Philo Farnsworth
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2022) |
Philo T. Farnsworth | |
---|---|
International Telephone and Telegraph | |
Known for | Inventor of the first fully electronic television; over 169 United States and foreign patents |
Spouse | Elma "Pem" Gardner (1908–2006) |
Children | 4 sons |
Relatives | Agnes Ann Farnsworth (sister) |
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer.[2][3] He made the critical contributions to electronic television that made possible all the video in the world today.[4] He is best known for his 1927 invention of the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the image dissector, as well as the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system.[5][6] Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera—which he produced commercially through the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation from 1938 to 1951, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[7][8]
In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth Fusor, employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). Like many fusion devices, it was not a practical device for generating nuclear power, although it provides a viable source of neutrons.[9] The design of this device has been the inspiration for other fusion approaches, including the Polywell reactor concept.[10] Farnsworth held 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.
Early life
Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children
Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked science teacher Justin Tolman for advice about an electronic television system that he was contemplating; he provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically, and Tolman encouraged him to develop his ideas.[17] One of the drawings that he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and RCA.[18]
In 1923, the family moved to
Farnsworth worked while his sister Agnes took charge of the family home and the second-floor boarding house, with the help of a cousin living with the family. The Farnsworths later moved into half of a duplex, with family friends the Gardners moving into the other side when it became vacant.[20] He developed a close friendship with Pem's brother Cliff Gardner, who shared his interest in electronics, and the two moved to Salt Lake City to start a radio repair business.[14] The business failed, and Gardner returned to Provo.[citation needed]
Farnsworth remained in Salt Lake City and became acquainted with Leslie Gorrell and George Everson, a pair of San Francisco philanthropists who were then conducting a Salt Lake City Community Chest fund-raising campaign.[21][22] They agreed to fund his early television research with an initial $6,000 in backing,[23] and set up a laboratory in Los Angeles for Farnsworth to carry out his experiments.[24]
Farnsworth married Pem[19] on May 27, 1926,[12] and the two traveled to Berkeley, California, in a Pullman coach. They rented a house at 2910 Derby Street, from which he applied for his first television patent, which was granted on August 26, 1930.[14] By that time they had moved across the bay to San Francisco, where Farnsworth set up his new lab at 202 Green Street.[25]
Career
A few months after arriving in California, Farnsworth was prepared to show his models and drawings to a patent attorney who was nationally recognized as an authority on electrophysics. Everson and Gorrell agreed that Farnsworth should apply for patents for his designs, a decision that proved crucial in later disputes with RCA.[26] Most television systems in use at the time used image scanning devices ("rasterizers") employing rotating "Nipkow disks" comprising a spinning disk with holes arranged in spiral patterns such that they swept across an image in a succession of short arcs while focusing the light they captured on photosensitive elements, thus producing a varying electrical signal corresponding to the variations in light intensity. Farnsworth recognized the limitations of the mechanical systems, and that an all-electronic scanning system could produce a superior image for transmission to a receiving device.[26][13]
On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth's
Many inventors had built electromechanical television systems before Farnsworth's seminal contribution, but Farnsworth designed and built the world's first working all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices. He first demonstrated his system to the press on September 3, 1928,[25][28] and to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934.[29]
In 1930, RCA recruited
In 1931,
In 1932, while in England to raise money for his legal battles with RCA, Farnsworth met with John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor who had given the world's first public demonstration of a working television system in London in 1926, using an electro-mechanical imaging system, and who was seeking to develop electronic television receivers. Baird demonstrated his mechanical system for Farnsworth.[38]
In May 1933, Philco severed its relationship with Farnsworth because, said Everson, "it [had] become apparent that Philo's aim at establishing a broad patent structure through research [was] not identical with the production program of Philco."[39] In Everson's view the decision was mutual and amicable.[40] Farnsworth set up shop at 127 East Mermaid Lane in Philadelphia, and in 1934 held the first public exhibition of his device at the Franklin Institute in that city.[41]
