OUT OF THIN AIR

other the best it had to offer—a world that was still reeling from the shock and horror of the Great War—a war that was supposed to end all war. The climate of the early twenties was right for builders and dreamers.

In later life Dad would roll off his tongue 3 whole litany of heroes, all of them early inventors in radio: Edison, Fressenden, Tesla, Steinmetz, Marconi, Flemming, Kettering and a host of other lesser known scientist- inventors. “All of their wonderful inventions culminated in the invention of the three element radiotron, or audiotron developed by Dr. Lee Deforest.” he said. It was this, the audiotron, a vacuum tube containing three elements which allowed man to control radio waves. “This modern Alladin’s Lamp is destined to change, in one way or another, the life of every human being on this planet,” Dad said.

The deForest Audion tube invented in 1902.

He was right. It made possible the development of radar, television, the electron microscope and just about every modern sophisticated piece of electronic wonder commonplace today.

But the reality of all these wonderful inventions was twenty to thirty years away. In the meantime, the need to earn a living kept him selling insurance. Our family was expanding; my brother Bill was soon to be born. It would be wrong for me to say the insurance business was a drudge, because he enjoyed it. It gave him a chance to get around the

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