August Uno Lamm (May 22, 1904 – June 1, 1989) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

electrical engineer and inventor. He was sometimes called "The Father of

High Voltage Direct Current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...

" power transmission. During his career, Lamm obtained 150 patents. In 1980 the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE) developed the Uno Lamm High Voltage Direct Current Award for contributions to the field of high voltage electrical engineering.

Biography

Lamm was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden to Fredrik Hjalmar Lamm and Aino Maria Lovisa Wilhelmina Wijkander. He obtained his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolog ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1927. After a short time in compulsory military service he joined

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' (English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås as ...

, the Swedish electrical conglomerate, initially working in their training program. In 1929 he was made manager of the project to develop a high-voltage

mercury arc valve A mercury-arc valve or mercury-vapor rectifier or (UK) mercury-arc rectifier is a type of electrical rectifier used for converting high-voltage or high-current alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC). It is a type of cold cathode gas-fil ...

. Valves at the time operated only up to about 2500 volts, and if higher-voltage valves were available they could have practical use in the transmission of large quantities of electric energy over long distances.William R. Goul
"August Uno Lamm"
in ''Memorial Tributes, Volume 5, 1992'', National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved August 24, 2005 In 1943 Lamm obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the Royal Institute of Technology, studying part-time while developing the mercury arc valve. After twenty years or so of development work to produce a valve with the necessary rating for

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curren ...

transmission, ASEA obtained a contract for the

HVDC Gotland The HVDC Gotland, on the Swedish east coast, was the first fully commercial static plant for high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) in the world. Gotland 1 The first HVDC Gotland link (Gotland 1) went into service in 1954. It could tr ...

project in 1950, which when completed in 1955 became the first modern fully commercial HVDC system. In 1955 Lamm was made head of the ASEA project to develop Sweden's first commercial

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

s. In 1961 Lamm moved to California and was appointed by ASEA in 1961 to work with

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

on the

Pacific DC Intertie The Pacific DC Intertie (also called Path 65) is an electric power transmission line that transmits electricity from the Pacific Northwest to the Los Angeles area using HVDC, high voltage direct current (HVDC). The line capacity is 3.1 gigawatt ...

project, which combined AC and HVDC transmission systems to move electrical energy from the

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

generators of the Pacific Northwest to consumers in southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. By the end of 1964 Lamm had moved to southern California. From 1967 to 1988 he served as an

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

director at large.

Legacy

During his career Lamm wrote approximately 80 technical papers. He also wrote extensively on social issues in articles published in Swedish newspapers and magazines, often critical of the Swedish government. Lamm was described as a staunch anti-Communist who admired some of the positive features of the United States economy. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, while required to travel to

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Germany to carry out ASEA business, Lamm was criticized by his supervisors for his anti-Nazi attitude, such as refusing to give the Nazi Party salute at patent hearings.Katherine Wollard "Uno Lamm: inventor and activist", ''IEEE Spectrum'', March 1988 Lamm's Ph.D. thesis was titled "The Transductor, DC Pre-Saturated Reactor". While describing this device at a lecture in the United States he also mentioned that the same principle could be applied to resistors, making a

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

. This was the name later applied to the solid-state amplifier.

Personal life

Lamm was married twice and had four children. He died on June 1, 1989, aged 85, in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucalyp ...

Awards

Lamm's achievements won him a number of professional awards: *Gold Medal of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which prom ...

in 1939 *

Polhem Prize The Polhem Prize (''Polhemspriset'') is a Swedish award for a high-level technological innovation or an ingenious solution to a technical problem. The innovation must be available and shown competitive on the open market. The prize is awarded by Sw ...

Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers Engineers of Sweden, ''Sveriges ingenjörer'', is a trade union and professional association in Sweden, gathering 160,000 members. It was created in 2007 by merger of ''Sveriges Civilingenjörsförbund'', which also used the name ''Swedish Ass ...

in 1940 * Arnberg Award of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Science The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

in 1947 *Gold Medal of the Swedish Society of Inventors in 1961 *John Ericsson Award from the American Society of Swedish Engineers in 1962 *

IEEE Lamme Medal The initially called AIEE Lamme Medal was established in 1924 by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to recognize members for 'meritorious achievement in the development of electrical apparatus or machinery.' The medal was named i ...

from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) in 1965. *

Howard N. Potts Medal The Howard N. Potts Medal was one of The Franklin Institute Awards for science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Howard N. Potts. The first Howard N. Potts Medal was awarded in ...

from the Franklin Institute in 1981

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamm, Uno 1904 births 1989 deaths People from Gothenburg KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni Swedish electrical engineers 20th-century Swedish inventors Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Howard N. Potts Medal recipients IEEE Lamme Medal recipients Swedish emigrants to the United States