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Reginald Fessenden

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-born inventor who received hundreds of patents in various fields, most notably ones related to radio and sonar.

Fessenden is best known for his pioneering work developing radio technology, including the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) radio. His achievements included the first transmission of speech by radio (1900), and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean (1906). In 1932 he reported that, in late 1906, he also made the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music, although a lack of verifiable details has led to some doubts about this claim.

He did a majority of his work in the United States and, in addition to his Canadian citizenship, claimed U.S. citizenship through his American-born father.

Early years
Reginald Fessenden was born October 6, 1866, in East Bolton, Canada East, the eldest of the Reverend Elisha Joseph Fessenden and Clementina Trenholme's four children. Elisha Fessenden was a Church of England in Canada minister, and the family moved to a number of postings throughout the province of Ontario.

While growing up Fessenden attended a number of educational institutions. At the young age of nine he was enrolled in the DeVeaux Military school for a year. He next attended Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, from 1877 until the summer of 1879. He also spent a year working for the Imperial Bank at Woodstock because he had not yet reached the age of 16 needed to enroll in college.

At the age of fourteen, he returned to his hometown in the Eastern Townships and went to the nearby Bishop's College School, which granted him a mathematics mastership (teaching job) and a scholarship for studying in its college division at University of Bishop's College. Thus, while Fessenden was still a teenager, he taught mathematics to the school's younger students (some older than himself) for four years, while simultaneously studying natural sciences with older students at the college.

At the age of eighteen, Fessenden left Bishop's without having been awarded a degree, although he had "done substantially all the work necessary", in order to accept a position at the Whitney Institute, near to Flatts Village in Bermuda, where for the next two years he worked as the headmaster and sole teacher. (This lack of a degree may have hurt Fessenden's employment opportunities. When McGill University in Montreal established an electrical engineering department, his application to become its chairman was turned down.) While in Bermuda, he became engaged to Helen May Trott of Smith's Parish. They married on September 21, 1890, in the United States at Manhattan in New York City, and later had a son, Reginald Kennelly Fessenden, born May 7, 1893, in Lafayette, Allen, Indiana.

Early work
Fessenden's classical education provided him with only a limited amount of scientific and technical training. Interested in increasing his skills in the electrical field, he moved to New York City in 1886, with hopes of gaining employment with the famous inventor, Thomas Edison. However, his initial attempts were rebuffed; in his first application Fessenden wrote, "Do not know anything about electricity, but can learn pretty quick," to which Edison replied, "Have enough men now who do not know about electricity." However, Fessenden persevered, and before the end of the year was hired for a semi-skilled position as an assistant tester for the Edison Machine Works, which was laying underground electrical mains in New York City. He quickly proved his worth, and received a series of promotions, with increasing responsibility for the project. In late 1886, Fessenden began working directly for Edison at the inventor's new laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, as a junior technician. He participated in a broad range of projects, which included work in solving problems in chemistry, metallurgy, and electricity. However, in 1890, facing financial problems, Edison was forced to lay off most of the laboratory employees, including Fessenden. (Fessenden remained an admirer of Edison his entire life, and in 1925 stated that "there is only one figure in history which stands in the same rank as him as an inventor, i. e. Archimedes".)

Taking advantage of his recent practical experience, Fessenden was able to find positions with a series of manufacturing companies. In 1892, he received an appointment as professor for the newly formed Electrical Engineering department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; while there he helped the Westinghouse Corporation install the lighting for the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition. Later that year, George Westinghouse personally recruited Fessenden for the newly created position of chair of the Electrical Engineering department at the Western University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh (now the University of Pittsburgh).

Radio work
In the late 1890s, reports began to appear about the success Guglielmo Marconi was having in developing a practical system of transmitting and receiving radio signals, then commonly known as "wireless telegraphy". Fessenden began limited radio experimentation, and soon came to the conclusion that he could develop a far more efficient system than the spark-gap transmitter and coherer-receiver combination which had been created by Oliver Lodge and Marconi. By 1899 he was able to send radiotelegraph messages between Pittsburgh and Allegheny City (now an area of Pittsburgh), using a receiver of his own design.

Weather Bureau contract
In 1900 Fessenden left Pittsburgh to work for the United States Weather Bureau, with the objective of demonstrating the practicality of using coastal stations to transmit weather information, thereby avoiding the expense of the existing telegraph lines. The contract called for him to be paid $3,000 per year and provided with work space, assistance, and housing. Fessenden would retain ownership of any inventions, but the agreement also gave the Weather Bureau royalty-free use of any discoveries made during the term of the contract. Fessenden quickly made major advances, especially in receiver design, as he worked to develop audio reception of signals. His initial success came from the invention of a barretter detector. This was followed by an electrolytic detector, consisting of a fine wire dipped in nitric acid, which for the next few years set the standard for sensitivity in radio reception.

As his work progressed, Fessenden also developed the heterodyne principle, which used two closely spaced radio signals to produce an audible tone that made Morse code transmissions much easier to hear. However, heterodyne reception would not become practical for a decade after it was invented, because it required a method for producing a stable local signal, which would not become available until the development of the oscillating vacuum-tube.

Fessenden's initial Weather Bureau work took place at Cobb Island, Maryland, located in the Potomac River about 80 km downstream from Washington, D.C. As the experimentation expanded, additional stations were built along the Atlantic Coast in North Carolina and Virginia. However, in the midst of promising advances, Fessenden became embroiled in disputes with his sponsor. In particular, he charged that Bureau Chief Willis Moore had attempted to gain a half-share of the patents. Fessenden refused to sign over the rights, and his work for the Weather Bureau ended in August 1902.

National Electric Signaling Company

In November 1902, two wealthy Pittsburgh businessmen, Hay Walker Jr. and Thomas H. Given, financed the formation of the National Electric Signaling Company (NESCO) to support Fessenden's research. Initially the new company was based in Washington, D.C., where a station was constructed for experimental and demonstration purposes. Two additional demonstration stations were constructed at Collingswood, New Jersey (near Philadelphia) and Jersey City, New Jersey (near New York City). In 1904 an attempt was made to link the General Electric plants in Schenectady, New York, and Lynn, Massachusetts, a distance of 185 mile, however the effort was unsuccessful.

Efforts to sell equipment to the U.S. and other governments, as well as private companies, met with little success. An ongoing area of conflict, especially with the U.S. Navy, were the high prices Fessenden tried to charge. The Navy in particular felt Fessenden's quotes were too far above the device's manufacturing costs to be considered reasonable, and contracted with other companies to build equipment that used Fessenden designs. This led to bad feelings and a series of patent infringement lawsuits. An alternate plan to sell the company as a whole was unsuccessful in finding a buyer. Eventually a radical change in company orientation took place. In 1904 it was decided to compete with the existing ocean cables, by setting up a transatlantic radiotelegraph link. The headquarters for company operations was moved to Brant Rock, Massachusetts, which was to be the western terminal for the proposed new service.

Rotary-spark transmitter and the first two-way transatlantic transmission
The plan was to conduct the transatlantic service using Fessenden-designed rotary spark-gap transmitters. A 420-foot (128 meter) guyed antenna was constructed at Brant Rock, with a similar tower erected at Machrihanish in western Scotland. In January 1906, these stations made the first successful two-way transmission across the Atlantic, exchanging Morse code messages. (Marconi had only achieved one-way transmissions at this time.) However, the system was unable to reliably bridge this distance when the sun was up, or during the summer months when interference levels were higher, so work was suspended until later in the year. Then, on December 6, 1906, the Machrihanish radio tower collapsed in a gale, abruptly ending the transatlantic project before it could begin commercial service. (A detailed review in Engineering magazine blamed the collapse on sub-standard construction, due to "the way in which the joints were made by the man employed for the purpose by the sub-contractors to whom the work was entrusted by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company" and "The only wonder is that the tower did not fall before.")

