Audion, elementary form of radio tube developed in 1906 (patented 1907) by Lee De Forest of the United States. It was the first vacuum tube in which a control grid (in the form of a bent wire) was added between the anode plate and the cathode filament. The control grid enabled De Forest to modulate the current between the filament and the plate, producing the first successful electronic amplifier. With the development of multigrid tubes in the 1920s, the generic term audion fell into disuse and was replaced by more descriptive terminology. See also triode, tetrode, and pentode.

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