1896

Diode bridge

• Karol Pollak
• invented the diode bridge
• also known as the Graetz bridge
• or the bridge rectifier.
• An arrangement of diodes
• that permit current in only one direction
• converts alternating current
• into direct current.

Graetz bridge

• Leo Graetz popularized Pollak’s bridge
• and was German instead of Polish
• assuming that had anything to do with it.

Surplus bridge

• My father once showed me one
• and I held it in my hand
• not as a component of a circuit
• but as a work of sculpture
• with a hidden purpose
• that was no longer needed.