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Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, channels the Darth Vader of Communications History, invoking RCA's domination of television starting in the 1930s as a role model for his company's future research: But there’s a second part of the R.C.A. story that Mr. Ballmer neglected to mention. The company also owed its television dominance to a huge legal […]

It think it was 1982 when the Post Office honored Philo T. Farnsworth with a commemorative stamp.  The series of four also recognized Nikola Tesla, Edwin Armstrong, and Charles Steinmetz as forgotten pioneers of the electronics revolution.  Now the service is going to reawake the Baby Boomers' collective memories with a series of stamps recalling

Hmmm… where have we seen this story before? "Flash of Genius" reminded me of Aaron Sorkin’s ("The West Wing") terrific Broadway play "The Farnsworth Invention," about a rural boy genius who invents television, only to have the idea stolen by RCA. The film is, essentially, "Erin Brockovich" or "A Civil Action." There is no denying

Here’s a list of the Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions Among them: 25. “Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” — Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948. 26. “[Television] won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of

Or so one Farnsworth descendent would like to think: Philo is my great grandfather’s brother. Yeah! This is the statue of Philo T. Farnsworth at the Capital Building. Perhaps it’s possible that this claim to fame will have some effect on my children. For one, Philo was a very tall man (as you can see

The latest issue of WIRED magazine includes Philo Farnsworth’s potato field among the short list of notable locations that have inspired great leaps in technology: While plowing a field at age 14, Farnsworth — who had been studying electrons and vacuum tubes — looked out across the even furrows and was struck with an idea.

Here’s a blog post that seems to ask all the right questions: Who Invented the Television? Ask that question to anyone today and there is a good chance that you will be met with blank stares. Yet, ask people who invented the light bulb or the radio and the answers will come far more easily.

…somebody didn’t exactly enjoy their night at the theater: The Farnsworth Invention commits more than the mere mortal sin of being exposition heavy.  It is almost emotionally fraudulent.  When Sorkin wants you to feel a little something for one of the people in the piece, he throws in Cossack soldiers and dying children like he’s

Every now and then somebody else comes along who sees it pretty much the way I do: Quickly the story moves on to debates regarding the legal issues of patents and intellectual property rights, both important topics, but science is relegated to a secondary consideration. Bizarrely, though Farnsworth won his first courtroom patent battle with

…who said "never let the facts get in the way of a good story" ?  Case in point: Here’s an excerpt from an otherwise reasonably balanced appraisal of The Farnsworth Invention by By Walter S. Ciciora, Ph.D., a self-professed "Recognized Industry Expert on Cable and Consumer Electronics Issues" from the Feb 1, 2008 editio of