thyratron

noun

thy·ra·tron ˈthī-rə-ˌträn

: a gas-filled hot-cathode electron tube in which the grid controls only the start of a continuous current thus giving the tube a trigger effect

Examples of thyratron in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Each quantizer employed five VT-109/2051 thyratrons. —

IEEE Spectrum, 25 Jan. 2019

Word History

Etymology

Greek thýra "door" + -tron — more at door

Note: The American physicist and electrical engineer Albert W. Hull (1880-1966) is credited with coinage of this word and several other names of electron tubes (as magnetron) ; see C.G. Suits and J.M. Lafferty, Albert Wallace Hull, 1880-1966, A Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1970.

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of thyratron was in 1929

See more words from the same year