Like many other inventions or discoveries that were ahead of their time-such as the laser-for a number of years, the Edison effect was “a solution in search of a problem.”
Since Edison was more concerned with producing direct current in generators, and not household electric lamps, he essentially ignored this aspect of his discovery. A diode converts electricity that alternates in direction (alternating current) to electricity that flows in the same direction (direct current). Therefore, the discovery was not recognized for its true significance. Edison offered no explanation for the effect.Įdison had, in fact, invented the first vacuum tube, which was later termed the diode at that time there was no use for this device. He discovered that electricity would flow from the positive side of the filament to the plate, but not from the negative side to the plate. While studying why the inner glass surface of light bulbs blackened, Edison inserted a metal plate near the filament of one of his light bulbs. The most important discovery leading to the invention of the vacuum tube was the Edison effect by Thomas Alva Edison in 1884. The most widely used vacuum tubes are cathode-ray tubes (television picture tubes). When the tube is in operation, currents of electricity are made to travel through it. The vacuum tube is a sealed tube or container from which almost all the air has been pumped out, thus creating a near vacuum. Sir John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), an English physicistĪnd professor of electrical engineering Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), an American inventor Lee de Forest (1873-1961), an American scientist and inventor Arthur Wehnelt (1871-1944), a German inventor A Solution in Search of a Problem The invention: A sealed glass tube from which air and gas have been removed to permit electrons to move more freely, the vacuum tube was the heart of electronic systems until it was displaced by transistors.
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