Spectral lines: A centennial hall of fame

Abstract

At the turn of the century, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers was not yet 16 years old. Yet the young society decided to poll its members to see which inventors were deemed to be the most important contributors to a profession that was clearly still in its infancy. In response to the poll, some 227 members voted for those whom they thought most significant, and the results were published as a list of “Greatest Names in Electrical Science and Invention during the Nineteenth Century.”