The saga of Harry Black

Ron Mancini - March 15, 2001

This story is true. I assembled it from conversations with several people, so some details may be
inexact. In 1934, the phone company gave Harry Black, the inventer of feedback, a tough problem to
solve (Reference 1). When phone lines extended long distances, the audio distorted or faded away,
depending on the ambient conditions of the line. Harry's job was to make the audio volume
independent of the ambient conditions. The factory compensated amplifier initial tolerances, but
ambient-temperature extremes on the phone poles, coupled with large power-supply variations,
caused distorted or low-volume audio.

Harry worked on the problem for a long while, and he came to the conclusion that you can achieve
stable amplifier gain only if the gain depends on passive components, because these components are
much more stable than active components. He thought of a different concept: Make amplifier gain
dependent on passive-component ratios, and, thereby, cancel out component or power-supply drift.
These thoughts came together during Harry's commute on a ferryboat, and he documented the first
feedback system while on the boat. Harry's discovery was great, but he did not stop with theory
because he had to produce hardware.

Harry needed an amplifier with 1000× greater gain bandwidth to prove his feedback concept, and
amplifier designers met this request with ridicule. When the amplifier designers found out that
Harry was going to use the excess gain and feedback to achieve the previous gain bandwidth, they
sniped at Harry because they did not understand his concept. Management supported Harry, and he
got the high-gain amplifiers. Instead of Harry's troubles ending with the high-gain amplifiers, they
started anew because Harry hadn't fully understood the instabilities (oscillations) inherent in
feedback circuits. Now, Harry had to solve the oscillation problem before he could produce stable
amplifiers, and his management had not signed on for this problem.

The phone company was filled with PhDs trying to make names for themselves, and, even in 1934, it
was a political environment. Harry was bombarded with sarcastic comments, rumors, and offers of
help, but he chose to get in the lab and solve the problem. While Harry was toiling away, others
were beginning to understand his theory and become interested in the feedback concept, but
management stayed on Harry's back, worrying him about the oscillation problems. Harry was
solving the problem and losing credibility at the same time.

Finally, Harry solved the oscillation problem, and the company shipped stable amplifiers to the field.
Although they were a great improvement over nonfeedback technology, they weren't perfect, so
Harry's enemies had a way to undermine his efforts. I would like to say that the story ends happily,
with Harry going on to a great career in electronics, but that wasn't the case. Harry spent years
defending himself from malicious comments aimed at undermining him and raising his competitors
to new heights of glory.

Harry Black discovered feedback, and he had the courage to back up his convictions with hardware.
He was persecuted by people who wanted to steal his ideas, skip hard work, or gain political position
by stepping on another person's back, and he was kept from his full glory by thieves and charlatans.

I regret to report that not much has changed in the electronics industry. The industry would eat poor
Harry alive today. The first adverse criticism of Harry would be that he is not a team player. Industry
insiders would then accuse him of poor planning because he did not foresee every facet of his
invention. They would chastise him because the project was behind schedule. Somebody would
remark that because competitors could use feedback, maybe it is a bad discovery. And, competitors
would steal his ideas. Harry, maybe you were better off before you discovered feedback!

Author info

Ron Mancini is a staff scientist at Texas Instruments. You can reach him at 1-352-568-1040,
rmancini@ti.com.

Black, HS, Stabilized Feedback Amplifiers, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol 13, January
1934.