Posted on 08/18/2006 9:02:33 PM PDT by Graybeard58
ish don't know they're living in water, nor do they stop to wonder where the water came from.
Humans? Not much better, as we share a world engulfed by television. And the deeper our immersion becomes, the less likely it seems we'll poke our heads above the surface and see there must have been life before someone invented TV.
That invisible someone was Philo T. Farnsworth, who was fated to live and work, then die, in sad obscurity. Now, on the centennial of his birth on Aug. 19, 1906, his invention plays an increasingly powerful role in our lives — with less chance than ever of him being recognized.
How ironic! In this media-savvy age, not only should his name be as widely known as Bell's or Edison's, but his long, lean face with the bulbous brow should be as familiar as any pop icon's. He should be the patron saint of every couch potato. Instead, we regard TV not as a man-made contraption, but a natural resource.
Nonetheless, it was Philo Farnsworth who conducted the first successful demonstration of electronic television.
The setting: Farnsworth's modest San Francisco lab where, on Sept. 7, 1927, the 21-year-old self-taught genius transmitted the image of a horizontal line to a receiver in the next room.
It worked, just like Farnsworth had imagined as a 14-year-old Idaho farm boy and math whiz already stewing over how to send pictures, not just sound, through the air. He had been plowing a field when, with a jolt, he realized an image could be scanned by electrons the same way: row by horizontal row.
The prodigy at his plow had already made a fundamental breakthrough, charting a different course from others' ultimately doomed mechanical systems that required a spinning disk to do the scanning. Yet Farnsworth would be denied credit, fame and reward for developing the way TV works to this day.
Even TV had no time for him. His sole appearance on national television was as a mystery guest on the CBS game show "I've Got a Secret" in 1957. He fielded questions from the celebrity panelists as they tried in vain to guess his secret ("I invented electronic television"). For stumping them, Farnsworth took home $80 and a carton of Winston cigarettes.
In 1971, Philo Farnsworth died at age 64.
But his wife, Elma "Pem" Farnsworth, who had worked by her husband's side throughout his tortured career, continued fighting to gain him his rightful place in history, until her death earlier this year at 98.
I really like that part.
'philo-vision' would have been a cooler name than 'tv'
A "Eureka!" moment.
Had the winds been blowing the other direction, America would be known as Vespuccia.
I need plasma.
Mama Dear and Col. Arthur smoked Pall Malls while doing the crossword and talking on the phone prior to tuning in Jack Parr and Perry Como.
I loved to watch them smoke. They had style and grace.
My first one too. Here it is only 49 years later and I just fired up another one.
I'll join you with a Camel Light. Regards! The smoking light is lit.
Farmsworth was outmaneuvered of his invention by RCA David Sarnoff!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth
"'philo-vision' would have been a cooler name than 'tv'"
We had a Philco television. Close enough?
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