Leonard F. Fuller

Who was Leonard F. Fuller?

Dr. Leonard F. Fuller was a noted American radio pioneer.

Fuller was born in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Portland Academy in 1908, and in 1912 graduated from Cornell University with an M.E. degree. He then joined the National Electric Signaling Company, Brooklyn, New York, switching after a few months to the Federal Telegraph Company at San Francisco, becoming its chief engineer in 1913.

From 1913-1919 he led development and manufacture of very large Poulsen arc transmitters for the Army and Navy, which were then installed in stations for trans-oceanic communications in the United States, France, Panama, Hawaii, and across the Pacific to the Philippines. He was a member of the National Research Council's antisubmarine group in World War I, and also continued his studies at Stanford University, receiving Stanford's first Ph.D. granted in electrical engineering in 1919.

From 1919-1923 Fuller manufactured radio receivers at the Colin B. Kennedy Company, San Francisco, which he founded, and performed private consulting in communications for electrical power companies.