Lee
De Forest was the son of a Congregational minister. His father moved the family to Alabama he took up residency and later became the president of a college named Talladega that was designed specifically for black students, a college that was almost on the brink of bankruptcy. The De Forest family was not well received by citizens of the white populated neighbourhood, these people resented his father's efforts to edify blacks, and what made it worst all, of the many friends Lee De Forest had; they were mainly of the black race. One can just imagine the ambiguity that developed in the neighbourhood. Still being inquisitive he had a strong interest in science, and of course, this train of thought was not his father's wish at all, he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a clergyman preaching the gospel. Nonetheless, Lee De Forest was not interested: he had a vision of what he wanted as a career, and he was very insistent on being a scientist. Lo and behold, his wish was granted as he took up enrolment in the year of 1893 at the college of the Sheffield Scientific School of the Yale University an intuition that was known to deliver a top class education in science. Prudent and conscientious, he complemented his learning and made a minimal amount of pocket money from tedious unskilled jobs during his college years. |
