Vintage Images Of Televisions

The Birth Of Television

Television entertainment has become an important part of popular culture, since it was established as the most captivating mass audio-visual medium for modern society by the late 1950s, moreover, television continues to entrance millions of ever-growing audiences from across the globe. However, according to certain sources, the birth of television is attributed to several famous scientists, in particular, in 1843, Alexander Bain who was a Scottish inventor, became the first person to receive a British patent for the electronic printing telegraph, which is known today as the facsimile machine. The early invention of scanning pictures electronically and then transmitting them across telephone lines developed quickly from the mid-19th century. Eventually, in 1873, Willoughby Smith (English electrical engineer) became the first person to discover the photoconductivity of a component known as selenium. This discovery eventually led to the creation of photoelectric cells, and the technology to transport several types of electronic images as well as motion-pictures across telephone lines.

Motion Pictures

The kinetoscope was an early rudimentary viewing device for silent motion-pictures that was created around 1888, by English inventor William Kennedy Dickson, an employee of famous American inventor Thomas Edison. Originally, the kinetoscope was designed to be a stationary exhibition mechanism, which had the appearance of a large wooden cabinet of about 4 feet tall by 1.5 feet wide, and weighed approximately 453 kg with a small flat magnifying lens window at the top, which was designed to be viewed by one person. Meanwhile, in France on 13 February 1895, French brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière were the first to invent and patent, silent motion pictures on a large screen by way of a screen projector, and this device was called a cinématographe, said to be the first commercially successful movie projection mechanism in history. Unlike its predecessor (the kinetoscope) the cinématographe was a much lighter device about 5 kg, but it was built to be transportable, with a simple to use hand lever. Importantly, the cinématographe was the first film projector that combined a projector, a recorder, and a film printer in one device. When this innovation was first introduced it received worldwide acclaim, and it was widely considered to be the birth of cinema. However, the revolutionary concept of television, which was founded on a different type of technology, which made a greater impact on societies across the globe. The word television was coined by a Russian scientist called Constantin Perskyi, after he had read a section of his written work on this subject at the International World Fair in Paris on 24 August 1900. The term television is derived from the Greek word 'tele' meaning 'far-off' and the Latin word 'visio' meaning 'sight'. The evolution of television has been credited to many esteemed scientists, each of whom has made various important contributions to its overall development over many generations.

Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (born 1860 - died 1940): Polish-German TV Component Inventor

Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow (born 1860 - died 1940) was a Polish-German engineer and inventor, credited with the invention of the Nipkow disk, which was a fundamental component of the world's first mechanical television system. In 1884, Paul Nipkow developed and patented a large rotating metal disc with spirals of apertures upon its circumference, which were designed to capture and then transmit motion pictures over wires. This device was aptly named the Nipkow disk, it was said to be a ground breaking picture scanning mechanism that functioned by rotating over subject images, whilst simultaneously assessing and capturing miniature sections of light intensities from the given images, before transmitting those images to another compatible picture receiving device. From the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, many of the early TV broadcasting stations were so impressed with the Nipkow disc that they began experimenting utilizing it to present their programs to the general public. The terrestrial broadcasting mediums (over-the-air signal transmission of radio waves) was said to be the first technology used for TV broadcasting. The pioneering TV stations of the 20s and 30s era had sought to establish their services and dominance within this new potentially highly lucrative field of entertainment. However, the early TV components were prone to malfunctions, inconsistencies, and they produced very poor-quality pictures. But after the II World War TV technology developed rapidly, which eventually led to all-electronic components that quickly began to supersede the mechanical components that were once utilized for the same functions. Interestingly, two of the most notable TV stations that have stood the test of time since their incipiency are CBS TV, which began broadcasting on 18 September 1927, New York, USA, and the BBC, which began TV broadcasting on 30 September 1929.

Karl Ferdinand Braun (born 1850 - died 1918): German TV Component Inventor

Karl Ferdinand Braun (born 1850 - died 1918) was a German electrical engineer and physicist, who invented the first cathode-ray tube scanning device also known as the Braun tube. When the cathode-ray tube was first introduced it was far from the finished article, nevertheless, it was deemed a significant invention and as such it was seized upon and rapidly developed by many contemporary scientists, who realized its true potential. The modernized cathode-ray tubes were actually visual information display devices, which consisted of a specialized vacuum tube usually containing a number of electron guns that emitted electron beams which were then scientifically manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen, such images represented electrical waveforms or other phenomena. CRTs can be monochrome (black and white) using one electron gun or colour typically using three electron guns to produce red, green, and blue images so that when combined multicoloured images are presented on the display screen. In the beginning, the Braun tube was utilized for oscillography, a scientific instrument for graphically displaying and monitoring changing electrical signals over time. But by about 1930, the Braun tube was utilized as the fundamental screen display component, upon which modern television technology was based. This remained the case until about the late 1980s, when cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors slowly began to be replaced by the introduction of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) flat screen television monitors. In 1909, Karl Braun was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, along with another notable Italian scientist called Guglielmo Marconi. Both scientists were recognized for their significant contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy technology, but additionally, Karl Braun was also honoured for his invention of the cathode-ray tube (CRT).

