Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Karl Ferdinand Braun
Summary
Karl Ferdinand Braun (ˈfɛʁdinant ˈbʁaʊn; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi "for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy", was a founder of Telefunken, one of the pioneering communications and television companies, and has been both called the "father of television" (shared with inventors like Paul Gottlieb Nipkow) and the co-father of the radio telegraphy, together with Marconi.
Braun was born in Fulda, Germany, and educated at the University of Marburg and received a PhD from the University of Berlin in 1872. In 1874, he discovered that a point-contact metal–semiconductor junction rectifies alternating current. He became director of the Physical Institute and professor of physics at the University of Strassburg in 1895.
In 1897, he built the first cathode-ray tube (CRT) and cathode ray tube oscilloscope. The CRT became the cornerstone in developing fully electronic television, being a part of every TV, computer and any other screen set up till the introduction of the LCD screen at the end of the 20th century. It is still mostly called the "Braun tube" in German-speaking countries (Braunsche Röhre) and other countries such as Korea (브라운관: Buraun-kwan) and Japan (ブラウン管: Buraun-kan).
During the development of radio, he also worked on wireless telegraphy. In 1897, Braun joined the line of wireless pioneers. His major contributions were the introduction of a closed tuned circuit in the generating part of the transmitter, its separation from the radiating part (the antenna) by means of inductive coupling, and later on the usage of crystals for receiving purposes. Around 1898, he invented a crystal detector . Wireless telegraphy claimed Dr. Braun's full attention in 1898, and for many years after that he applied himself almost exclusively to the task of solving its problems.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.