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David Edward Hughes (16 May 1830 – 22 January 1900), was a British-American inventor, practical experimenter, and professor of music known for his work on the printing telegraph and the microphone. He is generally considered to have been born in London but his family moved around that time so he may have been born in Corwen, Wales. His family moved to the U.S. while he was a child and he became a professor of music in Kentucky. In 1855 he patented a printing telegraph. He moved back to London in 1857 and further pursued experimentation and invention, coming up with an improved carbon microphone in 1878. In 1879 he identified what seemed to be a new phenomenon during his experiments: sparking in one device could be heard in a separate portable microphone apparatus he had set up. It was most probably radio transmissions but this was nine years before electromagnetic radiation was a proven concept and Hughes was convinced by others that his discovery was simply
electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk ...
.


Biography

Hughes was born in 1830, the son of a musically talented family hailing originally from
Y Bala Bala ( cy, Y Bala) is a town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies in the historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bala Lake ( cy, Llyn Tegid). According to the 2021 Census, Bala had a population ...
(the place of birth was either London or
Corwen Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llang ...
,
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnew ...
), and emigrated to the United States at the age of seven. At only six years old, he is known to have played the harp and
english concertina The English concertina is a member of the concertina family of free-reed musical instruments. Invented in England in 1829, it was the first instrument of what would become the concertina family. It is a fully chromatic instrument, having buttons ...
to a very high standard. At an early age, Hughes developed such musical ability that he is reported to have attracted attention of Herr Hast, an eminent German pianist in America, who procured for him a professorship of music at St. Joseph's College in
Bardstown, Kentucky Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 11,700 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County. Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a ...
. Hughes also worked as a practical experimenter, coming up with the printing telegraph in 1855. He moved back to London in 1857 to sell his invention, and worked on the transmission of sound over wires. He worked on microphones and the development of the induction balance (later used in metal detectors). Despite Hughes' facility as an experimenter, he had little mathematical training. He was a friend of
William Henry Preece Sir William Henry Preece (15 February 1834 – 6 November 1913) was a Welsh electrical engineer and inventor. Preece relied on experiments and physical reasoning in his life's work. Upon his retirement from the Post Office in 1899, Preece was ...
.


Printing telegraph

In 1855, Hughes designed a printing telegraph system. In less than two years a number of small telegraph companies, including Western Union in early stages of development, united to form one large corporation — Western Union Telegraph Company — to carry on the business of telegraphy on the Hughes system. In Europe, the Hughes Telegraph System became an international standard.


Microphone

In 1878 Hughes published his work on the effects of sound on the powered electronic sound pickups, called "transmitters", being developed for telephones. He showed that the change in resistance in carbon telephone transmitters was a result of the interaction between carbon parts instead of the commonly held theory that it was from the compression of the carbon itself. Based on its ability to pick up extremely weak sounds, Hughes referred to it as a "''microphone'' effect" (using a word coined by
Charles Wheatstone Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for dis ...
in 1827 for a mechanical sound amplifier). He conducted a simple demonstration of this principle of loose contact by laying an iron nail across two other nails connected to a battery and galvanometer. His paper was read before the Royal Society of London by Thomas Henry Huxley on May 8, 1878, and his new "microphone" was covered in the July 1 edition of ''Telegraph Journal and Electrical Review''. Hughes published his work during the time that Thomas Edison was working on a carbon telephone transmitter and Emile Berliner was working on a loose-contact transmitter. Both Hughes and Edison may have based their work on
Philipp Reis Johann Philipp Reis (; 7 January 1834 – 14 January 1874) was a self-taught German scientist and inventor. In 1861, he constructed the first ''make-and-break'' telephone, today called the Reis telephone. Early life and education Reis ...
' telephone work. Hughes would refine his microphone design using a series of "carbon pencils" stuck into blocks of carbon to better pick up sound but never patented his work, thinking it should be publicly available for development by others.


Probable pre-Hertz radio wave detection

Hughes seems to have come across the phenomenon of
radio waves Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...
nine years before they were proven to exist by
Heinrich Hertz Heinrich Rudolf Hertz ( ; ; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit o ...
in 1888. In 1879 while working in London Hughes discovered that a bad contact in a Bell telephone he was using in his experiments seemed to be sparking when he worked on a nearby induction balance.Rob Walters, Spread Spectrum: Hedy Lamarr and the Mobile Phone, Satin 2005, page 16''Prof. D. E. Hughes' Research in Wireless Telegraphy'',
The Electrician ''The Electrician'', published in London from 1861–1863 and 1878–1952, was the one of the earliest and foremost electrical engineering periodicals and scientific journals. It was published in two series: The original ''Electrician'' was publi ...

