We don’t see it in this part of the world, but Google has made a great Google Doodle for Hidetsugu Yagi’s 130th Birthday.  Google writes:

Today we celebrate Hidetsugu Yagi’s 130th birthday, and thank him for keeping our television and radio signal coming in loud and clear. Because of the Yagi antenna, radios and televisions can receive stronger signals from a specific direction, which helps avoid interference from surrounding signals.

Hidetsugu Yagi was a Japanese electrical engineer. He and his colleague Shintaro Uda developed and spread the technology for this antenna together, which is why the full name is the Yagi-Uda antenna. Their invention was patented in 1926 and is used today on millions of houses throughout the world for radio and television reception. If you look outside, you can probably see one or two of these right in your neighborhood—maybe even on your own roof!

Below, you can see Doodler Alyssa Winans’ early sketch animations of how quickly, and broadly, Yagi and Uda’s new technology was adopted.

Happy Birthday Mr Yagi and a concurrent nod of respect to the underappreciated Mr Uda from all of us in the Amateur community – you and your amazing work will always be remembered!