Sir John Ambrose Fleming

Sir John Ambrose Fleming was born on November 29, 1849 in Lancaster, Lancashire. Every year he could hear less and less. He went to University College in London and Cambridge University.

Fleming worked with Thomas Alva Edison’s company. Fleming worked with Edison on sending messages across the Atlantic Ocean. John was an engineer and physicist.

Sir John Ambrose Fleming

John was a devout Christian and preached on one occasion at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on the topic of evidence for the resurrection. In 1932, along with Duglass Dewar and Bernard Acworth, he helped establish the Evolution Protest Movement.

Sir John Ambrose Fleming

He was a very good teacher. However, it was hard for him to answer questions in class. He could not hear the questions enough to answer them. To solve this problem Fleming created his own assisted listening device. He attached earphones to a microphone. When the student needed to talk to him the person talked into the microphone and he listened with the earphones. This was an important development for the hard of hearing person.

Sir John Ambrose Fleming

The diode vacuum tube was Fleming's another important discovery for both the hearing and the Deaf. This discovery led to the invention of the television, radar, and computer.

Fleming was a noted author with at least 21 books to his credit. He was an accomplished photographer and, in addition, he painted watercolours and enjoyed climbing in the Alps.

F

Sir John Ambrose Fleming

In 1929 Fleming became a knight.

He died on April 18, 1945.

He was in Sidmouth,

Devon, England when he died.

Sir John Ambrose Fleming

Honors

Fellow of the Royal Society

Hughes Medal

Faraday Medal

Gold Medal of Honor of the Institute of Radio EngineersBrittain, James. (1998). John A. Fleming and the Fleming Valve. In Proceedings of the IEEE. 86(7).

Lang, H. G., & Meath-Lang, B. (1995). Sir John Ambrose Fleming. In A Biographical Dictionary: Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences (pp.122-125). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Creative Communication