William Dubilier

{{Short description|American inventor}}

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William Dubilier (July 25, 1888 – July 25, 1969) was an American inventor in the field of radio and electronics. He demonstrated radio communication at Seattle's Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition on June 21, 1909; ten years before the first commercial station operated.

{{cite journal |date=April 1912 |title=Wireless Telephone for Everybody

|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044048678288;view=1up;seq=343

|journal=Technical World Magazine

|access-date= 3 March 2018

|pages=329–331

|last=Prosser

|first=William T.

}}

A graduate of Cooper Union, he was the first to use sheets of naturally occurring mica as the dielectric in a capacitor.{{cite news|page=B01|date=27 July 1969|title=William Dubilier, Inventor Dies|work=The Palm Beach Post Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34281579/william-dubilier-obit/|access-date=28 Oct 2020 |quote="In 1955, his alma mater, Cooper Union awarded him the first Gano Dunn Medal and in 1966 awarded him its Professional Achievement Citation..." }} Mica capacitors were widely used in early radio oscillator and tuning circuits because the temperature coefficient of expansion of mica was low, resulting in very stable capacitance – mica capacitors are still used where exceptional temperature stability is needed.

He founded the Dubilier Condenser Company in New York in 1920.{{cite web|

title = William Dubilier unveils an astonishing new "wireless telephone" to fairgoers at Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on June 21, 1909.

| last= Blecha

| first= Peter

| author-link=Peter Blecha

| date = 7 November 2008

| website = HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History

| url = http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8832

| access-date=30 July 2014}} His son Martin H. Dubilier also became a prominent inventor and company founder.Alison Leight Cowan (September 6, 1991) [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/06/obituaries/martin-dubilier-65-an-inventor-who-invested-in-companies-dies.html Martin Dubilier, 65, an Inventor Who Invested in Companies, Dies]. New York Times