zworykin v. farnsworth part i: the strange story of tv's troubled origin

7/28/2019 Zworykin v. Farnsworth Part I: The Strange Story of TV's Troubled Origin

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ence-fiction publisher Hugo Gernsback rssaid to have Anglicized it from the Frenchterm around this century's first decade; aRussian, Constantin Perskyi, previouslyused it in a paper he presented in Paris in1900. As early as 1907 the word appearedin Scienffic American.In any case, it was with the 1837 emer-gence of the telegraph that inventors allover the world started to poke around forthis thing-with-no-name. By the 1840sthey'd already found the first clues:still-picture transmission over wires. Toaccomplish this they came up with the no-


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gra\,'itated, one might S?y, to physics. "Inschool u'e had a small collection of instru-ments which were used to demonstrateph1'sical laws during classes. Very soon Iwas put in charge of these instruments andoften was called to assist the teacher ...."To any turn-of-century youngster so in-clined, electricity must have been like anew puppy. Before most of the world knewwhat it was, Zworykin was tinkering withit. In bustling Mourom, "installation ofelectrical bells in the houses was in highfashion, and since I was willing to help ourrelatives and friends in this 'mysteriousaft,' I received the reputation of 'an ex-

stolid Mormon chim the legendsFarnsworth waswanted to be anDespite the dFarnsworth wasread of Einsteinkow and Rosing.a pulp-ma gazrnmagnetrzed carcrash the farm lcould fix it. Oneistry teacher poposed to be a stworth giving w


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the Russian Army. " He was assigned to aradio communications school, then sent asa private to Grodno, near the Polish front.Even then the Russian Army wasn'tnoted for efficiency. His squad couldn't findthe unit they were to join, and none of theother units wanted to feed them. Theyfinally stumbled onto a colonel who neededradiomen and Zworykin spent the nextseveral months being praised forjerrybuilding radio components out ofspare parts, and yelled at for transmittingmessages without code. Zwo.rykin hatedthe whole ordeal. He finally got back tocivilization by having a friendly doctor


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Zworykicontinued from pa


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ErrqlumIn Frank Louece'sworth" (August 198page 117 referred to


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Russia.As for the iconoscope, the rudimentarycamera tube he used in the initialW6sting-house demo wasn't it. According to con-temporary accounts and members ofZworykin's own research staff, work onthe iconoscope wasn't begun until July1929, and not completed until July 30,1931. The first public presentationwouldn't be for nearly two more years afterthat. As the Patent Office would decide inthe key patent-interference case-#64,027, Farnsworth u. Zworykin-Zworykin's earliest camera tube just didn'thave globules. Soon everyone involved

would learn exaIn the meantimfust workable elhe had an elect

had not inveriteddocument Zworearly Westinghofust "all-electroclosed in patenments filed throuZworykin gene"synchronizing"er than electrondid otherwise,ready beaten hi

zworykin v. farnsworth part i: the strange story of tv's troubled origin

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