After sailing to Europe in 1934, Farnsworth secured an agreement with Goerz-Bosch-Fernseh in Germany.[26] Some image dissector cameras were used to broadcast the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.[42]
Farnsworth returned to his laboratory, and by 1936 his company was regularly transmitting entertainment programs on an experimental basis.[43] That same year, while working with University of Pennsylvania biologists, Farnsworth developed a process to sterilize milk using radio waves.[1] He also invented a fog-penetrating beam for ships and airplanes.[26]
In 1936, he attracted the attention of
In 1938, Farnsworth established the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with E. A. Nicholas as president and himself as director of research.[7] In September 1939, after a more than decade-long legal battle, RCA finally conceded to a multi-year licensing agreement concerning Farnsworth's 1927 patent for television totaling $1 million. RCA was then free, after showcasing electronic television at New York World's Fair on April 20, 1939, to sell electronic television cameras to the public.[7][29]: 250–254
Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation was purchased by
In addition to his electronics research, ITT management agreed to nominally fund Farnsworth's nuclear fusion research. He and staff members invented and refined a series of fusion reaction tubes called "fusors". For scientific reasons unknown to Farnsworth and his staff, the necessary reactions lasted no longer than thirty seconds. In December 1965, ITT came under pressure from its board of directors to terminate the expensive project and sell the Farnsworth subsidiary. It was only due to the urging of president Harold Geneen that the 1966 budget was accepted, extending ITT's fusion research for an additional year. The stress associated with this managerial ultimatum, however, caused Farnsworth to suffer a relapse. A year later he was terminated and eventually allowed medical retirement.[44]
In 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at
In a 1996 videotaped interview by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Farnsworth's wife recounted his change of heart about the value of television, after seeing Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on the Moon in real time on July 20, 1969, along with millions of others:[45] "We were watching it, and, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Phil turned to me and said, 'Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.' Before then, he wasn't too sure."
By
Farnsworth had begun abusing alcohol in his later years,[46] and as a result became seriously ill with pneumonia, and died on March 11, 1971, at his home in Holladay, Utah.[44][47]
Farnsworth's wife Elma Gardner "Pem" Farnsworth fought for decades after his death to assure his place in history. Farnsworth always gave her equal credit for creating television, saying, "my wife and I started this TV." She died on April 27, 2006, at age 98.[48] The inventor and wife were survived by two sons, Russell (then living in New York City), and Kent (then living in Fort Wayne, Indiana).[48]
In 1999, Time magazine included Farnsworth in the "Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century".[36]
Inventions
Electronic TV
Farnsworth worked out the principle of the image dissector in the summer of 1921, not long before his 15th birthday, and demonstrated the first working version on September 7, 1927, having turned 21 the previous August. A farm boy, his inspiration for scanning an image as a series of lines came from the back-and-forth motion used to plow a field.
Farnsworth also developed the "image oscillite", a cathode ray tube that displayed the images captured by the image dissector.[13]
Farnsworth called his device an image dissector because it converted individual elements of the image into electricity one at a time. He replaced the spinning disks with cesium, an element that emits electrons when exposed to light.[citation needed]
In 1984, Farnsworth was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Fusor
The Farnsworth fusor is an apparatus designed by Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects high-temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.[citation needed]
When the Farnsworth fusor was first introduced to the fusion research world in the late 1960s, the fusor was the first device that could clearly demonstrate it was producing fusion reactions at all. Hopes at the time were high that it could be quickly developed into a practical power source. However, as with other fusion experiments, development into a power source has proven difficult. Nevertheless, the fusor has since become a practical neutron source and is produced commercially for this role.[9][49]
Other inventions
At the time he died, Farnsworth held 300 U.S. and foreign
TV appearance
Although he was the man responsible for its technology, Farnsworth appeared only once on a television program. On July 3, 1957, he was a mystery guest ("Doctor X") on the CBS quiz show
A letter to the editor of the
Legacy
Honors
- In 1967, Farnsworth was issued an honorary degree by Brigham Young University, which he had briefly attended after graduating from Brigham Young High School.[44]
- In 2006, Farnsworth was posthumously presented the Eagle Scout award when it was discovered he had earned it but had never been presented with it. The award was presented to his wife, Pem, who died four months later.[54]
