Oscilloscope History
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Oscilloscope History
Illustration of Joubert's step-by-step method of hand-plotting waveform measurements The history of the oscilloscope was fundamental to science because an oscilloscope is a device for viewing waveform oscillations, as of electrical voltage or current, in order to measure frequency and other wave characteristics. This was important in developing electromagnetic theory. The first recordings of waveforms were with a galvanometer coupled to a mechanical drawing system dating from the second decade of the 19th century. The modern day digital oscilloscope is a consequence of multiple generations of development of the oscillograph, cathode-ray tubes, analog oscilloscopes, and digital electronics. Hand-drawn oscillograms The earliest method of creating an image of a waveform was through a laborious and painstaking process of measuring the voltage or current of a spinning rotor at specific points around the axis of the rotor, and noting the measurements taken with a galvanometer. By s ...
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Oscillograph Joubert's Step-by-Step Method
An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetitive or single waveforms on the screen that would otherwise occur too briefly to be perceived by the human eye. The displayed waveform can then be analyzed for properties such as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval, distortion, and others. Originally, calculation of these values required manually measuring the waveform against the scales built into the screen of the instrument. Modern digital instruments may calculate and display these properties directly. Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, automotive and the telecommunications industry. General-purpose instruments are used for maintenance of electronic equipment and laboratory work. Special-purpose oscilloscopes may be used to analyze an automotive igni ...
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Jonathan Zenneck
Jonathan Adolf Wilhelm Zenneck (15 April 1871 – 8 April 1959) was a German physicist and electrical engineer who contributed to researches in radio circuit performance and to the scientific and educational contributions to the literature of the pioneer radio art. Zenneck improved the Braun cathode ray tube by adding a second deflection structure at right angles to the first, which allowed two-dimensional viewing of a waveform. This two-dimensional display is fundamental to the oscilloscope. Early years Zenneck was born in Ruppertshofen, Württemberg. In 1885, Zenneck entered the Evangelical-Theological Seminary in Maulbronn. In 1887, while in a Blaubeuren seminary, Zenneck learned Latin, Greek, French, and Hebrew. In 1889, Zenneck enrolled in the University of Tübingen. At the Tübingen Seminary, he studied mathematics and natural sciences. In 1894, Zenneck took the state examination in mathematics and natural sciences and the examination for his doctor's degree. His dis ...
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Roger Melen
Roger Douglas Melen (born 1946) is an electrical engineer recognized for his early contributions to the microcomputer industry, and for his technical innovations. Dr. Melen was co-founder of Cromemco, one of the earliest microcomputer companies. At Cromemco he developed color graphics systems that were widely used in television broadcast, and in mission planning systems deployed by the United States Air Force. He also developed the first microcomputer systems widely distributed in China. In addition to his work in microcomputer systems and color graphics, Dr. Melen has made significant technical contributions to the development of CCD image sensors, ultrasonic imaging systems, implantable cochlear devices, image processing technology, and vehicular information systems. He has been recognized as one of the most important inventors and innovators in the history of Silicon Valley. Early contributions As a young man, Roger Melen enjoyed ham radio, operating an amateur radio station ...
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Harry Garland
Harry T. Garland (born 1947) is a scientist, engineer, author, and entrepreneur who co-founded Cromemco Inc., one of the earliest and most successful microcomputer companies. He received the B.A. degree in mathematics from Kalamazoo College, and the Ph.D. degree in biophysics from Stanford University. Dr. Garland has been recognized as one of the most important innovators in the development of personal computers in Silicon Valley. Personal life He is the son of Harry G. Garland, the founder of Garland Manufacturing. Stanford University Garland began his graduate work at Stanford University in 1968. Garland's research at Stanford focused on the function of the human brain in controlling voluntary movement. He developed techniques in electromyography for monitoring muscle activity during voluntary movement and worked to delineate the role of the brain and the role of local reflexes in the control of muscles. This led to a deeper understanding of brain function during voluntary m ...
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Phosphor
A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure to ultraviolet or visible light, and cathodoluminescent substances which glow when struck by an electron beam (cathode rays) in a cathode-ray tube. When a phosphor is exposed to radiation, the orbital electrons in its molecules are excited to a higher energy level; when they return to their former level they emit the energy as light of a certain color. Phosphors can be classified into two categories: fluorescent substances which emit the energy immediately and stop glowing when the exciting radiation is turned off, and phosphorescent substances which emit the energy after a delay, so they keep glowing after the radiation is turned off, decaying in brightness over a period of milliseconds to days. Fluorescent materials are used in applications in which the ...