In a letter published in the January 19, 1907, issue of Scientific American, Fessenden discounted the effect of the tower collapse, stating that "The working up to the date of the accident was, however, so successful that the directors of the National Electric Signaling Company have decided that it is unnecessary to carry on the experimental developments any further, and specifications are being drawn up for the erection of five stations for doing transatlantic and other cable work, and a commercial permit is being applied for in England." However, the tower collapse did in fact mark the end of NESCO's transatlantic efforts.

Audio transmissions
Fessenden had a very early interest in the possibility of making audio radio transmissions, in contrast to the early spark-gap transmissions that could only transmit Morse code messages. As early as 1891, he had investigated sending alternating currents of varying frequencies along telegraph lines, in order to create a multiplex telegraph system. He would later apply the knowledge gained about tuning and resonance from his alternating current electrical work to the higher frequency currents used in radio, in order to develop the concept of continuous-wave radio signals.

Fessenden's basic approach was disclosed in U.S. Patent 706,737, which he applied for on May 29, 1901, and was issued the next year. It called for the use of a high-speed alternator (referred to as "an alternating-current dynamo") that generated "pure sine waves" and produced "a continuous train of radiant waves of substantially uniform strength", or, in modern terminology, a continuous-wave (CW) transmitter. The idea of using continuous-wave radio signals was in direct conflict with the current orthodoxy that the abrupt "whiplash" effect produced by large electrical sparks was needed in order to create adequately strong signals. John Ambrose Fleming, a Marconi associate, was particularly dismissive in his book The Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy, a detailed review of the state of the art as he saw it that was published in 1906. Reviewing Fessenden's patent, he wrote that "The creation of an electric wave seems to involve a certain suddenness in the beginning of the oscillations, and an alternator giving a simple sine-curve would not be likely to produce the required effect..." (In view of Fessenden's ultimate success, this statement disappeared from the book's 1916 edition.) Fessenden's next step, taken from standard wire-telephone practice, was to insert a simple carbon microphone into the transmission line, which was used to modulate the carrier wave signal for audio transmissions, or, again using modern terms, used to produce amplitude modulated (AM) radio signals.

Fessenden began his research on audio transmissions while still on Cobb Island. Because he did not yet have a continuous-wave transmitter, initially he worked with an experimental "high-frequency spark" transmitter, taking advantage of the fact that the higher the spark rate, the closer a spark-gap transmission comes to producing continuous waves. He later reported that, on December 23, 1900, he successfully transmitted speech over a distance of about 1.6 kilometers (one mile), saying; “One, two, three, four. Is It snowing where you are, Mr. Thiessen? If so, telegraph back and let me know”, which appears to have been the first successful audio transmission using radio signals. However, at this time the sound was far too distorted to be commercially practical, although as a test this did show that with further refinements it would become possible to effectively transmit sounds by radio.

For a time Fessenden continued working with more sophisticated high-frequency spark transmitters, including versions that used compressed air, which began to take on some of the characteristics of arc-transmitters patented by Valdemar Poulsen. Fessenden unsuccessfully attempted to sell this form of radiotelephone, later noting: "In 1904, with a 20,000 frequency spark and compressed nitrogen gap, such good results were obtained that a demonstration was given to a number of electrical engineers, who signed affidavits that they considered the articulation as commercially good over twenty-five miles, and the sets were advertised for sale..." (In a 1908 review, he conceded that with this approach "The transmission was, however, still not absolutely perfect.")

Alternator-transmitter
Fessenden's ultimate plan for an audio-capable transmitter was to take a basic electrical alternator, which normally rotated at speeds that produced alternating current of at most a few hundred cycles-per-second (Hz), and greatly increase its rotational speed, in order to create electrical currents of tens-of-thousands of cycles-per-second (kHz), thus producing a steady continuous-wave transmission when connected to an aerial. However, it would take many years of expensive development before even a prototype alternator-transmitter would be ready, and a few years beyond that for high-power versions to become available. One concern was whether at these high speeds the alternator might disintegrate due to the high rotation speed tearing it apart. Because of this, as a precaution, while the alternator was being initially developed it was "placed in a pit surrounded by sandbags".

Fessenden contracted with General Electric (GE) to help design and produce a series of high-frequency alternator-transmitters. In 1903, Charles Proteus Steinmetz of GE delivered a 10 kHz version which proved of limited use and could not be directly used as a radio transmitter. Fessenden's request for a faster, more powerful unit was assigned to Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, who in August 1906 delivered an improved model which operated at a transmitting frequency of approximately 50 kHz, although with far less power than Fessenden's rotary-spark transmitters.

The alternator-transmitter achieved the goal of transmitting quality audio signals, but the lack of any way to amplify the signals meant they were somewhat weak. On December 21, 1906, Fessenden made an extensive demonstration of the new alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock, showing its utility for point-to-point wireless telephony, including interconnecting his stations to the wire telephone network. As part of the demonstration, speech was transmitted 18 kilometers (11 miles) to a listening site at Plymouth, Massachusetts. A detailed review of this demonstration appeared in The American Telephone Journal and a summary by Fessenden appeared in Scientific American. A portion of a report produced by Greenleaf W. Pickard of the Telephone Company's Boston office, which includes additional information on some still existing defects, appeared in Ernst Ruhmer's Wireless Telephony in Theory and Practice.

Although primarily designed for transmissions spanning a few kilometers, on a couple of occasions the test Brant Rock audio transmissions were apparently overheard by NESCO employee James C. Armor across the Atlantic at the Machrihanish site.

First entertainment radio broadcast
Until the early 1930s, it was generally accepted that Lee de Forest, who conducted a series of test broadcasts beginning in 1907, and who was widely quoted promoting the potential of organized radio broadcasting, was the first person to transmit music and entertainment by radio. De Forest's first entertainment broadcast occurred in February 1907, when he transmitted electronic telharmonium music from his laboratory station in New York City. This was followed by tests that included, in the fall, Eugenia Farrar singing "I Love You Truly". (Beginning in 1904, the U.S. Navy had broadcast daily time signals and weather reports, but these employed spark transmitters, transmitting in Morse code).

In 1928, as part of a lecture reviewing "The Early History of Radio in the United States", H. P. Davis, commenting on entertainment offerings, asserted that "Reginald Fessenden, probably the first to attempt this, broadcast a program Christmas Eve 1906", but did not provide any additional details, and his comment was little noticed at the time.

The first widely publicized information about Fessenden's early broadcasts did not appear until 1932, when an article prepared by former Fessenden associate Samuel M. Kintner, "Pittsburgh's Contributions to Radio", appeared in the December 1932 issue of The Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers. This reviewed information included in a January 29, 1932, letter sent by Fessenden to Kintner. (Fessenden subsequently died five months before Kintner's article appeared). In this account, Fessenden reported that on the evening of December 24, 1906 (Christmas Eve), he had made the first of two radio broadcasts of music and entertainment to a general audience, using the alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock. Fessenden remembered producing a short program that included a phonograph record of Ombra mai fu (Largo) by George Frideric Handel, followed by Fessenden playing Adolphe Adam's carol O Holy Night on the violin and singing Adore and be Still by Gounod, and closing with a biblical passage: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will" (Luke 2:14). He also stated that a second short program was broadcast on December 31 (New Year's Eve). The intended audience for both of these transmissions was primarily shipboard radio operators along the Atlantic seaboard. Fessenden claimed that the two programs had been widely publicized in advance, and the Christmas Eve broadcast had been heard "as far down" as Norfolk, Virginia, while the New Year Eve's broadcast had reached listeners in the West Indies.

