William Eccles 704307 213683859 2008-05-20T11:56:09Z Plindenbaum 2796168 infobox {{Infobox Scientist |name = {{PAGENAME}} |box_width = |image =WilliamHenryEccles.jpeg |image_width =150px |caption = Physicist William Eccles |birth_date = [[August 23]] [[1875]] |birth_place = [[Barrow-in-Furness]], [[England]] |death_date = [[April 29]] [[1966]] |death_place = [[Oxford]] |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] |ethnicity = |field = [[physics]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[radio]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''William Henry Eccles''' ([[August 23]] [[1875]] - [[April 29]] [[1966]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[physicist]] and a pioneer in the development of radio communication. He was born in [[Barrow-in-Furness]], [[England]]. Following graduation from the [[Royal College of Science]], [[London]], in [[1898]], he became an assistant to [[Guglielmo Marconi]], the Italian radio entrepreneur. In [[1901]] he received his doctorate from the Royal College of Science. Eccles was an advocate of [[Oliver Heaviside]]'s theory that a conducting layer of the upper atmosphere could reflect radio waves around the curvature of the Earth, thus enabling their transmission over long distances. Originally known as the [[Kennelly-Heaviside layer]], this region of the Earth's atmosphere became known as the [[Ionosphere]]. In [[1912]] Eccles suggested that [[solar radiation]] was responsible for the observed differences in [[radio wave]] propagation during the day and night. He carried out experiments into atmospheric disturbances of radio waves and used wave detectors and amplifiers in his work. Eccles invented the term [[Diode]] to describe an evacuated glass tube containing two electrodes; an [[anode]] and a [[cathode]]. Following [[World War I]] Eccles' main interest was in electronic circuit development. In [[1919]] he worked in collaboration with [[F. W. Jordan]] to patent the [[Flip-flop (electronics)|flip-flop]] circuit, used in binary counters <ref>''Radio Review'' Dez 1919, pages 143 following.</ref>. Also in that year Eccles became vice-chairman of the [[Imperial Wireless Committee]]. He helped in the design of the first [[long wave]] radio station, and became involved in the early work of the British Broadcasting Company (later the [[BBC]]) following its establishment in [[1922]]. William Eccles was a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS). He was President of the [[Physical Society]] from [[1928]] to [[1930]], and President of the [[Institution of Electrical Engineers]] (IEE) in [[1926]]. He died in [[Oxford]]. ==Notes== <references/> [[Category:1875 births|Eccles, William]] [[Category:1966 deaths|Eccles, William]] [[Category:People from Barrow-in-Furness|Eccles, William]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society|Eccles, William]] [[Category:English physicists|Eccles, William]] [[Category:English inventors|Eccles, William]] [[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London|Eccles, William]] [[Category:British electrical engineers|Eccles, William]] [[Category:People from Cumbria|Eccles, William]] [[de:William Henry Eccles]]