Reginald Fessenden | |
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Fessenden in 1903 | |
Born | Reginald Aubrey Fessenden October 6, 1866 |
Died | July 22, 1932 | (aged 65)
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Education | |
Alma mater | University of Bishop's College (no degree) |
Known for |
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Spouse |
Helen May Trott (m. 1890) |
Children | 1 |
Mother | Clementina Trenholme |
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Engineering career | |
Discipline | Electrical engineering |
Sub-discipline | Radio-frequency engineering |
Years active | 1886–1932 |
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Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-American electrical engineer and inventor who received hundreds of patents in fields related to radio and sonar between 1891 and 1936 (seven of them after his death).
Fessenden pioneered developments in radio technology, including the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) radio. His achievements included the first transmission of speech by radio (1900), and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean (1906). In 1932 he reported that, in late 1906, he also made the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music, although that claim has not been well documented.
He did a majority of his work in the United States and, in addition to his Canadian citizenship, claimed U.S. citizenship through his American-born father.[1]