Fleming's Vacuum Tube Rectifier Lapis T-Shirt

Vacuum tube, diode - an invention of sir John Ambrose Fleming. Fleming undertook research of the thermionic emission effects discovered and patented in 1883 by Edison - the current flow between electric lamp's filament and external electrode. He discovered that the flow is possible only when the electrode has positive potential with respect to the filament. Based on this discovery he developed the first two-electrode vacuum tube - a diode. The tube was an "instrument for converting alternating electric currents into continuous currents". Fleming proved its usefulness as a radio wave detector which was what he was working at, at the time, at Marconi's company. The T-shirt is a part of the Breakthrough invention collection created to commemorate key discoveries of science and technology. It presents a drawing from the original patent application.