Kenjiro Takayanagi (born 1899 - died 1990): Japanese TV Component Inventor

Kenjiro Takayanagi (born 1899 - died 1990) was a Japanese engineer and a pioneer in the development of television, he was said to be one of the foremost figures in the complex evolution of television technology. Takayanagi became a professor after he graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1924, and then he returned to his birthplace in Hamamatsu where he obtained employment as an assistant professor at Hamamatsu Industrial Technical College, in Japan. During that year, Takayanagi utilized the College laboratories to begin extensive technological research on the development of his pioneering television system. After two years of conducting experiments, Takayanagi created an innovative mechanism which combined using the Nipkow disk to scan the subject image, but importantly, his device also incorporated a cathode-ray tube to display the received picture signals. This event was officially observed as the world's first practical electronic television receiver. As a result on 25 December 1926 at the Hamamatsu Industrial Technical College, Takayanagi conducted a successful demonstration showing an electronic television transmission in front of a Japanese audience. It was seen as a threshold moment on the journey towards the development of all-electric television systems, as opposed to the original, but now obsolete, mechanical television components. Although Kenjiro Takayanagi may not be very well known in Western nations, within Japan he is referred to as the father of Japanese television.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (born 1906 - died 1971): American TV Component Inventor

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (born 1906 - died 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer, who was brought up on a large farm in Beaver, Utah, in America. From an early age Farnsworth had expressed a keen interest in physics and TV technological development, moreover, he was considered to be a child prodigy. However, after graduating from high school, Farnsworth briefly enrolled at Brigham Young University in 1924, before withdrawing after just two years of study due to certain issues (unclear) regarding his enrolment. Nevertheless, Farnsworth had already acquired immense knowledge in the field of science and physics due to diligent study during his former years, which in any event had stood him in good stead for the future. After Farnsworth married Elma Pam Gardner in 1926, both she and her brother cliff Gardner combined their efforts to help Farnsworth attain his ambition. The trio moved to Salt Lake City, in Utah, to start a modest radio repair business there, and while Farnsworth was in Salt Lake City, he became acquainted with two philanthropic charity fundraisers called Leslie Gorrell and George Everson. After Farnsworth indulged in lengthy conversations about his future plans and theories on the development of TV technology, George Everson became so impressed that he decided to invest in Farnsworth's scientific projects. In addition, Everson arranged for Farnsworth to meet with William Crocker in San Francisco, Crocker was a wealthy banker who was known to invest in different types of entrepreneurial business ventures. As a result of financial backing, Farnsworth and his family relocated to California in May 1926, where he set up a scientific laboratory, and began full time work on his television project. Over a year later, on 7 September 1927, at a public event in San Francisco, it was said that Philo Farnsworth became the first person in history to successfully demonstrate an all-electric television transmission system. However, this proclamation was debatable, since a Japanese scientist called Kenjiro Takayanagi, had already claimed the same accomplishment about a year earlier, in Japan, 1926. Nevertheless, many experts within the field of television technology, had argued that Philo Farnsworth was the first scientist to invent a fully functional all-electronic television system, because crucially, his device did not require or utilize the mechanical device called the Nipkow disc, which had been used by previous television developers. According to some experts, Farnsworth had created a more advanced version of an all-electric television mechanism which envolved a dissector tube with an accompanying all-electric television camera receiver to display the pictures. Over the ensuing years, Farnsworth persevered in his work to improve on his original television system, until he eventually created an even more advanced all-electric television mechanism, which he presented at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, on 25 August 1934.

John Logie Baird (born 1888- died 1946): Scottish TV Component Inventor

John Logie Baird (born 1888 - died 1946) was a Scottish engineer and inventor, born in Helensburgh, in Scotland, who received higher education at the Royal College of Science and Technology, in Glasgow, however, following a merger in 1964, it is now the University of Strathclyde. John Baird became fascinated with designing electrical appliances from an early age, but he developed a keen interest in television technology in 1903, after reading a German book on the photoelectric properties of selenium. Henceforth, John Baird dedicated most of his time to in-depth research on the subject, and following years of technological experiments, he finally invented the world's first rudimentary motion picture television on 26 January 1926. He had conducted this groundbreaking experiment from within his laboratory at 22 Frith Street, Soho, London, whilst in the presence of the Royal Institution, and members of the media. John Baird engineered a basic television system from mechanical devices, and his invention functioned in conjunction with his devised version of the Nipkow disk, which ultimately produced live images, albeit the picture quality was extremely vague. Unfortunately, Baird's rudimentary television system was not deemed commercially viable. Nonetheless, he had proven without question that his scientific theory was achievable, and two years later, Baird invented the world's first colour television, which he demonstrated publicly on 3 July 1928, from a laboratory at 133 Long Acre, in London. Baird created a basic electro-mechanical apparatus, by utilizing a spinning mirror-drum and a revolving disc that alternated blue, green, and red filters, meanwhile, his chosen test subject was a basket of strawberries. However, this basic introductory colour technology needed many years of improvement before a nationwide public service became readily available. Because John Baird had played a major part in the foundation of British television, he was honoured with a place in the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame, and a bronze street plaque, which was built at 22 Frith Street, in London, to pay homage to his work and memory.

In the 1930s several scientists from different nations dedicated their research to the advancement of colour television technology, but it was not until the mid-1940s that this technology began to develop rapidly. The notable pioneers of colour TV technology included scientists such as Guillermo González Camarena (Mexican), Peter Carl Goldmark (Hungarian), and John Logie Baird (Scottish). Meanwhile, the world’s first public colour television service began in the USA, but colour television viewing was only available in certain cities across America from 1954 by virtue of the NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) compatible colour television system, which was endorsed and promoted by RCA (Radio Corporation of America), which was one of America's most powerful and influential organisations during the 1950s. The golden age of television occurred in the 1950s, when TV sets became common place across many parts of the United States, as millions of viewers were seduced by the prospect of owning a theatre of exciting drama shows within their humble abodes.