PHILO T FARNSWORTH|BURIED HISTORY|INVENTOR OF TELEVISION

[Music] television as we know it today might not have been possible without the insight and determination of the American inventor and television Pioneer Pho T Farnsworth Farnsworth was born on the 19th of August 1906 and in 19118 his father moved the family from their small Log Cabin to a relatives nearby 240 acre ranch in Idaho Pho was surprised and excited to find his new home wired for electricity powered by a generator that provided lighting and the running of the farm equipment fascinated by the new electric and mechanical technology of the day Pho emerged himself in a batch of Technology magazines he had found in the Attic of his new home with his new knowledge and insight he was able to repair the ranch's generator which had become Troublesome by rewiring its Armature and for his mother he converted her hand powerered washing machine to run by electric power Farnsworth while in high school excelled in physics and chemistry then one day he asked a science teacher what his thoughts were about an electric television system he had envisioned and then proceeded to fill several Blackboard W illustrating how it could be accomplished impressed the teacher encouraged him to continue working to develop his concept and after graduation he enrolled at Brigham Young University where he made use of the school's research labs to further develop his concept of an electric television system Farnsworth was not the first to invent a working television system although is debated as to who was first it is known that in 1926 John logy beard a Scottish amateur scientist transmitted the first television picture using a mechanical camera consisting of a large rotating disc with spiral holes which produced the image Farnsworth realized the limitation of such a system he believed an all electronic scanning system could produce a superior [Music] image and while living in Salt Lake City he met two San Francisco philanthropists who agreed to fund his research and set him up with a research laboratory in Los Angeles California then on September 7th 1927 Farnsworth succeeded using his image disector camera tube to transmit the image of a straight line to a receiver in another room then on September 3rd 1928 before the press and his investors who were demanding to know when they would see the Returns on their investment transmitted the image of a dollar sign to everyone's Amusement then in 1929 he had eliminated the need for the systems mechanical motor generator making his system truly all electrical as he transmitted the first live images of people including his [Music] wife while working for westing house in 1930 Vladimir K waran was also trying to unsuccessfully develop a all Electric television system since 1923 he decided to leave Westinghouse to accept an offer from RCA to continue his [Music] efforts shortly before his leaving zorin paid a visit to Farnsworth at his laboratory Farnsworth gladly demonstrated and described his system to Zarin who was thoroughly impressed and had his team back at Westinghouse make copies of the cathod r tube for experimentation once at RCA in 1931 David sof offered to purchase farnsworth's patents for $100,000 providing that Farnsworth would become an employee of RCA Farnsworth declined sof's offer and instead joined the filco company and moved his family to Philadelphia RCA filed an interference suit against forwith claiming that zarin's 1923 patent superseded farnsworth's design the battle dragged on through the courts for 3 years until 1934 when the US patent office rendered their decision in favor of Farnsworth it wasn't until after several years of litigation that in 1939 RCA agreed to pay farns worth $1 million in royalties freeing RCA to produce and sell electronic television cameras to the public meanwhile the relationship between filco and farnworth came to an end in May of 1933 filco wanted production models while Farnsworth spent most of his time on future research Farnsworth set up his own shop in 1934 and by 1936 his company was regularly transmitting experimental television entertainment programs by 1938 farnworth had set up the farnworth television and radio Corporation in Fort Wayne Indiana from there he developed several Concepts including the electronic microscope and during and after the war years he developed submarine detections devices an infrared night vision telescope and most importantly a circular sweep radar display for air traffic control from the ground in 1951 Farnsworth sold his company to ITT while at ITT during the early 1960s he and his staff invented a series of fusion reactor tubes called fusers but they were unable to produce a reaction for no more than 30 seconds by 1966 it decided to terminate the project due to the rising cost of expenses needed to continue Farnsworth retired and left it to return to Brigham Young University in 1967 to continue his Fusion research in 1968 farnworth had formed the phot farnworth association he and his associates had secured a contract from NASA to finance the project but the funding stalled by December of 1970 his company was in dire need of money the farnsworth's had sold off their it stock and cashed in pho's life insurance policy but it was not enough to sustain the company the creditors Came Calling equipment was repossessed and finally in January of 1970 the IRS closed the business down over delinquent taxes 3 month later Farnsworth had become seriously ill with pneumonia and died on March 11th 1971 at the time of his death farnworth had acquired some 300 patents for devices in use today including the gastroscope the electron microscope infrared and radar detectors and the astronomical telescope his contributions throughout his lifetime have gone mostly unnoticed today but Pho t Farnsworth was truly an inventive Pioneer in the early days of Television earning him the recognition as the father of [Music] Television we were watching it when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon Phil turned to me and he says Pam this has made it all worthwhile before then he wasn't too sure [Music]