Anticipation of the 2006 centennial anniversary of Fessenden's reported broadcasts brought renewed interest, as well as additional questions. A key issue was why, despite Fessenden's assertion that the two programs had been widely heard, there did not appear to be any independent corroborating evidence for his account. (Even the Helen Fessenden biography relies exclusively on details contained in the January 29, 1932, letter used by the Kintner article.) There was general consensus in the centennial discussions that Fessenden had the technical means to make broadcasts, given the widespread reports about the success of the December 21 alternator-transmitter demonstrations. However, because of the station's very low power, even if the broadcasts had taken place it was questionable if the range could have matched Fessenden's claim of being heard hundreds of kilometers away.

In the period leading up to the centennial, James E. O'Neal conducted extensive research, but did not find any ships' radio log accounts, or any contemporary literature, to confirm the reported holiday broadcasts. A follow-up article two years later further reported that a similar attempt to verify the details of the broadcasts had taken place in 1956, which had also failed to uncover any confirmation of Fessenden's statements. One alternate possibility proposed by O'Neal was that perhaps something similar to what Fessenden remembered could have taken place during a series of tests conducted in 1909. A review by Donna L. Halper and Christopher H. Sterling suggested that debating the existence of the holiday broadcasts was ignoring the fact that, in their opinion, the December 21 demonstration, which included the playing of a phonograph record, in itself qualified to be considered an entertainment broadcast. Jack Belrose flatly argued that there was no reason to doubt Fessenden's account, in part because it had not been challenged in the years immediately following publication of the Kintner article. Although Fessenden's claim for the first radio broadcast in 1906 is recognized as an IEEE Milestone, in view of the contrasting opinions among radio historians, Mike Adams summarized the situation as "More than 100 years after its possible occurrence, the Fessenden 'first broadcaster' controversy continues."

The American Telephone Journal account of the December 21 alternator-transmitter demonstration included the statement that "It is admirably adapted to the transmission of news, music, etc. as, owing to the fact that no wires are needed, simultaneous transmission to many subscribers can be effected as easily as to a few", echoing the words of a handout distributed to the demonstration witnesses, which stated "[Radio] Telephony is admirably adapted for transmitting news, stock quotations, music, race reports, etc. simultaneously over a city, on account of the fact that no wires are needed and a single apparatus can distribute to ten thousand subscribers as easily as to a few. It is proposed to erect stations for this purpose in the large cities here and abroad." However, other than the two reported holiday transmissions, Fessenden does not appear to have conducted any other radio broadcasts, or to have even given additional thought about the potential of a regular broadcast service. In a 1908 comprehensive review of "Wireless Telephony", he included a section titled "possibilities" that listed promising radio telephone uses. Neither the main article, nor this list, makes any reference to broadcasting, instead only noting conventional applications of point-to-point communication, enumerated as "local exchanges", "long-distance lines", "transmarine transmission", "wireless telephony from ship to ship", and "wireless telephone from ship to local exchange".

Continuing work and dismissal from NESCO
The technical achievements made by Fessenden were not matched by financial success. Walker and Given continued to hope to sell NESCO to a larger company such as the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). After the December 21, 1906, demonstrations, AT&T was said to be planning to acquire NESCO, but financial setbacks caused the telephone company to reconsider, and NESCO was unable to find another buyer. There were growing strains between Fessenden and the company owners, and Fessenden's formation of the Fessenden Wireless Company of Canada in Montreal in 1906 may have led to suspicion that he was trying to freeze Walker and Given out of a potentially lucrative competing transatlantic service. The final break occurred in January 1911, when Fessenden was formally dismissed from NESCO. This resulted in his bringing suit against NESCO, for breach of contract. Fessenden won the initial court trial and was awarded damages; however, NESCO prevailed on appeal. To conserve assets, NESCO went into receivership in 1912, and Samuel Kintner was appointed general manager of the company. The legal stalemate would continue for over 15 years. In 1917, NESCO finally emerged from receivership, and was soon renamed the International Radio Telegraph Company. The company limped along for a few years, until it was sold to the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in 1920, and the next year its assets, including numerous important Fessenden patents, were sold to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which also inherited the longstanding Fessenden legal proceedings. Finally, on March 31, 1928, Fessenden settled his outstanding lawsuits with RCA, receiving a significant cash settlement.

Later years
After Fessenden left NESCO, Ernst Alexanderson continued to work on alternator-transmitter development at General Electric, mostly for long range radiotelegraph use. He eventually developed the high-powered Alexanderson alternator, capable of transmitting across the Atlantic, and by 1916 the Fessenden-Alexanderson alternator was more reliable for transoceanic communication than the spark transmitters which were originally used to provide this service. Also, after 1920 radio broadcasting became widespread, and although the stations used vacuum-tube transmitters rather than alternator-transmitters (which vacuum-tubes made obsolete), they employed the same continuous-wave AM signals that Fessenden had introduced in 1906.

Although Fessenden ceased radio research after his dismissal from NESCO in 1911, he continued to work in other fields. As early as 1904 he had helped engineer the Niagara Falls power plant for the newly formed Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. However, his most extensive work was in marine communication as consulting engineer with the Submarine Signal Company which built a widely used aid to navigation using bells, termed a submarine signal, acting much as an underwater foghorn. While there, he invented the Fessenden oscillator, an electromechanical transducer. Though the company immediately began replacing bells and primitive receivers on ships with the new device, it was also the basis for entirely new applications: underwater telegraphy and sonic distance measurement. The later was the basis for sonar (SOund NAvigation Ranging), echo-sounding and the principle applied to radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging). The device was soon put to use for submarines to signal each other, as well as a method for locating icebergs, to help avoid another disaster like the one that sank Titanic. While the company quickly applied his invention to replace the bells of its systems and entered acoustic telegraphy it ignored the echo ranging potential. The echo sounding was invented in 1912 by German physicist Alexander Behm.

At the outbreak of World War I, Fessenden volunteered his services to the Canadian government and was sent to London where he developed a device to detect enemy artillery and another to locate enemy submarines. Other efforts included a version of microfilm, that helped him to keep a compact record of his inventions, projects and patents. He also patented the basic ideas leading to reflection seismology, a technique important for its use in exploring for petroleum, and received patents for diverse subjects that included tracer bullets, paging, television apparatus, and a turbo electric drive for ships.

An inveterate tinkerer, Fessenden eventually became the holder of more than 500 patents. He could often be found in a river or lake, floating on his back, a cigar sticking out of his mouth and a hat pulled down over his eyes. At home he liked to lie on the carpet, a cat on his chest. In this state of relaxation, Fessenden could imagine, invent and think his way to new ideas. Fessenden also had a reputation for being temperamental, although in his defense his wife later stated that "Fessenden was never a difficult man to W O R K with but he was an intensely difficult man to play politics with." However, one of his former assistants, Charles J. Pannill, recalled that "He was a great character, of splendid physique, but what a temper!", while a second, Roy Weagant, ruefully noted that "He could be very nice at times, but only at times."

