Herman Andrew Affel (August 4, 1893 – October 13, 1972) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
electrical engineer who invented the modern
coaxial cable.
Biography
He was born on August 4, 1893. He attended
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. He later married Bertha May Plummer.
From MIT he went to work at
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
. Among other projects he worked with
Lloyd Espenschied
Lloyd Espenschied (April 27, 1889 – June 21, 1986) was an American electrical engineer who invented the modern coaxial cable with Herman Andrew Affel.
Early life and education
Lloyd Espenschied was born in Baden, North St. Louis, Miss ...
on the characteristics of coaxial cable. Espenschied and Affel jointly applied for a patent on a wideband coaxial cable system of transmission, filed in 1929 and granted in 1934. The invention was disclosed in a prize-winning paper published in AIEE's Electrical Engineering in October 1934.
He died on October 13, 1972.
Legacy
In 2006 Affel was inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...
.
US Patents
* "Equalization of Carrier Transmissions," 1924, Herman A. Affel
* "Concentric Conducting System", 1929, Lloyd Espenschied and Herman A. Affel
External links
Kennelly and Affels 1916 paper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Affel, Herman
1893 births
1972 deaths
American electrical engineers
Scientists at Bell Labs
20th-century American engineers
20th-century American inventors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni