Karl Ferdinand Braun

Karl Ferdinand Braun (/braʊn/; German: [ˈfɛʁdinant ˈbʁaʊ̯n] ^ⓘ; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio with his 2 circuit system, which made long range radio transmissions and modern telecommunications possible, and with his invention of the phased array antenna in 1905, which led to the development of radar, smart antennas, and MIMO. Before that, he built the first cathode-ray tube in 1897, which led to the development of television, and the first semiconductor device in 1874, which co-started the development of electronics and electronics engineering.

Braun shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi "for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".

He was a founder of Telefunken, one of the pioneering communications and television companies, and has been called the "father of television" (shared with inventors like Paul Gottlieb Nipkow), the "great grandfather of every semiconductor ever manufactured", and a co-father of radio telegraphy, together with Marconi, laying the foundation for all modern wireless systems.