History of the Vacuum Tube
The vacuum tube may be an almost unknown thing to many people born after the 1960s. With a history dating back to the turn of the century, vacuum tubes were once used prominently in home electronics and medical technology. Although they have been deemed relics of the past, they are beginning to show new signs of use as improvement in technology reinvented the vacuum tube.
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1800s
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Invented in 1875, the Phototube was the first vacuum tube. Within 20 years prototypes for the X-Ray tube, cathode-ray tube and the oscilloscope were invented.
Early 1900s
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By 1913 the first practical electron tube and X-Ray tube were developed. In 1906 the "triode" was invented as an improvement to the original electron tube.
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1920s
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RCA began the first commercial manufacturing of vacuum tubes. The Magnetron tube and the first tube scanning system for television were invented by 1922.
1938
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The klystron tube, invented in 1938, was the last major invention in vacuum tube technology for 60 years.
Post 1940s
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The transistor, invented in 1948, would become a viable replacement for the vacuum tube by the 1960s.
Microtubes
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Microscopic tubes, or Microtubes, were invented in the 1990s, bringing the use of vacuum tubes into modern technology.
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