One City—Two Giants: Armstrong and Sarnoff: Part 1
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dsp HISTORY Harvey F. Silverman [ ] One City—Two Giants: Armstrong and Sarnoff: Part 1 EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Our guest in this column is Dr. Harvey F. Silverman. Dr. vation. An outgrowth of this passion is that of using his Silverman received his Ph.D. and Sc.M. degrees from Brown knowledge and engineering skills to develop intelligent University. He earned his B.S.E. and B.S. degrees from Trinity means for deterring the many furry and feathered creatures College in Hartford, Connecticut. He worked at IBM T.J. who very much like to share in the eating, although not the Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, planting and cultivating. So far, the critters are winning! between 1970 and 1980. During these ten years, he worked As our author mentions at the beginning of this article, in on a number of projects related to image processing methods 1969 he bought the book Man of High Fidelity, which was a applied to earth resources satellite data, analytical methods 1969 paperback version of a 1956 biography of Edwin for computer system performance, speech recognition, and Howard Armstrong. The book was so intriguing that the development of a real-time I/O system as the manager of Dr. Silverman borrowed an autobiography of David Sarnoff. the Speech Terminal Project. In 1980, he joined Brown This was the beginning of a journey where our author University as a professor of engineering. From 1991 to 1998, learned about these two inventors and how such two strong he was the dean of engineering at Brown University. Dr. characters and complex men spent more than 40 years in Silverman is a coauthor on more than 215 journal and confer- competition and race to inventions and pioneering. Our ence papers. Currently, he conducts research on detection of author has made it a habit to educate his students at Brown autism from infant cries, microphone arrays, acoustics, and on a weekly basis about history through Sarnoff and source-location estimation. Armstrong and the dynamics of inventions including patents, Dr. Silverman is an IEEE Life Fellow, was a member of the trade secrets, competition, restraint of competition, and poli- Executive Committee, Trustees at Trinity College from 2001 to tics. Dr. Silverman suggests this story to be an important part 2003, and a Charter Trustee at Trinity from 1994 to 2003. He of electrical engineering education. Of course, some people was nominated for the 1994 ComputerWorld Smithsonian have a different view of the two men and their stories, and Award and received the IEEE Centennial Medal Award in 1984. our author points this out in his article citing a 1956 letter In 1981, he received the IEEE ASSP Society Meritorious Service written by Lee de Forest. Award, and he received a number of awards at IBM for his Dear readers, Dr. Silverman is taking us on an intriguing jour- outstanding work on speech recognition and detection algo- ney in the complex lives of Armstrong and Sarnoff. In this col- rithms. At Brown, he supervised and graduated 26 doctoral umn, we publish Part 1 of the journey; in the next issue, we students, and currently he supervises three Ph.D. students. will publish the second and final part of this journey. Dr. Silverman has been an avid vegetable gardener for over 40 years and currently has about 6,000 square feet under culti- Ghassan AlRegib s an avid reader, crazy-gad- needed to learn more, so I borrowed a good idea for my sophomore electrical get-loving engineer, and copy (it had been given to an outstanding circuits students at Brown to hear their history enthusiast, I Radio Corporation of America (RCA) story, and thus of the beginning of the bought a US$1 paperback researcher by Sarnoff himself) of the electronics era through the history of when I was a graduate commissioned autobiography of David radio invention. Therefore, each Friday of Astudent in 1969 titled Man of High Sarnoff written by his cousin, Eugene a semester for about ten minutes each Fidelity, the 1969 paperback version of Lyons, published in 1966. It was clear week, I have been telling the story I will the 1956 biography of Edwin Howard that these two giants of their time had try to relate here. Armstrong by Lawrence Lessing. The lives that intermingled over more than The story is poignant; different story told within was so fascinating that I 40 years. I loaned out the paperback and authors (and original participants) have never had it returned—aside from this, I had widely different viewpoints, as the did little to learn more until about 20 men were strong characters and complex, Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSP.2011.942836 Date of publication: 1 November 2011 years ago, when I thought it would be a to say the least. 