- Farnsworth was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2006.[55]
- He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2013.[56]
- He is recognized in the Hall of Fame of the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers—which notes that, in addition to his inventive accomplishments, his company owned and operated WGL radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[57]
Memorials
- A bronze statue of Farnsworth represents Utah in the National Statuary Hall Collection, located in the U.S. Capitol building.[58] On January 28, 2018, amid extended debate and over sizable public objection,[59][60] the Utah Legislature voted to replace it with one of Martha Hughes Cannon.[61][62]
- Another statue sits inside the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.[63]
- A Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker located at 1260 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, commemorates Farnsworth's television work there in the 1930s. The Plaque reads "Inventor of electronic television, he led some of the first experiments in live local TV broadcasting in the late 1930s from his station W3XPF located on this site. A pioneer in electronics, Farnsworth held many patents and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame."[64]
- On September 15, 1981, a plaque honoring Farnsworth as The Genius of Green Street was placed on the 202 Green Street location (37°48′01″N 122°24′09″W / 37.80037°N 122.40251°W) of his research laboratory in San Francisco by the California State Department of Parks and recreation.[25]
- In October 2008, the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco installed a statue of Farnsworth sculpted by Lawrence Noble in front of its D building.[65]
- A plaque honoring Farnsworth is located next to his former home at 734 E. State Blvd, in a historical district on the southwest corner of E. State and St. Joseph Blvds in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[66]
- Farnsworth is one of the inventors honored with a plaque in the Walt Disney World's "Inventor's Circle" in Future World West in EPCOT.[67]
- A 1983 United States postage stamp honored Farnsworth.[68]
- On January 10, 2011, Farnsworth was inducted by Mayor Gavin Newsom into the newly established San Francisco Hall of Fame, in the science and technology category.[69]
- Farnsworth's television-related work, including an original TV tube he developed, are on display at the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum in Rigby, Idaho.[70]
Things named after Farnsworth
- The Philo T. Farnsworth Award is one of the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards given to honor companies and organizations that have significantly affected the state of television and broadcast engineering over a long period of time.[71]
- The Philo Awards (officially Philo T. Farnsworth Awards, not to be confused with the one above) is an annual cable TV competition within the Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan region, where the winners receive notice for their efforts in various categories in producing community media.[72]
- Philo, a streaming television provider based in San Francisco where his lab was located, is named for Farnsworth.[73]
- Farnsworth Peak on the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountains, approximately 18 miles (29 km) south west of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the location of many of the area's television and FM radio transmitters.[74]
- The scenic "Farnsworth Steps" in San Francisco lead from Willard Street (just above Parnassus) up to Edgewood Avenue.[75][76]
- Several buildings and streets around rural Brownfield, Maine are named for Farnsworth as he lived there for some time.[1]
- The Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School of the Jefferson Joint School District in Rigby, Idaho (later becoming a middle school) is named in his honor.[77][78]
- While Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School in the Granite School District in West Valley City, Utah is named after his cousin by the same name who was a former school district administrator.[79]
In popular culture
- In "Cliff Gardner", the October 19, 1999 second episode of Aaron Sorkin's television comedy Sports Night, William H. Macy's character, Sam, delivers an extended monologue recounting Farnsworth's invention of television and the assistance provided to him by Cliff Gardner.[citation needed]
- The eccentric broadcast engineer in the 1989 film UHF is named Philo in tribute to Farnsworth.[80]
- In "Levers, Beakmania, & Television", the November 14, 1992 season 1 episode of Beakman's World, Paul Zaloom appears as the "guest scientist" Philo T. Farnsworth explaining his most notable invention.[81]
- A fictionalized representation of Farnsworth appears in Canadian writer Wayne Johnston's 1994 novel, Human Amusements. The main character in the novel appears as the protagonist in a television show that features Farnsworth as the main character. In the show, an adolescent Farnsworth invents many different devices (television among them) while being challenged at every turn by a rival inventor.[82]
- The Futurama character Professor Farnsworth, who first appeared in 1999, is named after and partially inspired by Philo Farnsworth,[83] and in the episode "All the Presidents' Heads" was revealed to have descended from him.
