The Invention of Television

When you research the invention of television, and ask the question; "Who invented the television?" you will get a number of different answers depending on who you asked.

The Americans believe that Philo Taylor Farnsworth led the invention of the television. The Russians believe that it was Vladimir Zworykin.

Some people would compromise and tell you that there were a number of inventors who contributed to the invention of the television.

The Early History of Television

When you research the history of television and who invented TV, you will find its history complex and a little confusing. The early stages in the history of television, extends over a number of decades, and is fairly complex and covers the work of many inventors and engineers in several countries.

During the same historic period,there were a number of researchers, in different countries, working on the various technologies that would eventually lead to the invention of TV.

The term "television" was first introduced in 1900 by the Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi at the first International Congress of Electricity.

However, the invention of the television is attributed to the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird, who on 26 January, 1926, was the first to publicly demonstrate television, using mechanical transmissions of moving silhouette images over a wire circuit.

In the United States of America about the same time, Philo Farnsworth, an engineer and inventor, was carrying out his research on television picture transmission.

His research resulted in the development of the dissector tube, which was a complete electronic television system, which he also patented in 1927. In 1927 he became the first person to successfully transmit a television image.

His dissector tube later became the standard for all electronic televisions.

Also, in the USA, Vladimir Zworykin, an immigrant from Russia, working for Westinghouse, patented the first TV camera tube which he called the iconscope.

He also, later developed the kinescope for picture display. His inventions later became the blueprint for all future television development.

Although the three inventors, John Logie Baird, Philo Farnsworth, and Vladimir Zworykin, feature prominently in the invention of TV, their inventions were aided by much of the work of earlier inventors.

Here's a detailed chronological timeline for the invention of television.

Two Schools of TV Design

In the early stages of television invention there were two schools of approach, electromechanical and electronic:

• Mechanical - employing both mechanical and electronic principles in television development
• Electronic - using only electronic principles in the invention of television

From its history we see that the invention of the television was complex, with many inventors, over decades, contributing to the evolution of television.

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