The first triode was ordered by Lee de Forest who instructed the New York automobile lamp maker, H. W. Candless, to make a glass bulb containing a "grid" wire between a filament and an electrode plate. These specifications extended the Fleming two-element diode valve design previously published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. The third element - the grid wire - regulated the flow of electrons between the filament and the anode plate, producing an amplification of the variations in a signal voltage applied to the grid. De Forest named his invention the "Audion." Within a few years (1913-1917) he was able to profit from his patents that he sold to AT&T for a total of $390,000.

The unfolding story of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon is being given to the public with more than 500,000 intercepted pager messages (many from US officials) published online in the order in which they were sent. The messages will begin at 8am GMT, and continue for 24 hours until all of the messages are distrubuted. Wikileaks will be including pager messages that were sent on the day by officials in the Pentagon, the New York police and witnesses to the collapse of the twin towers.