Edward Bennett was an American physicist, known from his early involvements in wireless transmission.
He obtained a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
(then known as the Western University of Pennsylvania) in 1897.Tapan Sarkar, ''History of Wireless'', p. 369. Wiley, 2006 The work was on
spark-gap transmitter
A spark-gap transmitter is an obsolete type of radio transmitter which generates radio waves by means of an electric spark."Radio Transmitters, Early" in Spark-gap transmitters were the first type of radio transmitter, and were the main type us ...
s, jointly with William Bradshaw and supervised by
Reginald Fessenden
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-born inventor, who did a majority of his work in the United States and also claimed U.S. citizenship through his American-born father. During his life he received hundre ...
. Working at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
, he achieved fame in the
history of broadcasting
It is generally recognized that the first radio transmission was made from a temporary station set up by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 on the Isle of Wight. This followed on from pioneering work in the field by a number of people including Alessa ...
from his work with Dr.
Earle M. Terry
Earle Melvin Terry (1869 - May 2, 1929) was an American physicist, known for contributions to wireless transmission systems and radio.
Biography
He was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, and obtained a B.A. (1902) from the University of Michigan ...
that led to the first transmissions of the
WHA (AM)
WHA (970 AM) is a non-commercial radio station, licensed since 1922 to the University of Wisconsin and located in Madison, Wisconsin. It serves as the flagship for the Wisconsin Public Radio talk-based "Ideas Network". WHA's programming is also ...
radio station (1914). He later headed the electrical engineering department.
Books
*''Introductory
electrodynamics
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions o ...
for engineers'' (
McGraw-Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referen ...