In 1925, Radio News, saluting Fessenden as "one of the greatest American radio inventors", began a monthly autobiographical series titled "The Inventions of Reginald A. Fessenden", with the intention of publishing the completed installments as a book. However, instead of reviewing his radio work, Fessenden immediately went on a series of tangents, including discussions of which races he believed were the most capable of producing inventions, and the proper approach that government institutions should be taking in order to support inventors. (At the close of the seventh installment, Radio News included a disclaimer that it was "not responsible for any opinions expressed in Dr. Fessenden's article".) After eleven installments Fessenden had only covered his life up to 1893, having discussed virtually nothing about radio, and the series was quietly terminated at this point.

Awards
In 1921, the Institute of Radio Engineers presented Fessenden with its IRE Medal of Honor. The medallion was gold plated, and somehow Fessenden became convinced that earlier awards had been solid gold, so he angrily returned it. Only after Greenleaf W. Pickard investigated the matter and determined that the prior medals were also plated was Fessenden willing to relent. The next year Philadelphia's Board of Directors of City Trusts awarded Fessenden a John Scott Medal, which included a cash prize of $800, for "his invention of a reception scheme for continuous wave telegraphy and telephony", and recognized him as "One whose labors had been of great benefit." There was suspicion by Fessenden that these two awards had not been made in sincerity but in order to placate him. In his wife's biography, referring to the IRE medal, she quoted the proverb "beware of Greeks bearing gifts". The Scott Medal came under additional suspicion because it had been awarded at the suggestion of Westinghouse engineers, who were working for a company that had had financial disputes with Fessenden. In Helen Fessenden's opinion, "The Medal cost [Westinghouse] nothing and was a good 'sop to Cereberus'", and overall compared the medals to "small change for tips in the pockets of Big Business". In 1929 Fessenden was awarded Scientific American's Safety at Sea Gold Medal, in recognition of his invention "of the Fathometer and other safety instruments for safety at sea".

Death and legacy

After settling his lawsuit with RCA, Fessenden purchased a small estate called "Wistowe" (previously the home of Charles Maxwell Allen, the United States Consul, who had hosted Samuel Clemens there), in Hamilton Parish, near to Flatts Village in Bermuda. He died there on July 22, 1932, and was interred in the cemetery of St. Mark's Church, Bermuda. On the occasion of his death, an editorial in the New York Herald Tribune, "Fessenden Against the World", said: "It sometimes happens, even in science, that one man can be right against the world. Professor Fessenden was that man. It is ironic that among the hundreds of thousands of young radio engineers whose commonplaces of theory rest on what Professor Fessenden fought for bitterly and alone only a handful realize that the battle ever happened... It was he who insisted, against the stormy protests of every recognized authority, that what we now call radio was worked by 'continuous waves' of the kind discovered by Hertz, sent through the ether by the transmitting station as light waves are sent out by a flame. Marconi and others insisted, instead, that what was happening was the so-called 'whiplash effect'... It is probably not too much to say that the progress of radio was retarded a decade by this error... The whiplash theory faded gradually out of men's minds and was replaced by the continuous wave one with all too little credit to the man who had been right..."

Beginning in 1961, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists has annually awarded its Reginald Fessenden Award to "a person who has made a specific technical contribution to exploration geophysics". In 1980, a Fessenden-Trott Scholarship was established at Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in memory of Reginald Fessenden and his wife.

Reginald A. Fessenden House
Fessenden's home at 45 Waban Hill Road in the village of Chestnut Hill in Newton, Massachusetts, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a U.S. National Historic Landmark. He bought the house in 1906 or earlier and owned it for the rest of his life.

title: Reginald Fessenden


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Talk:Chambers County, Alabama

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Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1307, that might be useful as an external link. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 16:47, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion: Add redirect from search for "Baker County, Alabama"
Suggest adding a redirect to the Chilton County article from a search for "Baker County, Alabama". While doing family history research, I came across 1870 U.S. Census records for Baker County. When I searched Wikipedia for "Baker County, Alabama", nothing came up. I had to go to another site to learn that Chilton County was originally named Baker County. Going back to Wikipedia and searching Chilton County, I found mention of the earlier name in the Chilton County article. Thank you. Prnichols (talk) 17:00, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Chilton County, Alabama


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Talk:Choctaw County, Alabama

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External Link
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1312, that might be a useful external link. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:12, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Choctaw County, Alabama


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Talk:Clarke County, Alabama

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Dry County
I wonder if the referendum was county-wide or just restricted to Jackson.The Thomasville Times--Whhalbert 03:03, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

External Link?
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1204, that might merit an external link. Thanks, Justin --65.81.141.186 (talk) 15:13, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Clarke County, Alabama


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Talk:Clay County, Alabama

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External Link?
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1205, that might be useful as an external link. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 15:19, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Clay County, Alabama


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Talk:Cleburne County, Alabama

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External Link or Reference
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1322, that might be useful. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:16, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Cleburne County, Alabama


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Talk:Coffee County, Alabama

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External Link
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1325, that might be useful. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:51, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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two county seats?
Coffee County is in [], listed as having two county seats. However, the only one listed here is Elba. Though, there reads ''The first county seat was in Wellborn. After the courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1851, the county seat was moved to Elba.'' But, it clearly states "seat was moved", so it is no more in Wellborn. If there indeed is another county seat, it should be mentioned. 85.76.65.121 (talk) 07:35, 20 December 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Coffee County, Alabama


text:
Blow (film)

Blow is a 2001 American biographical crime drama film directed by Ted Demme, about an American cocaine kingpin and his international network. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay. It is based on the real-life stories of U.S. drug trafficker George Jung (played by Johnny Depp) and his connections including narcotics kings Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder Rivas (portrayed in the film as Diego Delgado), and the Medellín Cartel.

Plot
George Jung and his parents Fred and Ermine live in Weymouth, Massachusetts. When George is 10 years old, Fred files for bankruptcy but tries to make George realize that money is not important.

In the late 1960s, an adult George moves to Los Angeles with his friend "Tuna"; they meet Barbara, a flight attendant, who introduces them to Derek Foreal, a marijuana dealer. With Derek's help, George and Tuna make a lot of money. Kevin Dulli, a visiting college student from Boston, tells them of the demand for marijuana back home. They start selling marijuana there, buying marijuana directly from Mexico with the help of Santiago Sanchez, a Mexican drug lord. Two years later, George is caught in Chicago trying to import 660 lbs of marijuana and is sentenced to two years' imprisonment. After unsuccessfully trying to plead his innocence, George skips bail to take care of Barbara, who dies from cancer. Her death marks the disbanding of the group of friends.

While hiding from the authorities, George visits his parents. George's mother calls the police, who arrest him. He is sentenced to 26 months in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. His cellmate Diego Delgado has contacts in the Medellin cartel and convinces George to help him go into the cocaine business. Upon his release from prison, George violates his parole conditions and heads down to Cartagena, Colombia to meet with Diego. They meet with cartel officer Cesar Rosa to negotiate the terms for smuggling 15 kg to establish "good faith".

As the smuggling operation grows, Diego is arrested, leaving George to find a way to sell 50 kg. George reconnects with Derek in California, and the two sell all the cocaine. George then goes to Medellín, Colombia and meets Pablo Escobar, who agrees to go into business with them. With the help of Derek, the pair becomes Escobar's top U.S. importer. At Diego's wedding, George meets Cesar's fiancée Mirtha and later marries her. However, Diego resents George for keeping Derek's identity secret and pressures George to reveal his connection. George eventually discovers that Diego has betrayed him by cutting him out of the connection with Derek. Inspired by the birth of his daughter and a drug-related heart attack, George severs his relationship with the cartel.

