Evernheard of Hell? I hadn’t, either, but he is considered by some to be one of the mostnimportant German inventors of all time!
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RudolphnHell, who was born in Eggmuhl, Germany, on this date in 1901,ninvented the Photoelectric Image Scanning Tube (TV camera tube), thenKlischograph half-tone photo-engraver (which revolutionized printednpress technology), the first practical fax machine, a color scanner,nand a computerized type-setter. Plus more!
RudolphnHell, who was born in Eggmuhl, Germany, on this date in 1901,ninvented the Photoelectric Image Scanning Tube (TV camera tube), thenKlischograph half-tone photo-engraver (which revolutionized printednpress technology), the first practical fax machine, a color scanner,nand a computerized type-setter. Plus more!n
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nHellnhas several nicknames: he has been called the Edison of the GraphicsnIndustry, the Father of Digital Word Processing, and Engineer of thenCentury. n
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nHisnHellschreiber is still used by amateur radio (Ham) operators aroundnthe world.
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nFaxn= Facsimile
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| Hellschreiber |
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nAnfax machine takes all the information from one piece of paper—text,nphotos, drawings—and sends it digitally over a phone line to benprinted (by another fax machine) on another piece of paper. Perhapsnone half a world away! n
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nThenword fax comes from shortening “facsimile machine,” whichnis what we used to call the thing a million years ago when it wasnfirst invented. Once the name was shortened, it became insanelynpopular.
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nIndon’t know why we in America called the machine a “facsimilenmachine” in the first place—it isn’t as if a French or Italiannman invented the first practical version of the thing! But…maybenit’s just as well. If we ran around calling the machinesnHellschreibers and then shortened that name—well, itnwould seem very odd to ask, “Do you have a Hell machine?”nor “Can I have your Hell number? I’ll Hell you thencontract immediately.”
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(InnGerman, hell means light, bright, pale, or light-colored.)
(InnGerman, hell means light, bright, pale, or light-colored.)n
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nEvennin German, the machines are called der Fax, and the process ofnusing such a machine is termed faxen. Many more recent wordsnand words for newer technologies are the same around the world. Fornexample, the word for fax IS fax, not just in German, but also innlanguages as varied as Hebrew, Spanish, and Japanese; it is the verynsimliar faks in Afrikaans and faksi in Swahili.
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nTonlearn how a fax machine works, check out eHow.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nSaint Nicholas Day in the Ukraine
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nIt’snstill time for LasnPosadas!
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nAnniversarynof Samuel Clemens’s first patent
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nBynthe way, if you want to read the opinion of Samuel Clemens (betternknown as Mark Twain) on the language of today’s birthday boy, checknout “The Awful German Language.”
