HALL OF FAME / inventor profile

Edwin Howard Armstrong
Born Dec 18 1890 - Died Feb 1 1954

Method of Receiving High-Frequency Oscillations
Radio
Patent Number(s) 1,342,885

Inducted 1980


His crowning achievement (1933) was the invention of wide-band frequency modulation, now known as FM radio.

Invention Impact

The inventions of engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong were so important that to this day every radio or television set makes use of one or more of his developments.

Inventor Bio

Born in New York City, Armstrong earned a degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1913. While in college, he invented the regenerative circuit, which was the first amplifying receiver and the first reliable continuous-wave transmitter. In 1918, he invented the superheterodyne circuit, a highly selective means of receiving, converting, and greatly amplifying very weak, high-frequency electromagnetic waves. Independently wealthy on royalties from his inventions, he neither drew a salary nor taught many classes as professor of electrical engineering of Columbia University.

© 2002 National Inventors Hall of Fame