Leonard F. Fuller
- Birthdate
- 1890/08/21
- Birthplace
- Portland, OR, USA
- Associated organizations
- General Electric (GE)
- Fields of study
- Radio
- Awards
- IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award
Biography
Leonard F. Fuller, born in Portland, Oregon, August 21, 1890, was graduated from Cornell University in 1912 with the M.E. degree. Immediately thereafter he entered the employ of the National Signalling Company of Brooklyn, N. Y. A few months later he joined the staff of the Federal Telegraph Company at San Francisco and in 1913 was made chief electrical engineer of that Company.
The ensuing six years were very actively filled with the development and manufacture of Poulsen arc transmitters for the Army and Navy. A number of stations for trans-oceanic service were built for the Navy in the United States, France, Panama and across the Pacific to the Philippines. While this work was under way Dr. Fuller contributed several papers on radio subjects to the PROCEEDINGS of the Institute. He also continued his studies, taking graduate work at Stanford University, from which he received the Ph.D. degree in 1919. This same year he was awarded the Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize by the Institute for his contributions to long-distance radio communication.
After the need for arc stations ended with the war, Dr. Fuller left the Federal Telegraph Company in 1919 to organize the Colin B. Kennedy Company of San Francisco for the manufacture of radio receivers. He was engaged in the activities of this company and in private consulting practice, specializing in power company communication problems, until 1923. The next three years were spent in Schenectady and New York City in power company communication and radio receiver work. In 1926, Dr. Fuller returned to San Francisco for the General Electric Company in connection with new high voltage developments and the application of vacuum tubes to the problems of the light and power industry on the Pacific Coast.
Dr. Fuller was appointed a member of the Board of Direction of the Institute in January of 1928. He is Chairman of the San Francisco Section of the Institute, is a Fellow of both the Institute of Radio Engineers and the A.I.E.E., and a member of the American Physical Society.
