Walter Guyton Cady

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Guyton Cady (born December 10, 1874 in Providence , Rhode Island , † December 9, 1974 in East Providence ) was an American physicist and electrical engineer . He was a pioneer in the field of piezoelectricity and , in connection with this, he developed the first crystal oscillators and crystal filters .

Cady studied at Brown University until 1895, then from 1897 to 1900 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin and received his doctorate with a thesis on the energy of cathode rays . He then returned to the USA and taught physics from 1902 to 1946 at Wesleyan University . In addition to teaching, his main focus was on piezoelectricity, based on piezoelectric resonators and gas discharges . At first he experimented with Seignette salt , which, like quartz, has piezoelectric properties, but subsequently discovered that quartz is better suited as a resonator in oscillating circuits . In 1921 he developed the first crystal oscillator. In the following year publications followed dealing with quartz crystals as a source for the normal frequency .

In 1926, Cady was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He was President of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) in 1932 . During the Second World War he worked on piezoelectric transducers in radar technology . From 1951 until his retirement in 1963 he worked at Caltech . Cady held more than 50 patents.

Works

  • Walter Guyton Cady: Piezoelectricity: An introduction to the theory and applications of electromechanical phenomena in crystals . Dover Publications, 1964.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dick Reiman: Walter G. Cady and Piezoelectric Resonators, in Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past . In: Proceedings of the IEEE . Volume 80, No. 11 , 1992 ( online ).
  2. ^ Walter Guyton Cady: The piezoelectric resonator . In: Physical Review A . Volume 17, 1921, pp. 531-533 .
  3. ^ Walter Guyton Cady: The piezo-electric resonator . In: Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) . Volume 10, 1922, pp. 83-114 .
  4. ↑ Walter G. Cady . In: IEEE Global History Network . IEEE. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Cady, Walter Guyton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physicist and electrical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Providence , Rhode Island
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1974
Place of death East Providence