Oscilloscope
Osciloscopio
- Date
- 1897-1931 · confidence medium
- Place
- General Radio, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- Credited to
- Karl Ferdinand Braun (tube oscillograph, 1897); Vladimir Zworykin (sealed high-vacuum tube, 1931); General Radio (first commercial instrument)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
From Braun's tube oscillograph to Zworykin's stable sealed tube, the oscilloscope became the instrument that traces varying voltages over time, indispensable in any electronics laboratory.
Blondel's electromechanical oscillograph (1893) and Zenneck's improvements (1899) are intermediate precursors; after Zworykin's sealed tube, General Radio built the first oscilloscope usable outside the laboratory.
What it led to
- Modern laboratory electronic instrumentation
- Diagnosis and repair of electronic equipment