Mostrando postagens com marcador pioneer. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador pioneer. Mostrar todas as postagens

quinta-feira, 7 de abril de 2011

Radio Pioneers Pulled Words, Music and World Events Out of Thin Air


Source: Voice of America Special English
www.manythings.org/voa/people 



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I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.  Today, we will tell about several men who influenced the development of radio.

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Some people say radio was invented by Guglielmo [gu-lee-YER-mo) Marconi of Italy.  Marconi sent the first radio communication signals through the air in eighteen ninety-five. In fact, no one person can be called the inventor of radio.  Many people, including several Americans, helped to develop radio. You may not know their names. However, their work affected many people. 
 
Over the years, radio has become one of the most important forms of communication.  It can be used for two-way communication, such as between a ship and land.  Scientists even use radio to communicate into space.  And radio broadcasts let people send words, music and information to any part of the world. 
 

 
The first experimental radio broadcasts in the United States were made in the early nineteen hundreds.  One of the first broadcasts came from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in nineteen ten.  It included music by the great singer Enrico Caruso. An American inventor, Lee De Forest, produced that broadcast.  
 
Only a few people could hear the broadcast.  Some were people in the New York area who had built radio receivers.  Some ships at sea and military radio stations received the broadcast.  Many newspapers of the day reported on the event.  The name of Lee De Forest became part of broadcasting history.


 
De Forest developed some of the technology used in early radio. During his lifetime, he invented hundreds of devices that were used in telephones, shortwave radio broadcasts, and similar technology.

His most famous invention was the vacuum tube, or electron tube. In nineteen-oh-six, the electron tube was considered the single most important development in electronics.  The device made it possible to strengthen radio signals and to send them over long distances.  It was a major reason for the fast growth of the electronics and communications industries in the early part of the twentieth century. 
 

Edwin Armstrong was another American inventor who was important in the development of electronics and radio communication. Armstrong developed technology that helped to improve radio reception.  He discovered ways to limit unwanted radio signals.
Edwin Armstrong also was a leader in using radio to reproduce 
sounds clearly.  This process became known as frequency modulation, or FM radio.  FM radio provided better sound reproduction and less noise or interference than traditional AM radio.  Armstrong also developed radio receivers that became widely used.

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Many experts say station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was 
the first American radio station.  It broadcast results of the 
American presidential election in November, nineteen twenty. 
That is generally considered the start of professional radio 
broadcasting in the United States.

Soon, radio stations began to appear in other areas.  In nineteen twenty-two, two stations in New York State joined together to broadcast the championship game of American baseball.  The stations were connected by telephone lines.  This permitted them to share the same program.  It was one of the first examples of a radio network.
By the middle of the nineteen-twenties, there were two main radio networks in the United States.  The National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, was formed by the Radio Corporation of America. NBC became the first permanent national network.
The other network was the Columbia Broadcasting System, called CBS.  The networks provided programs to radio stations across the country. Local stations created very few programs.  What listeners heard in New York was often heard in Los Angeles, California and other cities. 
 

David Sarnoff was the man responsible for NBC. As a young man, Sarnoff had taught himself Morse code.  He got a job with the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company where he worked as a telegraph operator.  He was on duty when the passenger ship Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean in nineteen twelve.  Sarnoff helped the rescue effort by informing other ships about the accident.  He understood that someone using radio could affect many lives.
By nineteen twenty-one, Sarnoff was an official of the Radio Corporation of America.  He pushed RCA to enter broadcasting. The company soon earned huge profits.  Five years later, David Sarnoff helped create NBC. David Sarnoff developed the theory of broadcasting.
This was very different from the communication between two people speaking to each other on a telephone.  Radio meant that someone could speak to millions of people.
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William S. Paley developed another radio network.  In nineteen twenty-eight, Paley left his family's business. He spent several hundred thousand dollars on several radio stations.  These stations became known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. Paley's friends and advisers told him that he had made a huge mistake.  They said his dream of building a large and important radio network would never come true.
Paley did not listen to them.  Instead, he went to see the heads of some of the largest American companies to get their financial support for his network.
Then, Paley searched for the best people he could find to produce the radio shows and news programming he wanted.  He paid them well.  William Paley was always looking for people with special skills.
One night, he attended a show by the popular Tommy Dorsey Band.  A young man with the group sang during the performance. His name was Frank Sinatra.  Sinatra soon had his own program with CBS, Paley's radio network.
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Radio was extremely popular in the United States between the late 
nineteen twenties and the early nineteen fifties.  This period is 
known as the Golden Age of Broadcasting.

During this period, families gathered in their living rooms every night to listen to radio shows.  Children hurried from school to hear shows created for them.  In the daytime, millions of women listened to radio plays called soap operas.  They were called soap operas because companies that make soap paid for the shows.
Radio influenced the way many people felt about their community and the world.  It permitted them to sit at home and hear what was happening in other areas. During World War Two, people could hear the voices of world leaders, such as American President Franklin Roosevelt. 
 
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Listeners also could hear the voices of reporters covering World War Two.  Edward R. Murrow became famous for reporting about the war.  People sometimes could hear guns and bombs exploding during his report. 
 
