Ernest Fisk
{{Short description|English Australian radio pioneer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Ernest Fisk
| image = SLNSW 25196 Visit to AWA works by Governor General.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Ernest Fisk (right) with Governor-General Gowrie during a factory tour in 1939
| birth_name = Ernest Thomas Fisk
| birth_date = 8 August 1886
| birth_place = Sunbury, Middlesex, England
| death_date = 8 July 1965
| death_place = Roseville, New South Wales Australia
| nationality =
| education = Marconi Training School, University of Sydney
| occupation = Businessman and entrepreneur, TV/radio engineer
| known_for = Founder, later managing director & chairman of AWA
Managing director of EMI
| awards = see: Honours}}
Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk (8 August 1886{{spaced ndash}}8 July 1965) was an English Australian businessman and entrepreneur, TV and radio engineer, he was the founder (1913) and later managing director (1916) and chairman (1932) of AWA. In 1944 was appointed managing director of the EMI music empire.{{cite book|last=Goot|first=Murray|title=Fisk, Sir Ernest Thomas (1886–1965)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fisk-sir-ernest-thomas-6177/text10617|publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}[https://archive.today/20130629090036/http://www.ieeeghn.com/wiki/index.php/IEEE_New_South_Wales_Section_History IEEE New South Wales Section History] – IEEE Global History Network.
Biography
=Early life and training=
Born the second child of Thomas Harvey Fisk and Charlotte Harritte Holland, he was educated at local Australian schools, although also enrolled at the United Kingdom College, a private London coaching college, he subsequently attended the University of Sydney in 1917, to do a diploma course in the Department of Economics and Commerce.
In June 1906, Fisk joined the Marconi Training School, and at Liverpool and Chelmsford, learnt morse code and wireless technology, qualifying as a radio operator and engineer.
Career
{{expand section|January 2023|date=January 2023}}
Fisk from selling newspapers, graduated in engineering in the works of Frederick Walton, before becoming one of the first telegraphists at the British Post Office.
from 1909 he worked at American Marconi, demonstrating wireless technology
When first visiting Australia in mid-1910 he demonstrated the Marconi Apparatus for the Orient Steam Navigation Company.
22 September 1918 he proved the possibility of direct radio communication from the UK to Australia by Billy Hughes and Sir Joseph Cook, receiving the first such message at his Sydney home, "Lucania".{{cite web|title=Ernest Fisk and the first wireless telegraphy from the UK to Australia |url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/natural_world/.../people_places/north/professionals/fisk/index.html |publisher=State Library of New South Wales |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102200034/http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/natural_world/.../people_places/north/professionals/fisk/index.html |archive-date=2014-01-02 }} A memorial was erected on 14 December 1935 to celebrate the achievement.
In August 1919, Sydney received its first demonstration of radio telephony.
Throughout his career he held many key positions in the electronics industry.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105760297|title=Pioneer of radio dies|date=1965-07-10|work=Canberra Times|access-date=2018-09-19|pages=4}} In the 1950s he predicted that color televisions would be in world-wide use within 30 years, and solar power would be used to cool and heat houses.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79258898|title=EXPERT FORECASTS AIR-CONDITIONED HOMES BY SOLAR RAY USE|date=1956-01-12|work=Central Queensland Herald|access-date=2018-09-19|pages=11}}
Fiskville, Victoria, about 10 kilometres south of Ballan, is named after him. From 1927 to 1969 it was the location of the shortwave wireless transmitting complex operated by AWA as part of the Imperial Wireless Chain.{{cite web|title=Former Australian Beam Wireless Transmitting Station|url=http://eheritage.metadata.net/record/VIC-44704|website=Australian e-Heritage Portal|access-date=2016-08-28}}
Honours
source: Australian Dictionary of Biography
In 1933, he was invested to the Order of the Crown of Italy
Fisk received the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935
Fisk was knighted on 11 May 1937.[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1083786 It's an Honour]. Retrieved 15 July 2013
Gallery
File:Ernest Fisk house 01.jpg|Ernest Fisk's house "Lucania", Wahroonga, Sydney, Australia. Site of the first wireless message from Wales to Australia, 22 September 1918.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918.jpg|The monument erected 14 December 1935.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 2.jpg|The monument.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 3.jpg|The monument with "Lucania" behind.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 4.jpg|Detail of inscription on the monument Part I.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 5.jpg|Detail of inscription on the monument Part II.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 6.jpg|Detail of inscription on the monument Part III.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 7.jpg|Bicentennial plaque celebrating the achievement 70 years later in 1988.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web|last=Given |first=Jock |title=Empire State: Ernest Fisk and the World Wide Wireless|date=12 February 2012 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/empire-state/3793124|publisher=Radio National - Hindsight}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisk, Ernest Thomas}}
Category:Australian Knights Bachelor