French Inventions (answers)

"Chris" wrote in message
...

Ethnically he was a Scot and always will be. whether he was in Canada or
Scotland he was still a subject of the Crown until he became an American
citizen. Even then he was still a Scot. That heritage is important. Try
being in Edinburgh in the summer where there seem to be millions of N
Americans trying to find their Scottish roots, all wearing silly tartan
hats.

Bell wasn't in Canada or Scotland. He did move to Canada from Scotland in
1870, but he moved to the US the following year. His work on the telephone
took place in Boston.

Greg Farris wrote:

BONUS QUESTION:
What nationality can legitimately claim Radio broadcasting, the
Internal Combustion Engine, and the Telephone? (ITALY)

These inventions were in development by many people, and some may have
built on ideas from others.

The light bulb is a good example. Edison is credited by many, but in
looking at the issue in more detail, you will find that he bought a
patent from a Canadian inventor, who had the essential idea, and was
perhaps 90 percent of the way to a practical product. Edison then
perfected the filament and gas in the container. So who was the inventor?
The one with the original idea, or the one who finally made a saleable
product?

What Edison excelled at, was making practical use of his inventions, and
in marketing.

The radio is another example. A number of people were working on various
designs, and Nicola Tesla is the one who holds the first patent for a
tuneable circuit, which he used to wirelessly transmit information from
one place to another in expositions. Tesla was not good at marketing his
inventions, unlike Edison, or Marconi, so even though he has claim to the
technology, he really didn't do anything practical with it.

Since the question about radio was related to "broadcasting", the credit
generally goes to Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian, who did much of his
experimental work near Kitty Hawk. (Had to get an oblique reference to
aviation in my post) While Marconi believed code was transmitted through
ether, and marketed point-to-point communication, Fessenden understood
radio waves, and developed the first transmitter for voice. He made the
first "broadcast", using his designs, and intended for more than one
receiver, in 1906.

http://www.radiocom.net/Fessenden/

"James Robinson" wrote in message
. ..
Greg Farris wrote:

BONUS QUESTION:
What nationality can legitimately claim Radio broadcasting, the
Internal Combustion Engine, and the Telephone? (ITALY)

These inventions were in development by many people, and some may have
built on ideas from others.

The light bulb is a good example. Edison is credited by many, but in
looking at the issue in more detail, you will find that he bought a
patent from a Canadian inventor, who had the essential idea, and was
perhaps 90 percent of the way to a practical product. Edison then
perfected the filament and gas in the container. So who was the inventor?
The one with the original idea, or the one who finally made a saleable
product?


Some sources indicate that Nernst got his light bulb into production before
Edison.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

The light bulb is a good example. Edison is credited by many, but in
looking at the issue in more detail, you will find that he bought a
patent from a Canadian inventor, who had the essential idea, and was
perhaps 90 percent of the way to a practical product. Edison then
perfected the filament and gas in the container. So who was the inventor?


"If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants."

(Isaac Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke, 1676)

Stefan

While Marconi believed code was transmitted through
ether, and marketed point-to-point communication, Fessenden understood
radio waves, and developed the first transmitter for voice.

Not so, Marconi fully understood the significance of waves
"When Heinrich Hertz, who discovered wireless waves, died in 1894, Righi
wrote an obituary that fired Marconi with the idea of deploying these waves
for 'wire-less' telegraphy. "So elementary, so simple in logic," he said
later. "

http://www.marconicalling.com/marconioverview/life.html

Greg Farris writes:

RADIOACTIVITY (discovery of)
FALSE: The word "radioactivité" comes from Marie Curie, whose pioneering
work is of paramount importance, but of course it is subsequent to the
breakthrough discovery of X- Rays, by the German Roentgen in 1895.

This is a misconception. Radioactivity is nuclear decay. The
production of x-rays has nothing to do with radioactive decay.
Roentgen discovered the properties of a specific range of frequencies
of electromagnetic radiation, but this is completely unrelated to the
phenomenon of nuclear decay, which produces radioactivity (emission of
subatomic particles and certain frequencies of electromagnetic
radiation associated with the spontaneous reconfiguration or mutation
of atomic nuclei).

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message

This is a misconception. Radioactivity is nuclear decay. The
production of x-rays has nothing to do with radioactive decay.

Do you have documentable credibility in this area, or is this yet another
area of speculation, based upon your nuclear powered flight simulator?

"John Gaquin" wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message

This is a misconception. Radioactivity is nuclear decay. The
production of x-rays has nothing to do with radioactive decay.

Do you have documentable credibility in this area, or is this yet
another area of speculation, based upon your nuclear powered flight
simulator?

Mxsmanic is essentially correct.

Jim Logajan wrote:
"John Gaquin" wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
This is a misconception. Radioactivity is nuclear decay. The
production of x-rays has nothing to do with radioactive decay.
Do you have documentable credibility in this area, or is this yet
another area of speculation, based upon your nuclear powered flight
simulator?

Mxsmanic is essentially correct.

Unfortunate, but true. Maybe a lucky guess?

In article ,
says...


"John Gaquin" wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message

This is a misconception. Radioactivity is nuclear decay. The
production of x-rays has nothing to do with radioactive decay.



Mxsmanic is essentially correct.

Well taken - nevertheless, the discovery made by Roentgen is
universally accepted as one of the initial, pioneering steps in the
discovery of radioactivity.

One claim the French can make without contest is the discovery of the
n-ray :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_ray