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Melvin Jack Murdock
Melvin "Jack" Murdock (August 15, 1917 – May 16, 1971) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and radio technician from Portland, Oregon. He was a co-founder of Tektronix, Inc. Background Murdock was born in Portland, Oregon, on August 15, 1917. Upon graduating from Franklin High School, Murdock’s father offered him a choice of financing for college, or for a business. Murdock opened "Murdock Radio and Appliance Company" in 1935 in southeast Portland, where, in 1936, Howard Vollum began working as a radio technician in the back of the shop. Murdock served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. Tektronix, Inc. In 1946– headquartered a mere six blocks from his earliest family home –Murdock formed Tektronix, Inc. as an equal partnership with Vollum, fellow former "coastie" Miles Tippery, and accountant Glenn McDowell. Tektronix, Inc. quickly became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of oscilloscopes, as well as other electronic devices. The fou ...
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Howard Vollum
Charles Howard Vollum (May 31, 1913 – February 5, 1986) was an American electronics engineer, businessman, and philanthropist in Oregon, United States. He was the co-founder of Tektronix Corporation, and endowed the Vollum Institute. Background Howard Vollum was born on May 31, 1913, in Portland, Oregon. He attended Portland's Catholic Columbia University (now University of Portland) from 1931 to 1933, then transferred to Reed College in 1934, where, in 1936, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Physics. His undergraduate thesis was the creation of a new kind of cathode-ray oscilloscope. Upon graduation from college, he spent several years servicing and installing radios and experimenting with electronic devices. From 1940 to 1941 he was Supervisor of the Radio Project, National Youth Administration, in Portland. Vollum served as an officer in the United States Army Signal Corps (United States Army), Signal Corps from 1942 to 1946, serving in England and New Jersey on art ...
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Triggered Sweep Controls On Tektronix 465 Oscilloscope
Triggered may refer to: * ''Triggered'' (book), a 2019 non-fiction book by Donald Trump Jr. * ''Triggered'' (film), a 2020 South African action-horror film * " Triggered (Freestyle)", a song by American singer Jhené Aiko * Remotely triggered earthquakes See also * Trigger (other) Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...
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Heathkit Oscilloscope OM-2
Heathkit is the brand name of kits and other electronic products produced and marketed by the Heath Company. The products over the decades have included electronic test equipment, high fidelity home audio equipment, television receivers, amateur radio equipment, robots, electronic ignition conversion modules for early model cars with point style ignitions, and the influential Heath H-8, H-89, and H-11 hobbyist computers, which were sold in kit form for assembly by the purchaser. Heathkit manufactured electronic kits from 1947 until 1992. After closing that business, the Heath Company continued with its products for education, and motion-sensor lighting controls. The lighting control business was sold around 2000. The company announced in 2011 that they were reentering the kit business after a 20-year hiatus but then filed for bankruptcy in 2012,Swindwa, Julie"Disassembly complete: Heathkit is no more" ''The Herald-Palladium'', 19 July 2012 and under new ownership began restruc ...
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Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Th ...
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Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization. In addition, it is one of the largest providers of intelligence services. Raytheon Technologies manufactures aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity, guided missiles, air defense systems, satellites, and drones. The company is also a large military contractor, getting a significant portion of its revenue from the U.S. government. The company is the result of the merger of equals between the aerospace subsidiaries of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and the Raytheon Company, which was completed on April 3, 2020. Before the merger, UTC spun off its non-aerospace subsidiaries Otis Elevator Company and Carrier Corporation. UTC is the nominal survivor of the merger but it changed its name to Raytheon Technologies ...
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General Radio
General Radio Company (later, GenRad) was a broad-line manufacturer of electronic test equipment in Massachusetts, U.S. from 1915 to 2001. History On June 14, 1915, Melville Eastham and a small group of investors started General Radio Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few blocks northwest of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During the 1950s, the company moved to West Concord, Massachusetts, where it became a major player in the automatic test equipment (ATE) business, manufacturing a line of testers for assembled printed circuit boards. It also produced extensive lines of electrical component measuring equipment, sound and vibration measurement and RLC standards. In 1975, the company name was changed to GenRad. In 1991, a startup QuadTech was founded as spinoff of GenRad's Instrumentation division and Precision Product lines, as well as the rights to use the "GenRad" and "General Radio" names. In 2000, IET Labs acquired from QuadTech the GenRad RLC standards, imp ...
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