ALEXANDERSON, ERNST F. W. ), engineer and inventor, born at Uppsala, Sweden, Jan. 25, 1878. He early exhibited a strong aptitude for mechanics. After graduat ing from the Royal Technical university in Stockholm, he passed a year at the Royal Institute of Technology at Berlin. In 19oI he went to the United States; in 1902 he entered the draughting department of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, two years later becoming a member of the engineering staff. During his 25 years with the General Electric Company he took out more than 200 patents, many of them significant in the ad vance of the electrical art. He has done valuable work in railway electrification and electric ship propulsion. His contributions are in the field of radio, and probably the best known of these is the Alexanderson high frequency alternator, which, in conjunc tion with the magnetic amplifier and multiple tuned antenna, has been extensively used in commercial long-wave trans-oceanic radio communication. His invention employing the high-power vacuum tube for relaying and modulation forms the basis of all broadcasting transmitters. The Alexanderson system of tuned radio frequency reception has made possible the modern selec tive receiver, thus solving the problem of interference between the numerous transmitting stations. This system is used in the best receiving sets to-day. He has also developed and demon strated a system of television and a system of broadcasting pictures by radio.
In 192o the Radio Corporation of America was formed at the request of the U.S. Government to exploit the Alexanderson sys tem of trans-oceanic radio telegraphy, which was used extensively during the World War. Alexanderson was lent by the General Electric Company to act as chief engineer of the new enterprise. Later, returning to his work at Schenectady, he was made chief consulting engineer of the Radio Corporation, while remaining a consulting engineer of the General Electric Company. He was at one time president of the Institute of Radio Engineers.