Amazon Science Takes Over Billboard in Times Square Celebrating Our Very Own Edwin Armstrong

As part of Pi Day celebrations, Amazon Science took over a billboard in Times Square celebrating scientists, engineers, and mathematicians past, present, and future. During this promotion, they highlighted that the FM Radio was developed by Edwin Armstrong, an electrical engineering professor from our department.

Edwin Armstrong developed FM radio on Columbia's campus at 1150 Amsterdam Avenue in New York. During an IRE conference in 1935, he described FM radio “and then turned on his receiver in front of the audience. An FM transmission … came in totally free of static and, thanks to the wide audio spectrum being used, with a fidelity never heard before. A stunned audience listened to a live music performance transmitted with remarkable clarity and to a series of sounds, such as a glass of water being poured or a piece of paper being torn — which would have been unrecognizable over AM radio.”

For information on all scientists that were featured click here.