The address is 202 Green Street, San Francisco, California. And while that address lacks the immediate recognition of, say, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave or No. 10 Downing Street, it is no less of an historic landmark. Because here, in 1927, the most ubiquitous appliance in human history made its first appearance on earth. We are talking […]
For the Birthplace of Video: A Not-So-Modest Proposal Read More »
As the industry ramps up for Sunday’s 2024 Emmy Awards telecast, have a look at the trophy’s namesake: The Image Orthicon tube. It is based on patent number 2,087,683 – which was awarded to Philo T. Farnsworth in 1937.* This is the camera tube that supplied most or the television signals in the late
“Emmy”…. Meet “Immy” Read More »
“To have the right idea is one thing. To have the right idea and make it work is everything.” – Roger Penrose ___________________ Having the right idea and making it work – that is what Philo T. Farnsworth did nearly 100 years ago. You are gazing now at the results of that serendipity. Every video
The Centennial Is Coming: 9/7/2027 Read More »
More than fifty years after I first heard of Philo T. Farnsworth (in the summer if 1973)… More than twenty years after The Boy Who Invented Television was first published… And a year after it was re-published (after the release of The Man Who Mastered Gravity)… There is finally going to be an audiobook edition!
Coming Soon: TBWIT – The Audiobook! Read More »
Have you seen Oppenheimer yet? As the world braced itself over recent weeks for the cultural shock wave of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, I have been preoccupied by one scene in the trailer. It’s the scene where Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) meets Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) at the edge of a pond on the grounds of the
Oppenheimer, Einstein – And Farnsworth Read More »
Above, the first hand-drawn rendering of the Image Dissector, ca. 1922. Arguably, every video display on the planet – including the one you are looking at now – can trace its origins to this drawing, which was presented during patent litigation in the 1930s. Sadly, the myth that television was “too complex” for a
The Distinction is Not Insignificant Read More »
Jessica Moulton, with her grand uncle Skee Farnsworth and cousin Philo Krishna Farnsworth, accepting the induction of Philo Farnsworth into the TV Academy’s Hall of Fame, along with Ron Howard, also inducted on March 11, 2013 Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet Jessica Lauren Moulton – the great-grandaughter of Philo and Pem Farnsworth. Her mother Camille
An Open Letter from Jessica (Farnsworth) Read More »
This just showed up in my Google alerts: World’s Fair Predicted TV’s Future (link to actual article since deceased) The article is a look back at the introduction of television at the NYC World’s Fair in April, 1939 – the one where David Sarnoff famously and pompously pronounced, “Now we add sight to sound.” “Philo
Will The Propaganda Never End? Read More »
There's been an increase in traffic to this site in the past week or so, which is quite possibly a result of the recent news that Philo T. Farnsworth – arguably the man who started it all – will be inducted next month into the Television Hall of Fame: This year’s honorees include Emmy®-winning actor/director/producer
At Last: Farnsworth is in the Hall of Fame! Read More »
….if you've heard this one before. From a story that ran in the Investor's Business Daily last week: In 1929, Sarnoff secretly hired Vladimir Zworykin, an engineer and head of TV research at Westinghouse, where he worked on an electronic scanning system for a prototype TV. The Russian immigrant soon hopped from Philadelphia to San