All goes well with George's newfound civilian life for five years, until Mirtha organizes a 38th birthday party for him. Many of his former drug associates attend, including Derek, who reveals that Diego eventually cut him out as well. The FBI and DEA raid the party and arrest George. He becomes a fugitive, and his bank account—heretofore under Manuel Noriega's protection in Panama—is seized by Noriega. One night, he and Mirtha get into a fight while driving. They are pulled over by police and Mirtha tells them George is a fugitive and has stashed a kilogram of cocaine in his trunk. He is sent to jail for three years, Mirtha divorces him and takes custody of their nine-year-old daughter, Kristina Sunshine Jung.

Upon his release, George struggles to maintain his relationship with his daughter. He promises Kristina a vacation in California and seeks one last deal to garner enough money for the trip. George completes a deal with former accomplices but learns too late that the deal had been set up by the FBI and DEA, with Dulli and Derek having leaked the nature and location of the action in exchange for pardons for their involvement in his prior action. George is sentenced to 60 years at Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He explains in the end that neither the sentence nor the betrayal bothered him, but that he can never forgive himself for having to break a promise to his daughter.

While in prison, George requests a furlough to see his dying father, Fred. His mother denies the request. George records a final message to Fred, recounting his memories of working with his father, his run-ins with the law, and finally, too late, his understanding of what Fred meant when he said that money is not "real". An old man in prison, George imagines that his daughter finally comes to visit him. She slowly fades away as a guard calls for George. The film concludes with notes indicating that Jung will not be eligible for parole until 2015 and that his daughter has yet to visit him.

Cast

 * Johnny Depp as George Jung
 * Jesse James as Young George
 * Penélope Cruz as Mirtha Jung
 * Franka Potente as Barbara "Barbie" Buckley
 * Rachel Griffiths as Ermine Jung
 * Paul Reubens as Derek Foreal (Richard Barile)
 * Jordi Molla as Diego Delgado (Carlos Lehder)
 * Cliff Curtis as Pablo Escobar
 * Max Perlich as Kevin Dulli
 * Miguel Sandoval as Augusto Oliveras
 * Ethan Suplee as "Tuna"
 * Alan James Morgan as Young "Tuna"
 * Ray Liotta as Frederick "Fred" Jung
 * Elizabeth Rodriguez as Martha Oliveras
 * Kevin Gage as Leon Minghella
 * Tony Amendola as Santiago Sanchez
 * Bobcat Goldthwait as Mr. T
 * Michael Tucci as Dr. Bay
 * Monet Mazur as Maria
 * Lola Glaudini as Rada
 * Jennifer Gimenez as Inez
 * Emma Roberts as Kristina Sunshine Jung
 * Jaime King as Older Kristina

Soundtrack
Blow's soundtrack is a compilation of songs and artists from the 1950s to the 1970s. Graeme Revell also composed the original score for the film.

Track listing
Tracklist adapted from Discogs.

Release
Blow was released to North American theaters on April 6, 2001. To promote the film, pocket-size rectangular mirrors were distributed at advance screenings. The promotional items attracted criticism for appearing to promote cocaine use, as the mirrors resembled ones used to cut cocaine.

Blow performed below expectations at the box office. With a budget of roughly $53 million, it managed to earn just under $53 million domestically but raised just over $30 million internationally for a worldwide total of $83,282,296.

Reception
The film holds an approval rating of 55% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 141 reviews, with a weighted average score of 5.8/10. The site's consensus is: "With elements that seem borrowed from movies like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, Blow is pretty much been-there-done-that despite another excellent performance from Johnny Depp. It, also, becomes too sentimental at the end." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Rob Gonsalves from eFilmCritic.com gave the film four out of five stars stating: "Blow isn't really a classic, but it's a sobering story well-told."

Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half out of four stars; he questioned the value of making Jung the subject of this film, stating: "That's the thing about George [Jung]. He thinks it's all about him. His life, his story, his success, his fortune, his lost fortune, his good luck, his bad luck. Actually, all he did was operate a toll gate between suppliers and addicts. You wonder, but you never find out, if the reality of those destroyed lives ever occurred to him." David Nusair of Reel Films also questioned making a film about Jung, stating "The biggest problem with Blow is that Jung is such a complete moron." Nusair concludes that while it "is not a bad film ... the central character of George Jung just doesn't seem worthy to be the center of attention."

Christopher Smith from Bangor Daily News gave the film a "D+", stating "Blow is ultimately more about charisma than it is about truth, more about Depp's smooth strut and tousled hair than it is about George Jung's fatal flaws—his stupidity, desperation, ego and small-town greed."

Penélope Cruz was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performances in Blow as well as Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Vanilla Sky.

title: Blow (film)


text:
Talk:Colbert County, Alabama

Untitled
Wondering how to edit this U.S. County Entry? The WikiProject U.S. Counties standards might help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ram-Man (talk • contribs) 16:22, 30 September 2002 (UTC)

External Link
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1318, that might be useful as an external link. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:17, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Date of Reestablishment
This is potentially confusing. For the record, the Colbert County website says:

 * It was not reestablished until 24 February 1870...

History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography by Thomas McAdory Owen (published 1921, public domain) says:

 * However, the legislature which convened in 1869, by an act of December 9th, authorized a vote to be taken in the county of Franklin to determine whether or not the ordinance referred to should be repealed. The election was held on January 6, 1870, and resulted in the reestablishment of the county, whereupon the governor issued his proclamation declaring the result; and under an act of February 4, 1870, J. C. Goodlove, Thomas Buchanan, Robert Matlock and James Abernathy were appointed commissioners to manage the county. Subsequently an act was passed February 18, 1870 directing the restoration of Franklin to Colbert County of all of the books, records, papers, documents or other property originally belonging to the latter. Tuscumbia was again named as the county seat, March 1, 1870 and an election ordered held the first Monday in March that year, at which the voters were to choose between Tuscumbia and Cherokee for the permanent seat of justice. The election resulted in the selection of the former.

It's not clear whether or not these dates are contradictory. --Joseph Hewes (talk) 06:25, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Colbert County, Alabama


text:
Talk:Conecuh County, Alabama

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Wondering how to edit this U.S. County Entry? The WikiProject U.S. Counties standards might help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ram-Man (talk • contribs) 16:23, 30 September 2002 (UTC)

Family Life
He was born in Saluda County, South Carolina, Mark and Jemima Travis in 1809; records differ as to whether his date of birth was the first or ninth of August, but the Travis family Bible indicates that he was born on the ninth.

At the age of nine, he moved with his family to the town of Sparta in Conecuh County, Alabama, where he received much of his education. He later enrolled in a school in nearby Claiborne, where he eventually worked as an assistant teacher.

Travis then became an attorney and, at age 19, married one of his former students, 16-year-old Rosanna Cato who he would later leave behind along with their children (1812-1848) on October 26, 1828. The couple stayed in Claiborne and had a son, Charles Edward, in 1829. Travis began publication of a newspaper that same year, the Claiborne Herald. He became a Mason, joining the Alabama Lodge No.3 - Free and Accepted Masons, and later joined the Alabama militia as adjutant of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Eighth Brigade, Fourth Division.

For unknown reasons, Travis fled Alabama in early 1831 to start over in Texas, leaving behind his wife, son, and unborn daughter. Travis and Rosanna were officially divorced by the Marion County courts on January 9, 1836 by Act no. 115. Their son was placed with Travis's friend, David Ayres, so that he would be closer to his father.