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In nineteen thirty-seven, Edward R. Murrow was the only representative of CBS in Europe.  Murrow built a team of news reporters whose names would become well known to listeners.
Murrow and reporter William Shirer made broadcasting history in nineteen thirty-eight.  They organized a special broadcast with European reaction to the seizure of Austria by Nazi Germany.  The show had reports from London, Berlin, Paris and Rome.  It was a huge success. 
 

In the United States, the rise of television in the nineteen fifties ended the Golden Age of Radio Broadcasting. More and more people started to watch television.  Most of the popular shows disappeared from radio.
Many people believed television would cause radio broadcasting to become unimportant.  However, the number of radio listeners continues to grow.  Most experts say radio will continue to be important during this century. 
 
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This program was written by George Grow. It was produced by Caty Weaver.  I'm  Steve Ember. 
 

 
And I'm Barbara Klein.  Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

segunda-feira, 4 de abril de 2011

Santos Dumont, the Father of Aviation


Alberto Santos-Dumont
BornJuly 20, 1873
PalmiraMinas Gerais (now Santos Dumont), Brazil
DiedJuly 23, 1932 (aged 59)
GuarujáSão Paulo , Brazil
OccupationAviator, Inventor
Signature
Caricature of Santos-Dumont from Vanity Fair, 1899
Alberto Santos-Dumont (July 20, 1873 – July 23, 1932) was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. Heir of a prosperous coffee producer family, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science studies in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life.
Santos-Dumont designed, built and flew the first practical dirigible balloons. In doing so he became the first person to demonstrate that routine, controlled flight was possible. This "conquest of the air", in particular winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize on October 19, 1901 on a flight that rounded the Eiffel Tower,[1] made him one of the most famous people in the world during the early 20th century.
In addition to his pioneering work in airships, Santos-Dumont made the first European public flight of an airplane on October 23, 1906. Designated 14-bis or Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey"), the flying machine was the first fixed-wing aircraft witnessed by the European press and French aviation authorities to take off and successfully fly. Santos-Dumont is considered the "Father of Aviation" in Brazil, his native country.[2] His flight is the first to have been certified by the Aéro Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).[3][4]
Santos-Dumont also occupied the 38th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, from 1931 until his death in 1932.

Santos-Dumont was born in Cabangu Farm, a farm in the Brazilian town of Palmira, today named Santos Dumont in the state of Minas Gerais. He grew up as the sixth of eight children on a coffee plantation owned by his family in the state of São Paulo. His French-born father was an engineer, and made extensive use of the latest labor-saving inventions on his vast property. So successful were these innovations that Santos-Dumont's father gathered a large fortune and became known as the "Coffee King of Brazil."
Childhood

He was fascinated by machinery, and while still a young child he learned to drive the steam tractors and locomotive used on his family's plantation. He was also a fan of Jules Verne and had read all his books before his tenth birthday. He wrote in his autobiography that the dream of flying came to him while contemplating the magnificent skies of Brazil in the long, sunny afternoons at the plantation.
According to the custom of wealthy families of the time, after receiving basic instruction at home with private instructors including his parents, young Alberto was sent out alone to larger cities to do his secondary studies. He studied for a while in "Colégio Culto à Ciência", inCampinas.[citation needed]

Move to France

In 1891, Alberto's father had an accident while inspecting some machinery. He fell from his horse and became a paraplegic. He decided to sell the plantation and move to Europe with his wife and younger children. At 17, Santos-Dumont left the prestigious Escola de Minas in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, for Paris in France. Shortly after he arrived, he bought an automobile. Later, he pursued studies in physicschemistry,mechanics, and electricity with the help of a private tutor.

