•••
Television in the late
nineteen-eighties has become an
accepted part of everybody's
lives. Viewed daily by millions
of people the world over,
television's presence is
ubiquitous. Yet as familiar as it
is to us, its origins lie in
murky obscurity. Although there
has long been a debate over who
actually did invent television,
the credit must go to hundreds of
scientists whose research over
the years gave rise to the most
powerful medium in history.
-
CONTINUED
EXCERPTS FROM
Disappointments Are Great,,
FOLLOW THE MONEY, THE
INTERNET
By Troy Cory Stubblefield, Josie
Cory
TVI Magazine is not responsible for the
content of external InterNet sites
EDITORS
NOTE
/ 2002
AP/ TVInews Article: Take last May, 2002,"
says AP writer, Frazer Moore, "when NBC
aired specials celebrating 75 years as a
radio and television network, 20 years of
"Must-See TV," and a decade each of
"Dateline NBC", why wern't the Smart Daaf
Boys speaking out?
•••
But now, says Pete Allman, of TVInews, in
his "100th years celebration at K-surf and
Kmozart station in Beverly Hills," -- and
Frazer Moore writes in his "TV goes nuts
for anniversaries," how about some shows
to give viewers the big picture in
Historical terms?
•••
How about celebrating the birth of NBS
radio and Farnsworth television and paying
a delayed tribute to the creator's or the
Wireless Telehone™, radio and
television?
•••
It seems to have escaped the networks'
notice, but Saturday is the 75th
anniversary of the first successful
demonstration of television. Making it
happen was Philo T. Farnsworth, who,
hardly a household name, remains
television's invisible inventor.
•••
Since the networks won't likely re-enact
Farnsworth's big moment, you'll have to
visualize it for yourself. The setting:
his modest San Francisco lab where, on
Sept. 7, 1927, the 21-year-old self-taught
genius transmitted the image of a
horizontal line to a receiver in the next
room.
•••
Later that day, he triumphantly wired one
of his backers in Los Angeles: "THE DAMNED
THING WORKS!"
•••
It worked -- just like Farnsworth had
imagined when, as a 14-year-old Idaho
farmboy already obsessed with inventing
television, he had been plowing a field
and realized an image could be scanned
onto a picture tube the same way: row by
row.
•••
It worked -- yet Farnsworth would be
denied credit, fame and wealth befitting
the father of the world's most powerful
communications tool.
•••
His sole appearance on national television
was as a mystery guest on the CBS game
show "I've Got a Secret" in 1957. He
fielded questions from the celebrity
panelists as they tried in vain to guess
his secret ("I invented electronic
television"). For stumping them,
Farnsworth took home $80 and a carton of
Winston cigarettes
•••
Forty-five years later (and three decades
after his death in 1971), "I've Got a
Secret" could still be the slogan for
Farnsworth, and his 94-year-old widow,
Pem, who worked at his side through much
of his career.
•••
How ironic! In this media-savvy age, not
only should his name be as widely known as
Edison's or Ford's, but his long, lean
face with the bulbous brow should be as
familiar as any pop icon's.
•••
Saturday would have been a great day for
TV to tell Farnsworth's story.
•••
Picture it! Live coverage originating from
his laboratory space. A musical-variety
special with TV's biggest stars paying
homage to the man they owe for their
livelihood. Every network briefly going to
black to acknowledge where they'd be
without Farnsworth. (And that's just for
starters!)
•••
Picture it, but don't bet on it. By now TV
is generally assumed to be naturally
occurring, like water or air.
•••
And anyone who suspects otherwise likely
believes that TV's creator was a
then-mighty company called RCA.
•••
This is a version of history RCA was
pushing even as its boss, David Sarnoff,
tried to crush "The Last Lone Inventor"
(aptly dubbed by a recent Farnsworth
biography of that title). It's a version
of history that NBC, which Sarnoff
founded, clearly has no incentive to
revise, even today.
•••
Never mind the record says different. In
1935 the courts ruled on Farnsworth's
patent, which RCA was contesting as part
of Sarnoff's endless campaign of
litigation, propaganda and dirty tricks.
The decision, upheld on appeal:
Farnsworth, not RCA's chief television
engineer Vladimir Zworykin, is the father
of TV.