Rosanna married Samuel G. Cloud in Monroeville, Alabama, on February 14, 1836; she subsequently married David Y. Portis in 1843 in Texas (they both died of Yellow Fever in 1848). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.206.112.183 (talk) 21:07, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

External Link
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1315, that might be useful as an external link. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:19, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Conecuh County, Alabama


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Talk:Drexel University

Drexel in Popular Culture
Sam Hyde's prank Ted Talk seems to be notable enough in popular culture for it to be mentioned in the "in popular culture" section on Drexel University. This garnered quite a bit of media attention and has stayed culturally relevant many years later. I believe a brief acknowledgement is merited. 136.36.51.65 (talk) 23:43, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
 * What are readers supposed to learn about Drexel University from that incident? Did it have some kind of lasting or massive impact? ElKevbo (talk) 23:50, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Given how it changed the perception of Ted Talks for millions of people, I would say it certainly had a lasting impact. Many people associate Drexel University with that talk. Those reading this section would learn about a piece of Drexel's history. 136.36.51.65 (talk) 23:54, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I think you're really overselling the impact of this prank. We can see what other editors think. ElKevbo (talk) 00:02, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * There are several uploads of the prank on YouTube, which together have amassed millions of views. The top comment on the most viewed upload (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTJn_DBTnrY) is "This is one of the most incredible things ever done in front of an audience." 136.36.51.65 (talk) 00:25, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Agreed, the Ted Talk by Sam Hyde is probably the main reason most people have even heard of Drexel University. Schutsheer des Vaderlands (talk) 12:06, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * And your evidence for this claim is...? ElKevbo (talk) 14:28, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Drexel University


text:
Talk:Coosa County, Alabama

Untitled
Wondering how to edit this U.S. County Entry? The WikiProject U.S. Counties standards might help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ram-Man (talk • contribs) 16:24, 30 September 2002 (UTC)

External Link or Reference
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1313, that might be useful. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:26, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Coosa County, Alabama


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Talk:Covington County, Alabama

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External Link or Reference
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1317, that might be useful. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 17:43, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Jones County?
Who is "Jones," for whom the county was briefly named? 155.213.224.59 (talk) 19:52, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

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Talk:Crenshaw County, Alabama

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Wondering how to edit this U.S. County Entry? The WikiProject U.S. Counties standards might help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ram-Man (talk • contribs) 16:24, 30 September 2002 (UTC)

External Link
Hello, there is an article here, http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1342, that might be useful. Thanks, Justin --Duboiju (talk) 19:30, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

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Laura Serrano

Laura Serrano Garcia (born October 20, 1967, in Mexico City) is a Mexican boxer.

Serrano began boxing at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City, where she was studying to become a lawyer. She wanted to lose weight and stay in shape. She applied for a professional boxer's license in Mexico. After a short appearance in two episodes of the Volver a empezar soap opera, she went to Las Vegas, and on a pay per view card she challenged Christy Martin for the world title. It was her first fight as a professional and resulted in a draw.

Serrano's next fight was against world champion Deirdre Gogarty. She won by a knockout in seven rounds, in what was the first all women's boxing undercard held at the Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Serrano was supposed to box on the Julio César Chávez-Miguel Ángel González Pay Per View event's undercard in Mexico City. However, a ban from 1947 was found, forbidding women from boxing events in Mexico City. Thanks in part to Serrano's subsequent legal battle, the ordinance was dropped.

Serrano suffered a foot injury for which she underwent surgery, but in 1999 she came back and won a decision in her comeback bout. She then, on 2 September 1999, [details from her BoxRec page] met and defeated the world champion Tracy Byrd to become Mexico's first woman world boxing champion.

She defended her title against Cinthya Prouder (won in a unanimous decision after round 6), Alicia Ashley (won in a unanimous decision after round 8), Gina Greenwald (knockout in round 1) and Kelsey Jeffries (knockout in round 3), followed. The Jeffries fight resulted in Jeffries' first defeat.

On August 12, 2008, Serrano challenged Melissa Del Valle for the Junior Lightweight title. Once again, this world title attempt resulted in a draw (tie).

Serrano has won her last two world title defenses, both decisions, one in ten rounds in Las Vegas and another one, a six-round win in Phoenix.

Personal
As of 2005, she was engaged to be married. Serrano is also a lawyer.

During 2015, she was inducted as the first Mexican female boxer in the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame.

title: Laura Serrano


text:
Jochen Hippel

Andreas Jochen Hippel (born October 14, 1971) is a musician from Kirchheimbolanden in southwest Germany. He played one of the most prominent roles in computer music during the 16-bit microcomputer era, composing hundreds of tunes for games and demos. He was also an experienced Amiga programmer and ported many of Thalion Software's Atari ST titles. He no longer composes music for a living and in 2006 he was working in logistics.

Jochen's first computer music was a set of Christmas songs that he arranged in a rock style on his school's Commodore 64.

As a member of The Exceptions under the handle Mad Max, he wrote most of the music for their demos including the B.I.G. Demo (Best in Galaxy). The demo was essentially a large collection of C64 tunes that was ported across to the Atari ST's Yamaha YM2149 sound chip using Jochen's own driver to get the most out of it. Jochen then had to fix all the music in order to get it to sound correct on the ST as the YM2149 has no resonance filter, no Oscillator sync, no combined waveforms, no ASDR enveloping and no ring modulation, and it has fewer waveforms than the MOS Technology 6581. Composers (such as Rob Hubbard) used a lot of special effects in their music which was difficult to replicate on the ST's sound chip.

Another note of interest is that the B.I.G. demo contained an additional demo screen entitled "The Digital Department" containing 6 digital versions of C64 tunes. The sound routine used each channel of the YM2149 as a 4-bit DAC and played samples for each instrument. This is the first time music using PCM sample instruments is heard on the Atari ST, unfortunately only one more piece of music is ever written using this routine, albeit the 16-minute-long Knuckle Busters tune by Rob Hubbard. This appears as a guest screen in the Cuddly Demos (written by The Carebears) and was used to torment Richard Karsmakers of ST News who was promptly chained to a chair as the disk was formatted before his very eyes!

He worked as a freelance musician, doing music for many 16-bit games. He eventually joined Thalion Software as a programmer and musician. His musical track for the game Amberstar is considered among his best works, and the game and Hippel's music acquired a cult following. For in game music on the Amiga Jochen often stuck to chiptune-like sound – that became his trademark – instead of using more "realistic" instrument sounds that machine's support for digitized sound made possible. Title music for Wings of Death and Lethal Xcess are exceptions.

He has released an album called Give it a Try and has composed music for other albums including tracks on Immortal 2 and Immortal 3 Amiga Immortal.

Hippel was also a programmer, he created all of his own music tools and also ported most of Thalion's early Atari ST titles to the Amiga. Hippel also created the Amiga 7 voice replay routine which was used in several Thalion and Eclipse titles and later used by Chris Hülsbeck in his TFMX replay routine for the title music of Turrican 2 and Turrican 3 for which he wrote the in game loading music.

Video game music
Most songs which are for Atari ST only are conversions while works for both machines are usually Hippel's own compositions.

