Who Was Fessenden  -  Some Answers

FESSENDEN, Reginald Aubrey (1866-1932) Canadian radio engineer and inventor, born in East Bolton, Quebec and educated in Canada, moved first to Bermuda where he developed an interest in science and then to New York (1886) where he met Thomas Edison and became the Chief Chemist in his research laboratories in New Jersey.

By 1892 he had returned to academic life, first at Purdue University and then as Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh (1893-1900) where he began to pursue his major research interest in radio communication.

Of his more than 500 patents the one of most fundamental importance was his invention of amplitude modulation, through which, on Christmas Eve 1906, he was able to broadcast the first ever American radio programme from the transmitter he had built at Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

Wikipedia supplies a useful overview of Fessenden's career and too supplies an interesting article about the Niagra Falls power plant which Fessenden was asked to help engineer in 1904.