Emile Berliner, noted Jewish inventor of this city, who invented the microphone, which made possible the commercial use of the telephone and radio broadcasting, and who also invented the phonograph disc record now in current use, has been awarded the Franklin Medal by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the highest honor presented by that body. The presentation will be made in Philadelphia on Monday. Berliner’s ushering in of the telephone and radio age through his discovery of the tonal characteristics of the loose contacts and his application of them to telephony is one of his three achievements for which the Franklin Institute is to honor him, 59 years after his arrival from Germany as a poor immigrant lad.
In addition to the telephone transmitter and the disc record, Berliner has also made important contributions to improving acoustics in halls and buildings through his invention of acoustic tiles.
The medal of the Franklin Institute is considered a great distinction in the scientific world. Dr. Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, professor of natural philosophy at Cambridge University. England, Nobel Prize winner, will also receive the Franklin Institute’s medal on the same occasion.
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