Data provided by Hall of Light, Atari Legend, Atarimania and Lemon Amiga games databases.

title: Jochen Hippel


text:
Pine Grove

Pine Grove or pinegrove may refer to:

British Columbia

 * Pinegrove, British Columbia

Nova Scotia

 * Pine Grove, Colchester County
 * Pine Grove, Lunenburg County

Ontario

 * Pine Grove, a community in Lanark Highlands, Ontario
 * Pine Grove, a community in Norfolk County, Ontario
 * Pine Grove, a community in North Glengarry, Ontario
 * Pine Grove, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, in southwestern Woodbridge, Ontario
 * Pine Grove Public School, Oakville, Ontario
 * Pinegrove, a community in McNab/Braeside

India

 * Pinegrove School, in Delhi, India

Alabama

 * Pine Grove, Alabama, in Baldwin County

California

 * Pine Grove, Amador County, California
 * Pine Grove, Lake County, California
 * Pine Grove, Mendocino County, California
 * Pine Grove, Sierra County, California, a ghost town

Illinois

 * Pine Grove, Grundy County, Illinois

Massachusetts

 * Pine Grove Cemetery (Leominster, Massachusetts)
 * Pine Grove Cemetery (Lynn, Massachusetts)

Michigan

 * Pine Grove Township, Michigan
 * Pine Grove Historical Museum, former estate of Governor Moses Wisner, Pontiac, Michigan

New York

 * Pine Grove, New York, a community in Watson, New York

Nevada

 * Pine Grove, Nevada, a ghost town near Yerington, Nevada

Oregon

 * Pine Grove, Hood River County, Oregon
 * Pine Grove, Klamath County, Oregon
 * Pine Grove, Wasco County, Oregon

Pennsylvania

 * Pine Grove Iron Works in Cumberland County
 * Pine Grove Furnace State Park
 * Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
 * Pine Grove Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
 * Pine Grove Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania
 * Pinegrove Township, Pennsylvania

Texas

 * Pine Grove, Texas

Virginia

 * Pine Grove, Virginia

West Virginia

 * Pine Grove, Fayette County, West Virginia
 * Pine Grove, Marion County, West Virginia
 * Pine Grove, Pleasants County, West Virginia
 * Pine Grove, Wetzel County, West Virginia

Wisconsin

 * Pine Grove, Brown County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
 * Pine Grove, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
 * Pine Grove, Portage County, Wisconsin, a town

Other

 * Pinegrove (band), an American indie rock band

title: Pine Grove


text:
Alex Haley

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history.

Haley's first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with Malcolm X.

He was working on a second family history novel at his death. Haley had requested that David Stevens, a screenwriter, complete it; the book was published as Queen: The Story of an American Family. It was adapted as a miniseries, Alex Haley's Queen, broadcast in 1993.

Early life and education
Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, on August 11, 1921, and was the eldest of three brothers (the other two being George and Julius) and a half-sister (from his father's second marriage). Haley lived with his family in Henning, Tennessee, before returning to Ithaca with his family when he was five years old. Haley's father was Simon Haley, a professor of agriculture at Alabama A&M University, and his mother was Bertha George Haley (née Palmer), who had grown up in Henning. The family had Mandinka, other African, Cherokee, Scottish, and Scottish-Irish roots. The younger Haley always spoke proudly of his father and the obstacles of racism he had overcome.

Like his father, Alex Haley was enrolled at Alcorn State University, a historically black college in Mississippi and, a year later, enrolled at Elizabeth City State College, also historically black, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The following year, he withdrew from college. His father felt that Alex needed discipline and growth, and convinced him to enlist in the military. On May 24, 1939, Alex Haley began what became a 20-year career in the United States Coast Guard.

Haley traced back his maternal ancestry, through genealogical research, to Jufureh, in The Gambia.

Coast Guard career
Haley enlisted as a mess attendant. Later he was promoted to the rate of petty officer third-class in the rating of steward, one of the few ratings open to black personnel at that time. It was during his service in the Pacific theater of operations that Haley taught himself the craft of writing stories. During his enlistment other sailors often paid him to write love letters to their girlfriends. He said that the greatest enemy he and his crew faced during their long voyages was not the Japanese forces but rather boredom.

After World War II, Haley petitioned the U.S. Coast Guard to allow him to transfer into the field of journalism. By 1949 he had become a petty officer first-class in the rating of a journalist. He later advanced to chief petty officer and held this rank until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1959. He was the first chief journalist in the Coast Guard, the rating having been expressly created for him in recognition of his literary ability.

Haley's awards and decorations from the Coast Guard include the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal (6 awards represented by 1 silver and 1 bronze service star), American Defense Service Medal (with "Sea" clasp), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Expert Marksmanship Medal. The Republic of Korea awarded him the War Service Medal, ten years after he died. The United States Coast Guard dedicated the cutter formerly known as USS Edenton to Haley by recommissioning it as USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) in July 1999. The cutter currently serves from Kodiak, Alaska.

Literary career
After retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard, Haley began another phase of his journalism career. He eventually became a senior editor for Reader's Digest magazine. Haley wrote an article for the magazine about his brother George's struggles to succeed as one of the first black students at a Southern law school.

Playboy magazine
Haley conducted the first interview for Playboy magazine. Haley elicited candid comments from jazz musician Miles Davis about his thoughts and feelings on racism in an interview he had started, but not finished, for Show Business Illustrated, another magazine created by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner that folded in early 1962. Haley completed the interview and it appeared in Playboy's September 1962 issue. That interview set the tone for what became a significant feature of the magazine. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Playboy Interview with Haley was the longest he ever granted to any publication.

Throughout the 1960s, Haley was responsible for some of the magazine's most notable interviews, including one with George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party. He agreed to meet with Haley only after gaining assurance from the writer that he was not Jewish. Haley remained professional during the interview, although Rockwell kept a handgun on the table throughout it. (The interview was recreated in Roots: The Next Generations, with James Earl Jones as Haley and Marlon Brando as Rockwell.) Haley also interviewed Muhammad Ali, who spoke about changing his name from Cassius Clay. Other interviews include Jack Ruby's defense attorney Melvin Belli, entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., football player Jim Brown, TV host Johnny Carson, and music producer Quincy Jones.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, was Haley's first book. It describes the trajectory of Malcolm X's life from street criminal to national spokesman for the Nation of Islam to his conversion to Sunni Islam. It also outlines Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride, black nationalism, and pan-Africanism. Haley wrote an epilogue to the book summarizing the end of Malcolm X's life, including his assassination in New York's Audubon Ballroom.

Haley ghostwrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X based on more than 50 in-depth interviews he conducted with Malcolm X between 1963 and Malcolm X's February 1965 assassination. The two men had first met in 1960 when Haley wrote an article about the Nation of Islam for Reader's Digest. They met again when Haley interviewed Malcolm X for Playboy.

The initial interviews for the autobiography frustrated Haley. Rather than discussing his own life, Malcolm X spoke about Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam; he became angry about Haley's reminders that the book was supposed to be about Malcolm X. After several meetings, Haley asked Malcolm X to tell him something about his mother. That question drew Malcolm X into recounting his life story.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X has been a consistent best-seller since its 1965 publication. The New York Times reported that six million copies of the book had sold by 1977. In 1998, Time magazine ranked The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of the 10 most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.

In 1966, Haley received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Super Fly T.N.T.
In 1973, Haley wrote his only screenplay, Super Fly T.N.T. The film starred and was directed by Ron O'Neal.

Roots
In 1976, Haley published Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a novel based on his family's history, going back to slavery days. It started with the story of Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped in The Gambia in 1767 and transported to the Province of Maryland to be sold as a slave. Haley claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte, and his work on the novel involved twelve years of research, intercontinental travel, and writing. He went to the village of Juffure, where Kunta Kinte grew up and listened to a tribal historian (griot) tell the story of Kinte's capture. Haley also traced the records of the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to the Americas.

Haley stated that the most emotional moment of his life occurred on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland, where his ancestor had arrived from Africa in chains exactly 200 years before. A memorial depicting Haley reading a story to young children gathered at his feet has since been erected in the center of Annapolis.

