A MUST READ FOR ANYBODY WHO WATCHES TELEVISION!
It’s not ‘the boob tube’ or a ‘giant wasteland.’ It is a product of the most advanced technology that has ever manifest on Earth.
The missing piece that made it possible to send ‘moving pictures through the air’ arrived over 100 years ago; Few appreciate the magnitude of the breakthrough represented by what has become the most ubiquitous appliance in modern civilization – and one of the great, untold stories of the 20th century.
Every video screen on the planet – including the one you are looking at now – can trace its origins to a sketch that Philo T. Farnsworth drew for his high school science teacher in 1922 – when he was just 14 years old.
While the great minds of science, financed by the biggest companies in the world, wrestled with 19th century answers to a 20th century problem, Philo T. Farnsworth, age 14, dreamed of trapping light in an empty jar and transmitting it, one line at a time, on a magnetically deflected beam of electrons.“
Learn of the genius that is re-awakened every time you turn on your TeeVee (ever mind what you’re watching). Read:
Philo Farnsworth was a self-educated farm boy from Rigby, Idaho, when he first sketched his idea for electronic television on a blackboard for his high school science teacher. Six years later, while competitors still struggled with mechanical television systems, Farnsworth successfully demonstrated his invention. He was 21.
In 1930, Farnsworth was awarded the fundamental patents for modern television. He spent the next decade perfecting his invention, fighting off challenges to his patents by the giant Radio Corporation of America and defending his vision against his own shortsighted investors who did not share his larger dream of scientific independence.
The Boy Who Invented Television traces Farnsworth’s “guided tour” of discovery, describing the observations he made in the course of developing his initial invention, and revealing how his unique insights brought him to the threshold of what might have been an even greater discovery—clean, safe, and unlimited energy from controlled nuclear fusion.
Paul Schatzkin has been researching and telling the story of television’s forgotten inventor for more than 25 years. His clear and entertaining writing style reveals the spark of true genius that is re-ignited every time a television set is turned on, while giving readers of all ages new insights into the technology that shapes our daily lives.
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“Paul Schatzkin’s biography of Philo T. Farnsworth puts anything that is actually on the tube to shame.”
–WIRED, September 2002
“Excellent reading for anyone who watches television.”
— El Paso Times
“Your book is priceless… Excellent and much-appreciated work.”
— Jerry King, Broadcast Historian
“A Great book. It catches the essence of Phil’s character and the spirit of his journey of discovery.”
— Elma G. “Pem” Farnsworth
“An insightful, in-depth and personal look at a man whose inspired work is depended upon by all.”
— Beth Lipton, New Media Journalist
“I love the story of Philo Farnsworth, and Paul Schatzkin tells it well”
— Jack Perkins, Biography Channel Host
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