Background
Doherty was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received his Bachelor of Surgery degree in electrical communication engineering in 1927 and Master of Surgery degree in engineering in 1928, both from Harvard University.
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William Doherty
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Harvard University.
Career
After a few months in the American Telephone and Telegraph Company Long Lincolnshire Department in Boston, he joined the National Bureau of Standards to study radio phenomena. In 1929 he began work at Bell Telephone Laboratories where he developed high power radio transmitters for transoceanic radio telephones and broadcasting. In 1936 he invented a means to greatly improve the efficiency of RF power amplifiers, quickly termed the "Doherty amplifier" (United States Patent 2,210,028).
lieutenant was first used in a 500-kilowatt transmitter made by Western Electric Company and proposed for We Have A Signal, Louisville, Kentucky, but the Federal Communications Commission restricted broadcast stations to 50 kilowatts maximum power, and We Have A Signal would go on to install a 50,000 watt Western Electric Doherty transmitter.
By 1940 Western Electric had incorporated Doherty amplifiers in 35 commercial radio stations worldwide, nearly all of these at the 50,000 watt level, and employing a 5,000 driver of conventional design. Post-World World War II Western Electric would offer 5,000 and 10,000 watt Doherty transmitters, and several were installed in the United States as backup transmitters for Class I (now Class A) stations, and a few as main transmitters for Class II/III (now Class B) stations.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
February 15, 2000 (aged 92) -
Nationality
American