Roots was eventually published in 37 languages. Haley won a special Pulitzer Prize for the work in 1977. The same year, Roots was adapted as a popular television miniseries of the same name by ABC. The serial reached a record-breaking 130 million viewers. Roots emphasized that black Americans have a long history and that not all of that history is necessarily lost, as many believed. Its popularity also sparked a greatly increased public interest in genealogy.

In 1979, ABC aired the sequel miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations, which continued the story of Kunta Kinte's descendants. It concluded with Haley's travel to Juffure. Haley was portrayed at different ages by Kristoff St. John, The Jeffersons actor Damon Evans, and Tony Award winner James Earl Jones. In 2016, History aired a remake of the original miniseries. Haley appeared briefly, portrayed by Tony Award winner Laurence Fishburne.

Haley was briefly a "writer in residence" at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he began writing Roots. He enjoyed spending time at a local bistro called the Savoy in nearby Rome, where he would sometimes pass the time listening to the piano player. Today, there is a special table in honor of Haley at the Savoy, and a painting of Haley writing Roots on a yellow legal tablet.

Plagiarism lawsuits and other criticism

Roots faced two lawsuits that charged plagiarism and copyright infringement. The lawsuit brought by Margaret Walker was dismissed, but Harold Courlander's suit was successful. Courlander's novel The African describes an African boy who is captured by slave traders, follows him across the Atlantic on a slave ship, and describes his attempts to hold on to his African traditions on a plantation in America. Haley admitted that some passages from The African had made it into Roots, settling the case out of court in 1978 and paying Courlander $650,000. In his biography of Haley, the academic Robert J. Norrell uses court transcripts and eyewitness testimony to show the judge in this trial, Nixon-appointee Robert Ward, not only lacked experience but was hostile to the defendant. According to an anonymous source, Judge Ward made it clear he thought Haley incapable of writing Roots at all.

Genealogists have also disputed Haley's research and conclusions in Roots. The Gambian griot turned out not to be a real griot, and the story of Kunta Kinte appears to have been a case of circular reporting, in which Haley's own words were repeated back to him. None of the written records in Virginia and North Carolina line up with the Roots story until after the Civil War. Some elements of Haley's family story can be found in the written records, but the most likely genealogy would be different from the one described in Roots.

Haley and his work have been excluded from the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, despite his status as the United States' best-selling black author. Harvard University professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the anthology's general editors, has denied that the controversies surrounding Haley's works are the reason for this exclusion. In 1998, Dr. Gates acknowledged the doubts surrounding Haley's claims about Roots, saying, "Most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village whence his ancestors sprang. Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship."

In 2023, Jonathan Eig suggested that Haley had made a number of fabrications in his 1965 Playboy interview with Martin Luther King Jr., including embellishing his criticisms of Malcolm X.

Later life and death

Early in the 1980s, Haley worked with the Walt Disney Company to develop an Equatorial Africa pavilion for its Epcot Center theme park. Haley appeared on a CBS broadcast of Epcot Center's opening day celebration, discussing the plans and exhibiting concept art with host Danny Kaye. Ultimately, the pavilion was not built due to political and financial issues.

Late in the 1970s, Haley had begun working on a second historical novel based on another branch of his family, traced through his grandmother Queen; she was the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master.

He did not finish the novel before dying in Seattle, Washington, of a heart attack on February 10, 1992. He was buried beside his childhood home in Henning, Tennessee.

At his request, the novel was finished by David Stevens and was published as Alex Haley's Queen in 1993. Earlier the same year, it was adapted as a miniseries of the same name.

Late in Haley's life he had acquired a small farm in Clinton, Tennessee, although at the time it had a Norris, Tennessee address. The farm is a few miles from the Museum of Appalachia, and Haley lived there until his death. After he died, the property was sold to the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), which calls it the Alex Haley Farm. The nonprofit organization uses the farm as a national training center and retreat site. An abandoned barn on the farm property was rebuilt as a traditional cantilevered barn, using a design by architect Maya Lin. The building now serves as a library for the CDF.

Awards and recognition

 * In 1977, Haley earned a Pulitzer Prize Special Award for Roots ("Alex Haley, For Roots, the story of a black family from its origins in Africa through seven generations to the present day in America.")
 * In 1977 Haley received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, for his exhaustive research and literary skill combined in Roots.
 * In 1977, Haley received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
 * The food-service building at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center, Petaluma, California, was named Haley Hall in honor of the author.
 * In 1999 the Coast Guard honored Haley by naming the cutter USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) after him.
 * The U.S. Coast Guard annually awards the Chief Journalist Alex Haley Award, which is named in honor of the writer as the Coast Guard's first chief journalist (the first Coast Guardsman in the rating of journalist to be advanced to the rate of chief petty officer). It rewards individual authors and photographers who have had articles or photographs communicating the Coast Guard story published in internal newsletters or external publications.
 * In 2002 the Republic of Korea (South Korea) posthumously awarded Haley its Korean War Service Medal (created in 1951), which the U.S. government did not allow its service members to accept until 1999.

Works

 * The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), biography
 * Super Fly T.N.T. (1973), screenplay
 * Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976), novel
 * Alex Haley Tells the Story of His Search for Roots (1977) – 2-LP recording of a two-hour lecture
 * Palmerstown, U.S.A. (1980–1981), TV series
 * A Different Kind of Christmas (1988), stories
 * Queen: The Story of an American Family (1992), novel
 * Alex Haley: The Playboy Interviews (1993), collection
 * Never Turn Back: Father Serra's Mission (Stories of America) (1993), editor, stories
 * Mama Flora's Family (1998), novel

Collection of Alex Haley's personal works
The University of Tennessee Libraries Special Collections maintains a collection of Alex Haley's personal papers. The works contain notes, outlines, bibliographies, research, and legal papers documenting Haley's Roots through 1977. Of particular interest are the items showing Harold Courlander's lawsuit against Haley, Doubleday & Company, and various affiliated groups. Portions of Alex Haley's personal collection is also located at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center's Special Collections and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Keeper of the Word Foundation in Detroit, Michigan maintains Alex Haley's Coast Guard notes, writings, and love letter notes that developed Haley's writings. Along with the digital unpublished Autobiography of Malcolm X and Epilogue, omitted introduction and chapters, outline, letters, handwritten notes, Haley's complete interviews of Malcolm X's, poetry and edited notes, and digital rights.

Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial
In the city dock section of Annapolis, Maryland, there is a memorial to mark the arrival location of Kunta Kinte in 1767. The monument, dedicated on June 12, 2002, also celebrates the preservation of African-American heritage and family history.

Alex Haley Birthplace Memorial & Historical Marker
In May 1993, the Alex Haley Memorial Project in Ithaca, New York created a memorial pocket park at Alex Haley's birthplace in town, 212 Cascadilla Street; the park contains a carved granite marker and a hand-wraught iron bench with individual iron leaves made by community members. Funded by the Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County, the Alex Haley Memorial Project members also acquired a New York Historical Marker for the site, placed outside the 212 Cascadilla Street home in August 2020. Located nearby at 408 North Albany Street is the Alex Haley Municipal Pool, which also opened in 1993, immediately across the street from the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), one of the area's prominent community centers.

References cited

 * Originally published in Essence, November 1983.
 * Originally published in Essence, November 1983.
 * Originally published in Essence, November 1983.
 * Originally published in Essence, November 1983.
 * Originally published in Essence, November 1983.

title: Alex Haley