- Farnsworth and the introduction of television are significant plot elements in Carter Beats the Devil, a novel by Glen David Gold published in 2001 by Hyperion.[citation needed]
- The Farnsworth Invention, a stage play by Aaron Sorkin that debuted in 2007 after Sorkin adapted it from his unproduced screenplay, dramatized the conflict arising from Farnsworth's invention of TV and the alleged stealing of the design by David Sarnoff of RCA.[84]
- The 2009 SyFy television series Warehouse 13 features a video communicator called "The Farnsworth." In the show's universe, this was designed by Philo Farnsworth.[85]
- In the video game Trenched, renamed as Iron Brigade, the main antagonist is a character named Vladimir Farnsworth, who created mechanical enemies known as "Tubes" that spread a deadly broadcast. This character name alludes to Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir K. Zworykin, who invented the iconoscope.[86]
- The 2009 animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs features an amateur inventor named Flint Lockwood, who idolizes notable inventors. On his bedroom walls are the images of Thomas Edison and Philo Farnsworth, among others.[citation needed]
Fort Wayne sites
In 2010, the former Farnsworth factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was razed,[87] eliminating the "cave," where many of Farnsworth's inventions were first created, and where its radio and television receivers and transmitters, television tubes, and radio-phonographs were mass-produced under the Farnsworth, Capehart, and Panamuse trade names.[88] The facility was located at 3702 E. Pontiac St.[88]
Also that year, additional Farnsworth factory artifacts were added to the Fort Wayne History Center's collection, including a radio-phonograph and three table-top radios from the 1940s, as well as advertising and product materials from the 1930s to the 1950s.[89]
Farnsworth's Fort Wayne residence from 1948 to 1967, then the former Philo T. Farnsworth Television Museum, stands at 734 E. State Blvd, on the southwest corner of E. State and St. Joseph Blvds. The residence is recognized by an Indiana state historical marker and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.[90][91]
Marion, Indiana factory
In addition to Fort Wayne, Farnsworth operated a factory in Marion, Indiana, that made shortwave radios used by American combat soldiers in World War II.[92] Acquired by RCA after the war, the facility was located at 3301 S. Adams St.[93]
Patents
- U.S. Patent 1,773,980 Archived October 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine: Television system (filed January 7, 1927, issued August 26, 1930)
- U.S. patent 1,773,981: Television receiving system (filed January 7, 1927, issued August 26, 1930)
- U.S. patent 1,758,359: Electric oscillator system (filed January 7, 1927, issued May 13, 1930)
- U.S. patent 1,806,935: Light valve (filed January 7, 1927, issued May 26, 1931)
- U.S. patent 2,168,768: Television method (filed January 9, 1928, issued August 8, 1939)
- U.S. patent 1,970,036: Photoelectric apparatus (filed January 9, 1928, issued August 14, 1934)
- U.S. patent 2,246,625: Television scanning and synchronization system (filed May 5, 1930, issued June 24, 1941)
- U.S. patent 1,941,344: Dissector target (filed July 7, 1930, issued December 26, 1933)
- U.S. patent 2,140,284: Projecting oscillight (filed July 14, 1931, issued December 13, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,059,683: Scanning oscillator (filed April 3, 1933, issued November 3, 1936)
- U.S. patent 2,087,683: Image dissector (filed April 26, 1933, issued July 20, 1937)
- U.S. patent 2,071,516: Oscillation generator (filed July 5, 1934, issued February 23, 1937)
- U.S. patent 2,143,145: Projection means (filed November 6, 1934, issued January 10, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,233,887: Image projector (filed February 6, 1935, issued March 4, 1941)
- U.S. patent 2,143,262: Means of electron multipaction(filed March 12, 1935, issued January 10, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,174,488: Oscillator (filed March 12, 1935, issued September 26, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,221,473: Amplifier (filed March 12, 1935, issued November 12, 1940)
- U.S. patent 2,155,478: Means for producing incandescent images (filed May 7, 1935, issued April 25, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,140,695: Charge storage dissector (filed July 6, 1935, issued December 20, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,228,388: Cathode ray amplifier (filed July 6, 1935, issued January 14, 1941)
- U.S. patent 2,233,888: Charge storage amplifier (filed July 6, 1935, issued March 4, 1941)
- U.S. patent 2,251,124: Cathode ray amplifying tube (filed August 10, 1935, issued July 29, 1941)
- U.S. patent 2,100,842: Charge storage tube (filed September 14, 1935, issued November 30, 1937)
- U.S. patent 2,137,528: Multipactor oscillator (filed January 27, 1936, issued November 22, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,214,077: Scanning current generator (filed February 10, 1936, issued September 10, 1940)
- U.S. Patent 2,089,054 Archived October 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine: Incandescent light source (filed March 9, 1936, issued August 3, 1937)