Balloons and dirigibles

Santos-Dumont #6 rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch Prize. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution (SI Neg. No. 85-3941)
Santos-Dumont described himself as the first "sportsman of the air." He started flying by hiring an experienced balloon pilot and took his first balloon rides as a passenger. He quickly moved on to piloting balloons himself, and shortly thereafter to designing his own balloons. In 1898, Santos-Dumont flew his first balloon design, the Brésil.
After numerous balloon flights, he turned to the design of steerable balloons or dirigible type balloons that could be propelled through the air rather than drifting along with the breeze (See Airship).
Between 1898 and 1905, he built and flew 11 dirigibles. With air traffic control restrictions still decades in the future, he would glide along Paris boulevards at rooftop level in one of his airships, commonly landing in front of a fashionable outdoor cafe for lunch. On one occasion he even flew an airship early one morning to his own apartment at No. 9, Rue Washington, just off Avenue des Champs-Élysées, not far from the Arc de Triomphe.
To win the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize Santos-Dumont decided to build a bigger balloon, the dirigible Number 5. On August 8, 1901 during one of his attempts, his dirigible lost hydrogen gas. It started to descend and was unable to clear the roof of the Trocadero Hotel. A large explosion was then heard. Santos-Dumont survived the explosion and was left hanging in a basket from the side of the hotel. With the help of the crowd he climbed to the roof without injury.
The zenith of his lighter-than-air career came when he won the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. The challenge called for flying from the Parc Saint Cloudto the Eiffel Tower and back in less than thirty minutes. The winner of the prize needed to maintain an average ground speed of at least 22 km/h (14 mph) to cover the round trip distance of 11 km (6.8 miles) in the allotted time.
Aida D'Acosta Breckinridgepiloted Santos-Dumont's airship in 1903.
On October 19, 1901, after several attempts, Santos-Dumont succeeded in using his dirigible Number 6. Immediately after the flight, a controversy broke out around a last minute rule change regarding the precise timing of the flight. There was much public outcry and comment in the press. Finally, after several days of vacillating by the committee of officials, Santos-Dumont was awarded the prize as well as the prize money of 125,000 francs. In a charitable gesture, he donated 75,000 francs of the prize money to the poor of Paris. The balance was given to his workmen as a bonus. An additional matching 125,000 francs was voted to him along with a gold medal by the government of his native Brazil.
Santos-Dumont's aviation feats made him a celebrity in Europe and throughout the world. He won several more prizes and became a friend to millionaires, aviation pioneers, and royalty. In 1903 Aida D'Acosta Breckinridge piloted Santos-Dumont's airship. In 1904, he went to the United States and was invited to the White House to meet U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1904, Santos-Dumont shipped his new airship No. 7 (also called Racer), to St. Louis from Paris in several crates to fly at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. It was a new airship, built to compete for the Grand Prize of $100,000, which was to be given to a flying machine (of any sort) that could make three round-trip flights over a 15-mile “L”-shaped course at an overall average speed of 20 miles/hour (later reduced to 15 miles/hour). It was also necessary for the machine to land without damage (to craft or crew) not more than fifty yards from the starting point. Because he was probably the best-known aviator at the time, the Fair committee went to great lengths to ensure his participation, including modifying the rules. However, upon arrival in St. Louis, Santos-Dumont found his airship’s gas bag to be irreparably damaged; sabotage, although suspected, was never proven, and Santos-Dumont did not participate in the contest. In fact, suspicion of the deed, a repeat of a similar incident in Boston, began to focus somewhat absurdly on Santos- Dumont himself, and he indignantly left the Fair and returned immediately to France.
The public eagerly followed his daring exploits. Parisians affectionately dubbed him le petit Santos. The fashionable folk of the day mimicked various aspects of his style of dress from his high collared shirts to singed Panama hat.[citation needed] He was, and remains to this day, a prominent folk hero in his native Brazil.

Heavier than air aircraft

The November 12 flight.
Although Santos-Dumont continued to work on dirigibles, his primary interest soon turned to heavier-than-air aircraft. By 1905 he had finished his first airplane design, and also a helicopter. He finally achieved his dream of flying an aircraft on October 23, 1906 by piloting the 14-bisbefore a large crowd of witnesses for a distance of 60 metres (197 ft) at a height of two to three metres (10 ft). This well-documented event was the first flight verified by the Aéro-Club de France of a powered heavier-than-air machine in Europe and won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Price for the first officially observed flight further than 25 meters. On November 12, 1906, Santos-Dumont set the first world record recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale by flying 220 metres in 21.5 seconds.[5][6]
Santos-Dumont made other contributions to the field of aircraft design. He added movable surfaces, the precursor to ailerons, between the wings in an effort to gain more lateral stability than was offered by the 14-bis wing dihedral. He also pushed for and exploited substantial improvements in engine power-to-weight ratio, and other refinements in aircraft construction techniques.
Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris
Santos-Dumont's final design was the Demoiselle monoplane (Nos. 19 to 22). This aircraft was employed as Dumont's personal transportation and he willingly let others make use of his design. The fuselage consisted of a specially reinforced bamboo boom, and the pilot sat on a tensionally-held seat between the main wheels of atricycle landing gear. The Demoiselle was controlled in flight partly by a tail unit that functioned both as elevator and rudder, and by wing warping (No. 20).
In 1908 Santos-Dumont started working with Adolphe Clément's Clement-Bayard company to build the Demoiselle No 19. They planned a production run of 100 units, built 50 and sold only 15 for 7,500 francs for each airframe. It was the world's first series production aircraft. By 1909 it was offered with a choice of 3 engines, Clement 20 hp; Wright 4-cyl 30 hp (Clement-Bayard had the license to manufacture Wright engines); and Clement-Bayard 40 hp designed by Pierre Clerget. The Demoiselle achieved 120 km/h.[7]
The Demoiselle airplane could be constructed in only 15 days. Possessing outstanding performance, easily covering 200 m of ground during the initial flights and flying at speeds of more than 100 km/h, the Demoiselle was the last aircraft built by Santos-Dumont. The June 1910 edition of the Popular Mechanics magazine published drawings of the Demoiselle and affirmed that "This machine is better than any other which has ever been built, for those who wish to reach results with the least possible expense and with a minimum of experimenting." American companies sold drawings and parts of Demoiselle for several years thereafter. Santos-Dumont was so enthusiastic about aviation that he released the drawings of Demoiselle for free, thinking that aviation would be the mainstream of a new prosperous era for mankind.