History of electronic engineering
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of electronic engineering is
a long one. Chambers Twentieth
Century Dictionary (1972) defines electronics as "The science and technology of the
conduction of electricity in a vacuum, a gas, or a semiconductor, and devices based
thereon".
Electronic
engineering as
a profession sprang from technological improvements
in the telegraph industry during the late 19th
century and in the radio and telephone industries during the early 20th century.
People
gravitated to radio, attracted by the technical fascination it inspired, first
in receiving and then in transmitting. Many who went into broadcasting in the
1920s had become "amateurs" in the period before World War I.
The modern
discipline of electronic engineering was to a large extent born out of
telephone-, radio-, and television-equipment development and the large amount of
electronic-systems development during World War II of radar, sonar, communication systems, and advanced munitions and
weapon systems. In the interwar years, the subject was known as radio engineering. The word electronics began to be used in the 1940s. In the late
1950s the term electronic
engineering started to emerge
The electronic
laboratories (Bell Labs in the United States for
instance) created and subsidized by large corporations in the industries of
radio, television, and telephone equipment, began churning out a series of
electronic advances. In 1948 came the transistor and in 1960 the integrated
circuit, which would
revolutionize the electronic industry. In the UK, the subject of
electronic engineering became distinct from electrical
engineering as
a university-degree subject around 1960. (Before
this time, students of electronics and related subjects like radio and
telecommunications had to enroll in the electrical
engineering department
of the university as no university had departments of electronics.
Electrical
engineering was the nearest subject with which electronic engineering could be
aligned, although the similarities in subjects covered (except mathematics and
electromagnetism) lasted only for the first year of three-year courses.)
Electronic
engineering (even before it acquired the name) facilitated the development of
many technologies including wireless telegraphy, radio, television, radar, computers and microprocessors.
Some of the
devices which would enable wireless
telegraphy were invented
before 1900. These include the spark-gap
transmitter and
the coherer with early demonstrations and published findings
by David Edward
Hughes (1880) and Heinrich Rudolf
Hertz (1887 to
1890) and further additions to the field by Édouard
Branly, Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge, Jagadish Chandra Bose, and Ferdinand Braun. In 1896, Guglielmo
Marconi went on to develop a practical and widely used radio
system.
In 1904, John Ambrose
Fleming, the first
professor of electrical Engineering at University College London, invented the
first radio tube, the diode. Then, in 1906, Robert von Lieben and Lee De Forest independently developed the amplifier tube, called the triode. Electronics is often considered to have begun with the
invention of the triode. Within 10 years, the device was used in radio transmitters and receivers as well as systems for long distance telephone calls.
The invention
of the triode amplifier, generator, and detector made audio communication by
radio practical. (Reginald
Fessenden's 1906
transmissions used an electro mechanical alternator.) In 1912, Edwin H.
Armstrong invented
the regenerative
feedback amplifier and oscillator; he also invented the superheterodyne
radio receiver and could be considered the father of modern radio.
The first known
radio news program was broadcast 31 August 1920 by station 8MK, the unlicensed
predecessor of WWJ (AM) in Detroit, Michigan. Regular wireless broadcasts for
entertainment commenced in 1922 from the Marconi
Research Centre at Writtle near Chelmsford, England. The station was known as 2MT and was followed by 2LO, broadcasting from Strand, London.
While some
early radios used some type of amplification through electric current or
battery, through the mid-1920s the most common type of receiver was the crystal set. In the 1920s, amplifying vacuum tubes revolutionized
both radio receivers and transmitters.
Vacuum tubes
remained the preferred amplifying device for 40 years, until researchers
working for William Shockley at Bell Labs invented the transistor in 1947. In the following years, transistors made
small portable radios, or transistor radios, possible as well as allowing more
powerful mainframe
computers to be
built. Transistors were smaller and required lower voltages than vacuum tubes to work.
Before the
invention of the integrated
circuit in 1959,
electronic circuits were constructed from discrete components that could be
manipulated by hand. These non-integrated circuits consumed much space
and power, were prone to failure and were
limited in speed although they are still common in simple applications. By
contrast, integrated
circuits packed a
large number — often millions — of tiny electrical components, mainly transistors, into a small chip around the size of a coin.
Television
In 1928 Philo Farnsworth made the first public demonstration of a
purely electronic
television. During the 1930s several countries began
broadcasting, and after World War II it spread to millions of receivers, eventually
worldwide. Ever since then, electronics have been fully present in television
devices.
Modern
televisions and video displays have evolved from bulky electron tube technology
to use more compact devices, such as plasma and Liquid-crystal
displays. The trend is
for even lower power devices such as the organic
light-emitting diode displays, and it is most likely to replace the LCD
and plasma technologies.
Radar and radio location
During World War II many efforts were expended in the electronic
location of enemy targets and aircraft. These included radio beam guidance of
bombers, electronic counter measures, early radar systems etc. During this time very little if any
effort was expended on consumer electronics developments.
Computers
A computer is a programmable machine that receives input,
stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format.
Although
mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human
history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century
(1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as
several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).[1] Modern computers based on
integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the
early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space.[2] Simple computers are
small enough to fit into small pocket devices, and can be powered by a small
battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information
Age and are what most people think of as "computers". However, the
embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft
and from toys to industrial robots are the most numerous.
The ability to
store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers
extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing
thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a
certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same
tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore, computers ranging from a
netbook to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational
tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.
Microprocessors
microprocessor at Intel and thus ignited the development of the personal
computer. Hoff's invention was part of an order by a Japanese company for a
desktop programmable electronic calculator, which Hoff wanted to build as
cheaply as possible. The first realization of the microprocessor was the Intel 4004, a 4-bit processor, in 1969, but only in 1973 did
the Intel 8080, an 8-bit processor, make the building
of the first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8800, possible. The first PC was announced to the general
public on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular
Electronics.
Many
electronics engineers today specialize in the development of programs for
microprocessor based electronic systems, known as embedded systems. Hybrid specializations such as Computer
Engineering have
emerged due to the detailed knowledge of the hardware that is required for
working on such systems. Software engineers typically do not study
microprocessors at the same level as computer and electronics engineers.
Engineers who exclusively carry out the role of programming embedded systems or
microprocessors are referred to as "embedded systems engineers", or "firmware engineers".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electronic_engineering
Further
Developments
Mainframe
computers were being installed in corporations in the 1960s and expanded in the
1970s and 1980s. These computers handled accounting, payroll and inventory and
later included computer aided design and the personal computer.
Internet
capability was added in the 1990s and by then, the productivity improvements
these devices created were obvious. Most
devices had been redesigned to incorporate electronic controls; they got
smaller, cheaper and faster.
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