John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945): The Birth of Electronics

Задание I. Следующие слова Вы должны выучить наизусть. Это поможет понять вам текст.

1. Valve – электрическая лампа;

2. current – электрический ток;

3. examine – изучать;

4. wizard – волшебник, маг;

5. application -применение;

6. kick – пинать;

7. appoint – назначать;

8. scientific adviser – научный руководитель;

9. experience -опыт;

10. thought – мысль;

11. pivotal – центральный, осевой;

12. insulate – изолировать;

13. aerial – антенна;

14. cantankerous – сварливый, придирчивый;

15. conversation – беседа, разговор;

16. to suite one’s purpose – отвечать требованиям;

17. to live to a ripe old age – дожить до глубокой старости;

18. retire – уходить в отставку на пенсию;

19. contribution – вклад;

20. speculate – размышлять, раздумывать.

Задание II. Прочитайте текст, найдите в нем следующую информацию и расскажите о ней по-английски.

1. Что описал Флеминг, как «внезапную, очень счастливую мысль».

2. Расскажите все, что вы узнали о семье Флеминга.

3. Опишите его школьные годы.

Задание III. Будьте готовы перевести любое предложение в тексте, если преподаватель попросит Вас об этом.

TEXT

You probably would not think of building a radio detector from a light bulb, but that is what Ambrose Fleming did in 1904. The result was what he called the "oscillation valve", now better known as the thermionic diode. It was only two years later when Lee de Forest added a third electrode to make the first primitive triode. These two classic inventions led to a fight between the two inventors, but they also led to the now-vast, worldwide industry we call electronics.

The story begins with that great American inventor, Thomas Edison. In 1883, he probed inside an incandescent light bulb, first with a wire and then with a metal plate. He found that if this electrode was connected to the positive end of the filament via a galvanometer then a current was detected. If it was connected to the negative end, no current flowed. A little later, using a separate battery in the plate or anode circuit, J. Elster and H. Geitel showed the unidirectional nature of the current flow.

This "Edison effect" was studied by many people over the following 20 years, particularly to examine thermionic emission. Fleming studied it "carefully" in 1883 and again in 1896, and he may have discussed it with Edison when he met "the Wizard" during his trip to the USA in 1884. Certainly, for 20 years it was a well known phenomenon before anyone thought of an important application for it.

Fleming's real invention was the use he found for the established Edison effect as a rectifier of high-frequency oscillations. Edison kicked himself when he realised the opportunity he had missed, even though he held what is now seen as the first patent in electronics - the effect used as a voltage indicator (1884).

Fleming's career, meanwhile, had progressed over those 20 years. In 1896 he experimented with methods of focusing cathode rays and three years later he was appointed scientific adviser to the Marconi's Wireless Tele­graph Company. In this role he specified equipment for the famous transatlantic signal transmission of 1901. He had also gained extensive experience of consultancy, to the National Telephone Company and the Ediswan Electric Light Company. With all this highly relevant experience he was in an ideal position from which to make his famous contribution to electronics.

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