light Co. Victoria Institute |
| Doctoral advisor | Frederick Guthrie |
| Doctoral students | Harold Barlow |
| Other notable students | Hidetsugu Yagi Balthasar van der Pol |
Sir John Ambrose Fleming (born November 29, 1849 – died April 18, 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist. He is famous for inventing the first thermionic valve, also known as a vacuum tube. This invention was a huge step in the world of electronics.
Fleming also designed the radio transmitter used for the very first radio message sent across the Atlantic Ocean. He also created the right-hand rule, a helpful tool used in physics to understand how electricity and magnetism work.
He was the oldest of seven children. His father, James Fleming, was a minister. John Ambrose Fleming was a very religious person. He gave a lot of his money to charities that helped poor people. He also loved photography, painting, and climbing mountains like the Alps.
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Early Life and Education
John Ambrose Fleming was born in Lancaster. He went to school at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and University College School in London. He then studied at University College London, earning a science degree in 1870.
He continued his studies at St John's College, Cambridge in 1877. He earned another science degree from the University of London in 1879. In 1881, he got a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cambridge. He became a fellow at St John's in 1883.
Fleming taught at several universities, including the University of Cambridge and University College Nottingham. He was the first professor of electrical engineering at University College London. He also worked as a consultant for important companies like Marconi and Edison Electric Light Company.
Becoming an Engineer
Fleming started school around age ten. He really enjoyed geometry. Before that, his mother taught him at home. He knew a popular book called Child's Guide to Knowledge almost by heart.
Even as a boy, he dreamed of becoming an engineer. At 11, he had his own workshop. There, he built model boats and engines. He even built his own camera, which started his lifelong love for photography.
Becoming an engineer was expensive for his family. But Fleming found a way by working and studying at different times. He enrolled at University College London for his degree. He studied under famous people like the mathematician Augustus De Morgan.
He also studied chemistry at the Royal College of Science in London. There, he first learned about Alessandro Volta's battery. This became the topic of his first scientific paper. It was the first paper ever read to the new Physical Society of London.
Money problems made him work again. In 1874, he became a science teacher at Cheltenham College. He continued his own research and wrote to James Clerk Maxwell at Cambridge University. After saving money, he went back to studying at Cambridge in 1877.
He was one of the few students who attended Maxwell's last lectures. Fleming said Maxwell's lectures were hard to follow. He often appeared unclear. Sometimes, Fleming was the only student there. Fleming graduated again with top honors in chemistry and physics.
He then worked at Cambridge University for a year. After that, he became the first Professor of Physics and Mathematics at University College Nottingham. However, he left after less than a year.
Important Discoveries and Work
After leaving the University of Nottingham in 1882, Fleming worked for the Edison Electrical Light Company. He advised them on lighting systems. In 1884, Fleming joined University College London. He became the first Professor of Electrical Technology in England.
In 1899, Guglielmo Marconi, who invented radiotelegraphy, wanted to send a radio message across the Atlantic Ocean. This needed a much stronger radio signal than ever before. Marconi asked Fleming, who was an expert in power engineering, to design the radio transmitter.
Fleming designed the world's first large radio transmitter. It was a complex machine built in Poldhu, England. This transmitter sent the first radio message across the Atlantic on December 12, 1901.
Fleming was responsible for the design. However, Marconi had made him agree that Marconi would get most of the credit. So, Marconi received worldwide praise for this amazing achievement. Fleming felt that Marconi was unfair. He kept his promise not to talk about it while Marconi was alive. But after Marconi died in 1937, Fleming said Marconi had been "very ungenerous."
In 1904, while working for Marconi, Fleming invented the first thermionic vacuum tube. It was a two-electrode diode, which he called the oscillation valve. He received a patent for it on November 16. It became known as the Fleming valve.
This invention is often seen as the start of electronics. It was the first vacuum tube. Fleming's diode was used in radio receivers and radars for many years. It was replaced by newer solid state technology more than 50 years later.
In 1906, Lee De Forest in the US added a control part to the valve. This created an amplifying vacuum tube called the Audion. Fleming accused De Forest of using his ideas without permission. De Forest's tube developed into the triode, which was the first electronic amplifier.
The triode was very important for long-distance telephone and radio communication. It was also used in radars and early electronic computers. The legal fight over these inventions lasted for many years.
Fleming also made important contributions in other areas. These included photometry (measuring light), wireless telegraphy (radio), and electrical measurements. He created the term power factor to describe the true power in an AC power system.
Fleming retired from University College London in 1927 at age 77. He remained active and became a strong supporter of the new technology of Television. He was made a knight in 1929. He died at his home in Sidmouth, Devon, in 1945. His work in electronic communication and radar was very important during World War II.
In 1933, Fleming received the IEEE Medal of Honor. This award recognized his important role in bringing physical and engineering ideas into radio technology.
A hundred years after he invented the thermionic valve, people celebrated his work. His invention was a major step forward in the "wireless revolution." The "Fleming Valve" is considered the device that started modern electronics.
For many years, valves quickly replaced older "cat's whiskers" in electronics. They were the main device used to create the electronics industry we know today. They remained important until the transistor became popular in the early 1970s.
Even today, updated versions of the original valve are still used. You can find them in radio and television transmitters. They are also in musical instrument amplifiers, like those for electric guitars. They are also used in some high-quality audio amplifiers.
In 1941, a new ship was named SS Ambrose Fleming to honor him. On November 27, 2004, a special plaque was placed in Sidmouth. It marked 100 years since he invented the thermionic radio valve.
Books by Fleming
Fleming wrote many books about electricity, radio, and other scientific topics. Here are some of them:
- Electric Lamps and Electric Lighting (1894)
- The Alternate Current Transformer in Theory and Practice (1896)
- Magnets and Electric Currents (1898)
- Waves and Ripples in Water, Air, and Aether (1902)
- The Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy (1906)
- An Elementary Manual of Radiotelegraphy and Radiotelephony (1911)
- The Wonders of Wireless Telegraphy : Explained in simple terms for the non-technical reader (1913)
- The Thermionic Valve and its Development in Radio Telegraphy and Telephony (1919)
- Fifty Years of Electricity (1921)
- Electrons, Electric Waves and Wireless telephony (1923)
- Evolution or Creation? (1938) – This book shared his thoughts against Darwin's theory of evolution.
Images for kids
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John Ambrose Fleming (1906)
See also
In Spanish: John Ambrose Fleming para niños