1053-5888/11/$26.00©2011IEEE IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE [125] NOVEMBER 2011 dsp HISTORY continued [ ] I shall try to tell it as someone quite became the movers of this new electrical abandoned by the great inventor. Edison inspired by many of the qualities of both industry with new opportunities in was not going to be a player in the elec- men and who has hopefully learned a motors, generators, power distribution, tronics field. little by seeing some instances in which telephony, and lighting so large as to turn In July 1900, two nine-year-olds of some compromising would have led to these electrical corporate giants into the vastly different backgrounds were living better outcomes. growth industry of their day. GE and in New York City. The older of the two, I do point out another wonderful AT&T started the two largest research Edwin Howard Armstrong (18 December source —Ken Burns produced a powerful laboratories for this new industry, while 1890) was born into a “genteel Victorian 2 h documentary called “Empire of the Westinghouse made advances using AC household” [7]. He was the son of John Air” about ten years ago. Also, would you ideas, based on advice and counsel of Armstrong, who worked for Oxford Press. believe that there is a new opinion on the Nikola Tesla. John ultimately rose to the position of story of FM radio expressed in a 2010 There were some physicists and the manager of the American branch and book by Gary L. Frost, Early FM Radio? engineers of this period who were fasci- was a trustee of the old North At a recent International Conference nated by the possibilities of wireless Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. His on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal transmission and electronic phenom- mother, Emily Smith Armstrong was a Processing (ICASSP), it became clear that ena. Perhaps Heinrich Hertz is a good graduate of Hunter College and had been the same situations faced by Armstrong, place to start when he, in 1888, demon- a public school teacher for ten years prior Sarnoff, and others in the early days of strated that wireless transmission would to marrying John Armstrong in 1888. the electronics industry still happen occur using a spark generator and a Edwin was the oldest of three, having two today. Trade secrets, patents, competition, “tuned” C-shaped loop that sparked younger sisters. At age nine, he con- restraint of competition, politics, and just across its open end across a room when tracted St. Vitus’ Dance, an early child- simple fate all coalesce to determine the hood disease now associated with winners and losers in our vast electronics IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE rheumatic fever. While St. Vitus’ Dance community just as they did back then. It normally ran its course in a few months, THAT THE CAREER OF ONE is for this reason that I suggest that the it was a full two years that Edwin story should be a part of an electrical OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL remained at home, schooled by his family engineer’s education. With this article, I MEN OF THE EARLY WIRELESS until his recovery. To get him “into the hope that a few more people will know INDUSTRY WAS DETERMINED sun,” [7] the family moved to Yonkers at some history and thus not be doomed to BY SUCH KARMA! this time to a large house with an attic in repeat it. which he could do his experiments. the spark was initiated by the generator. While he fully recovered, he was left with THE BEGINNING It took a few years, but this principle a lifelong “tic” in which he would “hitch The turn into the 20th century was was demonstrated further by Guglielmo his shoulder forward and twist his neck indeed a time for beginnings. There were Marconi in 1899, transmitting tele- and mouth whenever he was excited or no “electronics,” although the electrical graphic dots and dashes—a device that under stress” [7]. In 1904 and 1905, his age was well along. Morse’s telegraph in appeared to have some useful potential! father, returning from annual trips to 1839 had been the first practical inven- Soon thereafter, the Marconi Company London, brought Edwin two new books, tion that harnessed this new force—elec- in England was founded with the The Boys’ Book of Inventions and Stories tricity. A few decades later, electric American subsidiary, American Marconi, of Inventions. It was thus at age 14 that lighting followed, with electric motors coming a few years later. he decided to be an inventor—his path finding great utility soon thereafter. This During these years too, some experi- was set early. naturally allowed the development of ments of interest were carried out based The other nine-year old was David generators and then power systems for on the light bulb.