Volume 43
1899, pages 35
40-41
, 93, 143-144, 167, 217, 401, 403, 767
He developed an improved detector to pick up this unknown "extra current" based on his new microphone design and developed a way to interrupt his induction balance via a clockwork mechanism to produce a series of sparks. By trial and error experiments he eventually found he could pick up these "aerial waves" as he carried his telephone device down the street out to a range of . On February 20, 1880, he demonstrated his technology to representatives of the Royal Society including Thomas Henry Huxley, Sir George Gabriel Stokes, and William Spottiswoode, then president of the Society. Stokes was convinced the phenomenon Hughes was demonstrating was merely
electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk ...
, not a type of transmission through the air.R. M. Garratt, The Early History of Radio: From Faraday to Marconi, IET - 1994, page 28
/ref>Brian Winston, Media Technology and Society, Routledge - 2002, Chapter 4
/ref> Hughes was not a physicist and seems to have accepted Stokes observations and did not pursue the experiments any further. A connection with Hughes phenomenon and radio waves seems to show up 4 years after Heinrich Hertz's 1888 proof of their existence when Sir
William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...
mentioned in his 1892 Fortnightly Review article on ''Some Possibilities of Electricity'' that he had already participated in "wireless telegraphy" by an "identical means" to Hertz, a statement showing Crookes was probably another attendee at Hughes' demonstration. Hughes did not publish his findings but did finally mention them in an 1899 letter to ''
The Electrician ''The Electrician'', published in London from 1861–1863 and 1878–1952, was the one of the earliest and foremost electrical engineering periodicals and scientific journals. It was published in two series: The original ''Electrician'' was publi ...
'' magazine where he commented that Hertz's experiments were "''far more conclusive than mine''", and that Marconi's "''efforts at demonstration merit the success he has received''... nd''the world will be right in placing his name on the highest pinnacle, in relation to aerial electric telegraphy''". In the same publication
Elihu Thomson Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-born American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Early life He was bo ...
put forward a claim that Hughes was really the first to transmit radio. Hughes' discovery that his devices, based on a loose contact between a carbon rod and two carbon blocks as well as the metallic granules in a microphone that exhibited unusual properties in the presence of sparks generated in a nearby apparatus, may have anticipated later devices known as
coherer The coherer was a primitive form of radio signal detector used in the first radio receivers during the wireless telegraphy era at the beginning of the 20th century. Its use in radio was based on the 1890 findings of French physicist Édouard Bran ...
s.G.W.A Drummer, Electronic Inventions and Discoveries: Electronics from its earliest beginnings to the present day, Fourth Edition, CRC Press - 1997, page 95 The carbon rod and two carbon blocks, which he would refer to as a "coherer" in 1899 is also similar to devices known as crystal radio detectors.


The Royal Society

Hughes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1880, and won their Royal Medal in 1885. After Hughes' death the
Hughes Medal The Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with ...
was created by the Royal Society in his honour, to be awarded to other scientists "''in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications''". It included a gift of £1000 and was first awarded in 1902. A listing follows of Hughes Medal recipients:


Death

Hughes died in London and was buried in a family vault on the outer ring of the Circle of Lebanon at
Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
. His wife Anna Chadbourne Hughes was buried with him. In his will he left the greater part of his property (£473,034) to a trust fund, to be distributed between the four London hospitals, the
Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clo ...
, the
London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...
, the
King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by ...
and the
Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central Lon ...
. He also left bequests to the
Institute of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...
, the
Société Internationale des Electriciens Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...
, the Royal Society, the Académie des Sciences de l'Institut, and to the Royal Institution of Great Britain.


Awards

The honours Hughes received as an inventor included: # A Grand Gold Medal awarded at the Paris Exhibition, in 1867. # Royal Society gold Medal in 1885. # Society of Arts Albert Gold Medal in 1897. # Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, presented by Napoleon III for his inventions and discoveries in 1860, granting him the title "Commander of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour". He was also awarded: # The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy) # The
Order of the Iron Crown (Austria) The Imperial Order of the Iron Crown (german: Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone; it, Ordine imperiale della Corona ferrea) was one of the highest orders of merit in the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until 1918. It was founded in 1815 b ...
which carried with it the title of Baron (
Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
) # The
Order of Saint Anne The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Hol ...
(Russia) # The Noble Order of Saint Michael (Bavaria) # Commander of the Imperial Order of the Grand Cross of the Medjidie (Turkey) # Commander of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Carlos III (Spain) # The Grand Officer's Star # Collar of the Royal Order of Takovo (Serbia) # Officer of the
Order of Leopold (Belgium) The Order of Leopold ( nl, Leopoldsorde, french: Ordre de Léopold, ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King L ...


Patents

* * *


References


External links

* * *
davidedwardhughes.com - website with biographical information, images, newspaper clippings and other media
* Photo of Hughes Machine in use, 193

From The Register's "Geek's Guide" serie

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, David E. 1831 births 1900 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Clwyd Welsh emigrants to the United States Welsh male musicians Royal Medal winners Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Recipients of the Order of St. Anna Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Takovo Fellows of the Royal Society British inventors Telegraph engineers and inventors Radio pioneers European amateur radio operators Semiconductor physicists Experimental physicists People of the Victorian era 19th-century British male musicians