Oskar Heil

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Oskar Heil (1908, in Langwieden/Rhineland-Palatinate – 1994) was a German electrical engineer and inventor. He studied physics, chemistry, mathematics, and music at the Georg-August University of Göttingen and was awarded his PhD in 1933, for his work on molecular spectroscopy.

Figures from Heil's British patent of 1935. The insulated gates are shown as reference number 6, with connection terminals 7, 7', and 7"
Figures from Heil's British patent of 1935. The insulated gates are shown as reference number 6, with connection terminals 7, 7', and 7"

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[edit] Personal life

Oskar Heil met Agnesa Arsenjewa (1901-1991), a promising young Russian physicist who also earned her PhD from the Georg-August University of Göttingen. They married in Leningrad, Soviet Union, (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) in 1934. During a trip to Italy, the couple wrote a famous paper in Bormio, Italy regarding the basic principle of klystron tube. This paper was published in Germany in 1935. Subsequently, Agnesa returned to the Soviet Union and was not allowed to come out such that the couple was effectively separated. During the Second World War, Oskar Heil was working in Germany. After the war, Oskar Heil went to work in the United States. Agnesa remained in the Soviet Union until she passed away in 1991. Oskar Heil died in 1994. [1]

[edit] Microwave vacuum tube

Oskar Heil worked on microwave vacuum tubes in Germany during the Second World War. As discussed above, he and his wife wrote a famous paper in 1935. This paper continues to be cited in the 21st century.

[edit] Field-effect transistor

Heil is sometimes mentioned as an inventor of an early transistor-like device (see also History of the transistor), based on several patents that were issued to him.[2][3]

JFETS: The New Frontier states:

"Field-effect transistors (FETs) have been around for a long time; in fact, they were invented, at least theoretically, before the bipolar transistors. The basic principle of the FET has been known since J.E. Lilienfeld’s US patent from 1930 [the patent[4] was first filed on 22.10.1925 Ed.], and Oscar Heil described the possibility of controlling the resistance in a semiconducting material with an electric field in a British patent in 1935."

[edit] Air Motion Transformer

Main article: Air Motion Transformer

He also invented the "Heil air motion transformer" audio speaker technology [5] made famous by the AMT-1A speakers of the mid 1970s. A cache of the recently-expired-domain page of ESS labs [6] says:

The Heil air-motion transformer is the revolutionary midrange-tweeter that, since 1973, has distinguished ESS loudspeakers from all other speakers in the world. Its principle is simple, yet provides results superior to any other sonic transducer available today.
The Heil diaphragm, made of soft, quiet mylar to reduce background noise, is bonded with conductive aluminum strips. It is equivalent in surface area to a conventional cone type eight inch midrange driver, but is accordion-folded down to a compact one-inch band for better point source dispersion. The low mass diaphragm is suspended in a massive magnet structure concentrating an intense magnetic field around the diaphragm.
When a signal passes through the aluminum strips, the bellows-like motion of the folded "pleats" squeezes air out five times faster than the air motion of a conventional cone driver. The virtual "instant acceleration" provides high definition, crisp transients, and overall spaciousness with superb dynamic range. This type of performance distinguishes the heil from all other transducers.
The Heil air-motion transformer is recognized by the audio industry as the most significant loud-speaker breakthrough of the last half-century and is licensed exclusively to ESS. Once you've heard it, you'll agree that the ESS Heil air-motion transformer indeed delivers "sound as clear as light".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thumm, Manfred (2006), “Historical German Contributions to Physics and Applications of Electromagnetic Oscillations and Waves”, History of Wireless (John Wiley & Sons): 340-343, ISBN 0471783013, <http://books.google.com/books?id=NBLEAA6QKYkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=history+of+wireless&sig=f8dOSmjiE_jMdebCoMG3cKnHi-c#PPA341,M1>  (A photo of Oskar Heil together with his wife can be found on p. 341.)
  2. ^ GB patent 439457 Oskar Heil: "Improvements in or relating to electrical amplifiers and other control arrangements and devices" first filed in Germany March 2, 1934
  3. ^ Robert G. Arns, "The other transistor: early history of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor," Engineering Science and Education Journal, October 1998.
  4. ^ US patent 1745175 "Method and apparatus for controlling electric current" first filed in Canada on 22.10.1925, describing a device similar to a MESFET
  5. ^ "Heil air motion transformer" audio speaker technology
  6. ^ "Heil air motion transformer" ESS labs page
  • Agnes Arsenjewa, Über den Einfluß des Röntgenlichtes auf die Absorptionsspektra der Alkalihalogenidphosphore, PhD thesis, 1929.
  • Oskar Heil, Auslöschung und Überführung von Resonanzserienspektren ins Bandenspektrum durch Gaszusatz, PhD thesis, 1932.
  • A. Arsenjewa-Heil and O. Heil, Eine neue Methode zur Erzeugung kurzer, ungedämpfter, elektromagnetischer Wellen großer Intensität, Zeitschrift fur Physik, Vol. 95, Nos. 11-12 (November 1935), pp. 752-762.

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