Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Thermionic
/ˌθɜːrmiˈɒnɪk/adjective
Relating to the emission of electrons from a heated surface, as in a vacuum tube.
The Greek roots
θέρμη
thérmē
heat
ἰόν
ión
going
Literally: “heat-going”
The story of the word
Faraday named the ion in 1834 on Whewell's advice, taking the neuter participle of ἰέναι, to go, because the thing went through the solution. Owen Richardson attached heat to it around 1909 for the electrons boiling off a hot filament, and won the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physics for the law that governs them. Every valve radio, every cathode ray tube and every early computer ran on that glow.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- early 20th century
Same family
ionthermometerthermalanioncation
In a sentence
The museum keeps one thermionic valve lit so visitors can see the filament.