Inventor. He was a Finnish inventor of the early 20th century, who was nicknamed the "Thomas Edison of Finland." As a nine-year-old boy in Helsinki, he saw the Lumière brothers' new film technology, and was inspired to put sound on silent movies. Born Erik Magnus Campbell Tigerstedt, he left home at the age of 16, but managed to support himself working with telephones and after going to Germany, finishing his education. From 1909 to 1911 he was educated at the Friedrichs-Polytechnikum, a private college in Germany. In Berlin in 1914, he presented to the scientific community his talking film, "Word and Film," which was never commercialized, yet is credited as the first talking movie. He had career failures one after another, such as his laboratory burning to the ground and very limited financial support. During World War I, Germany had invalidated all of his patents, but he was partially reimbursed after the war. He experimented with improving guns. He improved amplification by inventing the "triode vacuum valve" for directional loudspeakers. He also predicted inventions like the television and the mobile phone, the latter which he described in his 1917 patent as a "pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone." In total, he had 71 patents in several countries between the years of 1912 and 1924. In 1923 he relocated to the United States where he founded "The Tiger Manufacturing Company." He met American inventor Thomas Edison, who fully supported his research and wrote a letter of recommendation to the United States Department of Commerce. He exported products to Mexico. In April of 1924, he was seriously injured as a passenger in an automobile accident. With his health declining, he had a kidney removed that was infected with tuberculosis. The next year, he died from respiratory failure, after being diagnosed with tuberculosis complicated with pneumonia. His remains were cremated and his brother brought his ashes to Finland for burial in the family plot.