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Philo Taylor Farnsworth was sometime called a child
genius, while he led a simple childhood on his parents Idaho
farm his interest in science and electronics developed at an early age.
During his high school years he befriended his chemistry teacher, Justin
Tolman, who gave him much encouragement about his interest in science.
It was Tolman that Farnsworth, at age 14, first told of his idea for
electronic television,
Farnsworth's idea came to him when he was working in his parents field.
His plan was to use a cathode ray tube and scan an electron from left to
right top to bottom to create an image, just like the plough marks he
observed on his farm. His teacher told him he could think of no reason
why it would not work and this was all he needed to give him the
inspiration to follow his dream. After Farnsworth completed his studies,
that were cut short due to the death of his father, Farnsworth spent
much time supporting his family. It was not until age 21, that he
demonstrated the working electronic TV at his San Francisco lab. His
design did away with the spinning discs that were used in previous
television designs.
Vladimir Zworykin is sometimes credited as the inventor of electronic
television because he applied for a patent of the iconoscope in 1923
while working at Westinghouse. However it was not until 1938 that his
patent was granted. RCA, who Zworykin now worked for, then claimed that they were
the inventors of the television and refused to pay royalties to
Farnsworth. A legal battel soon erupted with with RCA losing to
Farnsworth. Zworykin had no evidence that his earlier device could work
and his reworked final design was most likely inspired by his 1930 visit
to Farnsworth's lab. World War 2 halted televisions development and once
work resumed after the war Farnsworth's patents had expired. Farnsworth
not only did not receive the recognition he deserved but also cost him
royalty fees from his ideas, which ultimately closed his business and
sent Farnsworth into depression.
While the idea for television dates back to 1908, it was Farnsworth that
made it what it is today. Today's TVs use the same principals that
Farnsworth discovered back in his lab in 1927. Several other developed
mechanical types of television around this time, notably
John Logie Baird. Baird's 30 line
1925 design was even used for test transmission's in Britain from 1929
to 1935 and alternatively his 405 line mechanical set was used from 1936
to 1937 along side an all electronic system. In the end the electronic
system showed up the shortcomings of the earlier mechanical sets and
this is the TV system the world has adopted, the idea of a 14 year old
school boy.
When Farnsworth died in 1971 he held over 300
patents, many were for improvements to television and electronics. He
also had patents for missiles, and for uses of atomic energy. Before his
death, he worked on a nuclear fusion process to produce clean, unlimited
energy.
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