Lee DeForest, b. 1873. American pioneer in the invention of broadcast radio, talking pictures, and television. We watched this excellent PBS documentary a long time ago and need to watch it again:

In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.

John Buchan, b. 1875. Read George Grant’s brief but informative biographical entry on Buchan posted last year at King’s Meadow.

Albert Bruce Sabin, b. 1906. He invented the oral polio vaccine which replaced Salk’s injected vaccine.

Patricia Beatty, b. 1922. Author of mostly historical fiction for children and young adults. My favorites of her books are Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant about a turn-of-the-century preacher’s daughter who’s always in trouble and Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee about a young man whose little sister is captured by the Indians when he is supposed to be looking after her.