- U.S. patent 2,159,521: Absorption oscillator (filed March 9, 1936, issued May 23, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,139,813: Secondary emission electrode (filed March 24, 1936, issued December 13, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,204,479: Means and method for producing electronic multiplication (filed May 16, 1936, issued June 11, 1940)
- U.S. patent 2,140,832: Means and method of controlling electron multipliers (filed May 16, 1936, issued December 20, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,260,613: Electron multiplier (filed May 18, 1936, issued October 28, 1941)
- U.S. Patent 2,141,837 Archived October 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine: Multistage multipactor (filed June 1, 1936, issued December 27, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,216,265: Image dissector (filed August 18, 1936, issued October 1, 1940)
- U.S. patent 2,128,580: Means and method of operating electron multipliers (filed August 18, 1936, issued August 30, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,143,146: Repeater (filed October 31, 1936, issued January 10, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,139,814: Cathode ray tube (filed November 2, 1936, issued December 13, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,109,289: High power projection oscillograph (filed November 2, 1936, issued February 22, 1938)
- U.S. patent 2,184,910: Cold cathode electron discharge tube (filed November 4, 1936, issued December 26, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,179,996: Electron multiplier (filed November 9, 1936, issued November 14, 1939)
- U.S. patent 2,221,374: X-ray projection device
- U.S. patent 2,263,032: Cold cathode electron discharge tube
- U.S. patent 3,258,402: Electric discharge device for producing interaction between nuclei
- U.S. patent 3,386,883: Method and apparatus for producing nuclear fusion reactions
- U.S. patent 3,664,920: Electrostaticcontainment in fusion reactors
See also
References
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- ^ "Aaron Sorkin's Farnsworth Invention to Open on Broadway in November". Playbill. June 21, 2007. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007.
- ISBN 9781451636574. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
- ^ "Farnsworth Building Being Demolished | 21Alive: News, Sports, Weather, Fort Wayne WPTA-TV, WISE-TV, and CW | Local". Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- ^ a b "Capehart Corp.; Fort Wayne, IN – see also manufacturer in US". Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ Pelfrey, Todd Maxwell (July 20, 2010). "History Center Notes & Queries: History Center Rescues Farnsworth Artifacts". Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ "Home of Philo T. Farnsworth". Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 3/18/13 through 3/22/13. National Park Service. March 29, 2013.
- ^ "The Farnsworth Building – WikiMarion". Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ "Abandoned Marion properties are experiencing different fates". Indiana Economic Digest. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
Further reading
External videos | |
---|---|
Booknotes interview with Daniel Stashower on The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television, July 21, 2002, C-SPAN |
- Schatzkin, Paul (2023), The Boy Who Invented Television. Incorrigible Arts. ISBN 978-0-9762000-7-9
- Abramson, Albert. The History of Television, 1942 to 2000. (2003). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. .
- Farnsworth, Russell. (2002). Philo T. Farnsworth: The Life of Television's Forgotten Inventor. Hockessin, Delaware: Mitchell Lane Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58415-176-0(cloth)
- Fisher, David E. and Marshall J., 1996. Tube, the Invention of Television. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint. ISBN 1-887178-17-1
- Godfrey, D. G., 2001. Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television. University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-675-5
- ISBN 0-06-093559-6
- ISBN 0-7679-0759-0
External links
- Farnovision – A Must Read for Anybody Who Watches Television
- National Inventors Hall of Fame profile
- Philo Farnsworth photo archive
- Rigby, Idaho: Birthplace of Television (Jefferson County Historical Society and Museum)
- The Boy Who Invented Television; by Paul Schatzkin
- 1939 Farnsworth Article (from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)
- Philo Farnsworth at Find a Grave
- The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway
- Archive of American Television oral history interviews about Farnsworth including ones with his widow Elma "Pem" Farnsworth
- Video of Farnsworth on Television's "I've Got a Secret" on YouTube
- Transcript, Big Dreams Small Screen Archived October 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, American Experience (PBS) 1997
- Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia website
- Philo T. Farnsworth papers and audio, Archives West, Orbis Cascade Alliance. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016.
- Philo Farnsworth at IMDb