Harold Alden Wheeler: a lifetime of applied electronics

Abstract

The career of electronics engineer Harold Alden Wheeler, born in 1903 who contributed to the development of radio, television, and radar, is profiled. He experimented with radio in the days before broadcasting, and in 1922 he began a long-lasting association with the radio engineer Alan Hazeltine. In 1925 Wheeler made his most famous invention, a circuit that achieves automatic volume control (now called automatic gain control). It soon became, and remains today, a standard features of AM radios. In the 1920s and 1930s Wheeler made many other contributions, both practical and theoretical, to circuit design for radio receivers-AM, FM, and shortwave-and for television receivers. He excelled in the development of test equipment. During and after World War II, the design of antennas and of transmission lines become specialties of Wheeler's. His many honors include the Morris N. Liebmann Award, the Armstrong Medal of the Radio Club of America, and the IEEE Medal of Honor. >