This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
First sealed-off travelling wave tube, made by Rudolf Kompfner, England, 1945-1946.
Rudolph Kompfner, an Austrian-born physicist who emigrated to Britain in 1933, invented the travelling wave tube during 1942 at Birmingham University, and subsequently developed it at Clarendon Laboratories, Oxford, and with J R Pierce at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. The first practical application of travelling wave tubes was in terminal and repeater stations which relayed BBC television programmes between Manchester and Edinburgh. A travelling wave tube was used on board the Telstar satellite, launched in 1963, transmitting the first television pictures across the Atlantic through space.
On display
Science Museum: Information Age Gallery: Constellation
If you are visiting to see this object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.
Details
- Category:
- Electronic Components
- Object Number:
- 1952-369
- Materials:
- copper (alloy), glass, plastic (unidentified)
- Measurements:
-
widest point: 860 mm 40 mm, .241 kg
narrowest point: 860 mm 15 mm,
- type:
- thermionic valve
- taxonomy:
-
- component - object
- credit:
- Donated by K. Kompfner
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
Download 
manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.
