Reginald Fessenden

Reginald Fessenden was a Canadian scientist and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in radio and sonar. He was born in East Bolton, Quebec, on October 6, 1866, to Elisha Joseph Fessenden, an Anglican minister, and Clementina Trenholme Fessenden. He had a limited formal education, but he developed a love for reading and writing poetry. He published his first poem, The Prince's Lodge, in 1838, when he was 17 years old. He wrote over 30 poems in his lifetime, mostly on themes of nature, patriotism, and religion. He also won a poetry contest at the Nova Scotia Industrial Exhibition in 1854. Fessenden's most important contribution was his discovery of how to transmit and receive continuous waves by radio, which enabled the transmission of speech and music. He also invented the method of amplitude modulation (AM), which allowed multiple signals to be transmitted on the same frequency. He made the first radio transmission of speech in 1900, and the first two-way transatlantic radio communication in 1906. He also broadcast the first radio program of music and voice on Christmas Eve in 1906, although this claim is disputed by some historians. He received hundreds of patents for his inventions in various fields, such as radio, sonar, television, turboelectric drive, and microfilm. ¹ Fessenden worked for several institutions and companies, such as the Edison Machine Works, the Westinghouse Electric Company, the University of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Weather Bureau, the National Electric Signaling Company, and the Submarine Signal Company. He also founded his own company, the Fessenden Wireless Company, which later became the International Radio Telegraph Company. He had many disputes and lawsuits with his employers and competitors over his patents and royalties. He also faced financial difficulties and health problems in his later years. He died of a stroke in Bermuda on July 22, 1932, at the age of 65. He is widely regarded as a pioneer and a visionary in the field of radio and sonar. ¹