History of electronic engineering on to develop the first practical and widely used radio wave based communication system. In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming, the first professor of electrical Engineering at University College London, invented the first radio tube, the diode. Then, in 1906, Robert von Lieben and Lee De Forest independently developed the amplifier tube, called the triode. Electronics is often considered to have begun with the invention of the triode. Within 10 years, the device was used in radio transmitters and receivers as well as systems for long distance telephone calls. The invention of the triode amplifier, generator, and detector made audio communication
Triode in mass-marketed consumer electronics, having been overtaken by less expensive transistor-based solid-state devices. However, more recently, vacuum tubes have been making somewhat of a comeback. Triodes continue to be used in certain high-power RF amplifiers and transmitters. While proponents of vacuum tubes claim their superiority in areas such as high-end and professional audio applications, empirical evidence shows that the solid-state MOSFET is virtually identical in performance. In triode datasheets, characteristics linking the anode current (I) to anode voltage (V) and grid voltage (V) are usually given. From here, a circuit designer can choose the operating point of the particular triode.