The USS Fessenden was named for Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, an American Physicist and engineer, who was claimed by some to be "the greatest wireless inventor of the age - "greater than Marconi." The son of New England parentage, Rev. E.J. and Clementine (Trenholme) Fessenden, he was born in Milton, Providence of Quebec, Canada, October 6, 1866. Educated at Bishops College in Quebec, he became principal of Whitney Institute, Bermuda in 1885. from 1885 to 1887 he worked with Thomas A. Edison as Inspector Engineer, Edison Machine Works, and was Head Chemist at the Edison Laboratories, East Orange, New Jersey, 1887 ? 1890. In 1890 he began concentrating on Electrical Engineering and became Electrician for Westinghouse Electric and Engineering Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in 1891 at Perdue University, in Indiana, he became Professor of Electrical Engineering. After 2 years he returned to Pittsburgh and served in the same capacity at Western University of Pennsylvania, (University of Pittsburgh). Through these years he made some important inventions and improvements in existing devices. His great contributions in the fields of radio, radar and sonar were of marked benefit not only to the Navy, but to all seamen. Without his accomplishments, the course of history might well have been altered. In all he had over 500 patents in his lifetime. Noted for his early radio experiments, his wireless work began in 1898. His first wireless experiments were carried on off the Atlantic coast at North Carolina and Virginia. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was the Father of Radio Broadcasting.
The Wright Brothers were experimenting nearby with airplanes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and the three inventors became close friends. At Brant Rock, Massachusetts, one of the earliest wireless stations was erected. Two other stations were built, one in Scotland and one in Florida. His experiments resulted in a radio receiver which was reputed to be two thousand times more sensitive than Marconi's. In 1900 he demonstrated the first radio voice transmission. Until then radio messages had been sent by "dot dash" code. By 1906 he broadcast phonograph music, and on December 24, 1906, from Brant Rock, transmitted by telegraph key, TF", which means message to follow" in Morse code, then broadcast playing "0 Holy Night" on his violin. this was heard by telegraph operators on ships hundreds of miles away. Also he was special agent for the U.S. Weather Bureau from 1890 to 1902, and from 1902 to 1910, he was General Manager, National Electrical Signaling Company. Professor Fessenden declared that the first aerial telephone was used in 1900, and the first transmission by this means was carried out in 1905. In 1912 he was awarded $406,175 in a lawsuit against the National Electrical Signaling Company as compensation for his services, and for some of his inventions.
Fessenden invented Sonar! A device upon which all echo sounding and echo-ranging is based, the Fessenden Oscillator. From this invention is the principle of which all modern echo? ranging, both sonar and radar, rests. In 1910 he became Consulting Engineer, Submarine Signal Company. His contributions in this field were the fathometer direction finder, other electrical and radio devices and compasses and a turbo electric drive for battleships. Professor Fessenden solved the problem of sending intelligible messages through the water with one of the most ingenious electromagnet devices ever conceived!! In October, 1929 the Scientific American Gold Medal was awarded him for promoting safety at sea.
Professor Fessenden died July 22, 1932 at his home in Bermuda. His wife, the former Helen May Troit and their son, Reginald Kenneley Fessenden survived him. Home, North Norton, Massachusetts. Toward the end of his life he was on a research team working to develop picture radio television. )
>