•••
Now, 75 years after a fuzzy line sparked a
revolution, television, like the nation,
is focused on the anniversary that trails
Sept. 7 by four days.
•••
Of course, remembering the 9/11 attacks
provides added reason to appreciate, not
overlook, Farnsworth. When covering that
tragedy, TV was at its finest and most
indispensable. However unsung, Farnsworth
was part of the effort.
•••
But waiting two more weeks won't make much
difference. What about the "Primetime Emmy
Awards"? Airing Sept. 22 on NBC, it would
be a fitting occasion for a
give-the-man-his-due show of thanks.
•••
At least, that's the sentiment some
Philophiles have conveyed to the Academy
of Television Arts & Sciences and the
Emmycast's executive producer, Gary
Smith.
•••
"We are sympathetic to the desire to honor
Farnsworth's accomplishments. They're
huge," said academy Chairman Bryce
Zabel.
•••
How exactly to do it, he added, "is
something that's being talked about."
•••
Maybe so. But as Farnsworth showed in many
ways, what counts is what people can
see.
03
/
QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS ABOUT ANTENNA'S / This
introduction is a brief guide to Q&A
most about Nathan and the antenna's he
used to transmit voice through
space.
The
complete answers are found in Part 02 of
the Antenna. • MORE ABOUT THE ANTENNA
- Part
02 •
WAS
IT REALLY A WRITER'S PEN WHO BECAME THE
FATHER OF RADIO AND THE RADIO ANTENNA? Yes -
The
attorney for DeForest changed the name
from "wireless" to "Radio" when
incorporating his stock company in 1907.
The DeFerest Group knew they had to break
away from the control of the NBS Wireless
Telephone™ Patents and AT&T's
control of Land-lines.
-SEE
THE FESSENDEN vs AT&T 1928 LAW
SUIT.SEE
ALSO Smart-Daaf Boy
TIMELINE.
•
Why
all this bother about a Radio ground
connection?
•
But
how did Nathan plug his RF circuit - the
transmitter/receiver combo into space and
ground at the same time?
•
But
how could a potential exist when the
entire signal flows through the air?
•
What
Is Induction Radio?
•
MORE
ABOUT THE ANTENNA - Part 02
•
If you
quiz a television producer of a
documentary -- like Ken Burns, or many college
professors or students with the same
question, you will more than likely hear
the names, James Clerk Maxwell, Heinrich
Rudolph Hertz, David Sarnoff, Marconi,
DeForest, Armstrong, GE, RCA or NBC as
your answer. •
If you question a grammar
school student as to who invented "radio"
or discovered Maxwell's "ether wind"
theory, the student will most likely
answer, Marconi. If the
student is particularly
bright he or she may include the
inventor's first name, Guglielmo and his
native land, Italy.
•
MORE
ABOUT THE ANTENNA - Part 02
Consider a transmitter
perpendicular to the ground. The electrons
in the antenna, when a signal is applied,
are changing their velocities continuously
(i.e. moving up and down very quickly) in
response to the applied
signal. •
• For a
station that broadcasts at a wavelength of
1500m, the antenna needs to be 750m long.
This is because there is a 'virtual
antenna' caused by the aerial being
earthed in the ground: About sub-TV and
the EditorOther Pages The Physics of
Aerial Design - an Introduction Have you
ever wondered why radio and television
aerials are the shape and size that they
are? •
MORE
ABOUT THE ANTENNA - Part
01
Book
Troy Cory-Stubblefield and Josie Cory,
Disappointments Are Great! Follow
the Money... Smart Daaf Boys, The
Inventors of Radio & Television and
the Life Style of Stubblefield,
Marconi,
Ambrose
Fleming,
Reginald
Fessenden,
Tesla,
... DeForest,
Armstrong,
Alexanderson
and Farnsworth,
2003, Library of Congress Catalog Card
#93-060451, ISBN
1883644348,
(SMART denotes Stubblefield,
Marconi, Ambrose Fleming,
Reginald Fessenden and
Tesla, and DAAF denotes,
DeForest, Armstrong,
Alexanderson and
Farnsworth) This is a
bibliography of manuscripts of these
inventors.
