Fritz Langford-Smith


Fritz Langford-Smith was an Australian electrical engineer. He was the author of the classic engineering reference Radiotron Designer's Handbook. He was heavily involved in the science of communication and engineering research in England and in Australia. He was a long-term editor of the journal Radiotronics.

Education and career

Langford-Smith received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney in 1926. In 1928, he received a Bachelor of Engineering also from the UoS.
From 1929 to 1932, he was an engineer at Cosmos Lamp Works in the UK. From 1932 to 1956, he worked as an engineer at AWA Valve Co. From 1956 to 1963 he was an engineer with the English Electrical Co. in the UK.
From 1935 to 1950 he was editor of Radiotronics.

''Radiotron Designer's Handbook''

Fritz Langford-Smith was the author of Radiotron Designer's Handbook which was often called the "bible" of vacuum tubes and their circuits due to its sheer size and complete scope It was also sometimes known as "the big red book" due to its bright-red leather cover. It was first published 1934 and revised until 1967.
Although currently in print as a facsimile of the 1953 edition as revised up to 1967, various editions of the book have also been scanned and are freely available on the Internet.

Honorifics

Honorary Member of the Audio Engineering Society in 1959 for his Radiotron Designer's Handbook for "its importance in the education of a generation of audio engineers."

Works