Frederick Bedell

Frederick Bedell (born April 12, 1868 in Brooklyn , New York , † May 3, 1958 in Pasadena , California ) was an American physicist.

Life

Bedell studied Classical Physics at Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut) until 1890 . In 1892 Bedell received his doctorate under Edward Leamington Nichols in the newly created faculty of physics at Cornell University in Ithaca , New York ( USA ). After graduation, he stayed at Cornell and became Professor of Applied Electricity in the Physics Department . Bedell stayed at Cornell University until his retirement.

Bedell Was since the founding of the Physical Review by Edward Leamington Nichols and Ernest Merritt (1865-1948) in 1892 for 30 years on the editorial board, the last 10 as its director. From 1914 to 1917 he was manager and from 1917 to 1918 Vice President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), which later became the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) through a merger .

plant

His most important contribution to electrical engineering was investigations into alternating current and its theoretical underpinning. The j , which is still used today for the phase position of the alternating current , was introduced by Bedell in 1892.

Together with Albert Cushing Crehore he wrote the standard work Alternating Currents (alternating current). He summarized his research results in the book Principles of the Transformer published in 1896 and in the work Direct and Alternating Current Testing published in 1909 (tests with direct and alternating current).

The use of airplanes during World War I led to a shift in Bedell's research focus and resulted in a systematic review of the physics of flight.

Bedell invented a stationary hearing aid based on bone conduction that introduced sound into the skull via the teeth by simply squeezing an extension of the device between the upper and lower jaw. Numerous similar devices have been patented again and again since 1880, but it was only through the frequency response converter described by Bedell that speech could be transmitted almost distortion-free and thus easily understandable. It enabled deaf people not only to listen to the radio, but also to transcribe dictaphone recordings, among other things .

literature

• James T. White: The National cyclopaedia of American biography: being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and molding the thought of the present time. : Volume 51. University Microfilms, An Arbor, Mich., 1969, p. 462.
• Who's Who in America: a biographical dictionary of notable living men and women. : Volume 31 (1960-1961). Marquis Who's Who, Chicago, Ill., 1960, p. 200.

Web links

• Frederick Bedell in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Cornell University obituary. (PDF; 232 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frederick Bedell, Albert Cushing Crehore: Alternating Currents . An analytical and graphical treatment for students and engineers. 1st edition. The WJ Johnston Co., 1893 ( archive.org ).
2. ^ Frederick Bedell: The Principles of the Transformer . 1st edition. The MacMillian Company, 1896 ( archive.org ).
3. ^ Frederick Bedell, Clarence Albert Pierce: Direct and Alternating Current Testing. An analytical and graphical treatment for students and engineers . 1st edition. D. van Nostrand Company, New York 1909 ( archive.org ).
4. ↑ Frederick Bedell, Apparatus for Bone Audition, filed February 12, 1931, issued January 8, 1938. US Patent 1986955 online) .
5. ^ Henry G. Fiske, Dental Attachment for Telephones, filed November 4, 1979, issued June 1, 1880. US Patent 228254, uspto.gov
6. ^ "Frederick Bedell, ... has won his long-drawn out legal battle against the Dictograph Products Co., Inc. for unpaid royalties and patent rights for his bone-conduction aid to hearing ...". The DeRuyter Gleaner, Vol.60 No16., January 20, 1938. fultonhistory.com (PDF; 1.03 MB)