Lee Deforest
Inventor
Scientist and engineer who earned 180 patents over his lifetime, including the Audion and the triode vacuum tube, which made radio broadcasting possible. In his long career he founded over twenty companies and directed short films.
At Yale University, he tinkered with the campus's electrical grid, which caused the whole place to black out and earned him a suspension.
His improved vacuum tube allowed the first wireless broadcasts, which he made from his experimental radio station.
Seeing his young son's talent, his father enrolled him in Mt. Hermon School for Boys, in Massachusetts.
A distant relative of mine, Calvert DeForest was a frequent guest on David Letterman's show.