Who invented the TV?

Unlike many other inventions throughout history, the history of the TV credits many inventors instead of just one.  In this case, there were many inventors working on the idea of watching pictures on a screen.  Inventors from all over the world had been working on transmitting pictures or objects onto a screen since the 1830’s, but the first physical television didn’t evolve until the 1900’s.  Five men became the most popular and prestigious inventors of what we know today as television, giving the history of TV a rich beginning.

A German inventor named Paul Nipkow invented the first rotating disk that would allow pictures to transmit over wire in 1884.  His discovery was the first electromechanical television scanning system in the world.  This rotating disk would rotate at a fast pace, while light passed through the holes to create a picture on a screen.

John Baird became famous in the history of TV when he invented the first pictures in motion that were televised in Europe in 1924.  He later transmitted the human face onto a screen, and during World War II invented the first color picture tube.  While it would be some time before color TV became a staple in American and other households, his contribution to the history of TV was enormous.
Charles Jenkins invented a mechanical television that he called “radiovision,” which was said to have transmitted one of the first moving images in 1923.  This American inventor went on to promote his theories in the technology of the television along with other inventors when they transmitted the first live pictures onto a screen.  This pilgrim in the history of the TV is also famous for creating the first television station in North America.

Vladimir Zworykin invented the Cathode Ray tube, which he named the Kinescope and started a new era in the history of TV.  Before the Kinescope, televisions in the 1920’s were mechanical.  The Cathode Ray tube was not only needed for transmission; this device transformed the television into an electronic device.
Finally, an American farmer named Philo Farnsworth made a breakthrough in the history of TV at the age of 13, when he discovered a way to transmit images onto a screen by the use of 60 horizontal lines, which made the picture clearer.  Farnsworth also invented over 165 devices, including the dissector tube, which became the groundwork for televisions we use today.  You can find more information on these inventors here.


First Commercial Televisions

People were very curious and excited about televisions coming to the public.  However, some feared the new technology, thinking that televisions could transmit personal conversations onto the TV.  The 1928 Baird model mechanical television sets were introduced to the public at the “Olympia” Radio Exhibition in 1929.  These mechanical TV sets projected orange-red blurry images on a screen about the size of a dollar coin.

The first televisions sold for about fifty-five dollars, which only people of wealth could afford.  Electronic televisions were introduced to the United States at the 1939 World’s Fair.  The first electronic television set was the 1938 DuMont Model 180 and cost around one hundred twenty-five dollars.  You can find more information on the first commercial televisions here.


Television in the 21st Century

When the first television came on the market, you could only watch a play on a screen the size of a dollar coin.  The actors also had to take turns in front of the camera, because the screen was only big enough to see one person at a time.  When studying the history of TV, it is difficult to fathom the differences between the televisions in the 1930’s and televisions we have today.

Since the 1930’s, television technology has skyrocketed.  Television went from black and white to color, and today, high definition technology is all the rage.  Those who were around when the first TVs debuted were lucky to have one channel to watch.  Today, we now have cable and satellite with the option of over 300 channels.  Could the inventors of this mass form of entertainment have dreamed that people would someday turn into "couch potatoes," unable to tear themselves away from this wonder?

Televisions are also no longer big and bulky.  You can now hang your TV on the wall, watch "television" on your computer, and due to advanced technology, download television shows, movies, and videos to portable devices.  Once reserved for the wealthy, millions and millions of homes have multiple televisions in them, as well as portable devices to view the transmissions on the go.
If the inventors of the television were hoping to get rich, they would likely faint at the enormous salaries of actors in the 21st century.  While the history of the TV actors is as rich as the history of the TV itself, could they have had any inkling of the tremendous fame and fortune their invention would help to foster?  Consider the up-to-the-minute news we are able to get, due in large part to the inventors of yesteryear.  For the first time in 2003, war was broadcast on live TV as it happened!  While war is not something to celebrate, we can thank the brilliant minds of long ago for keeping us connected, not to mention entertained, 24 hours a day.