Timeline Stories Archive

Vladimir Zworykin

May 15, 2021 No Comments

Russian Vladimir Zworykin patents his TV camera tube system which would later become a cornerstone of future TV technology.

In 1800, Count Alessandro Volta invented the first true battery, which came to be known as the voltaic pile. The voltaic pile consisted of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other, separated by a layer of cloth or cardboard soaked in brine.

Faraday and Henry

May 13, 2021 No Comments

Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry developed many inventions in the field of electromagnetism, enabling future development of electronic communication.

“There you are – electronic television!”

May 8, 2021 No Comments

On September 7, 1927, Philo T. Farnsworth’s image dissector transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, to a receiver in another room of his laboratory in San Francisco. Pem Farnsworth recalled in 1985 that her husband broke the stunned silence of his lab assistants by saying, “There you are..Read More

Cathode Ray Tube

May 8, 2021 No Comments

Karl Ferdinand Braun, a German physicist, invents the “Braun tube”, or Cathode Ray Tube, which would become the cornerstone of television development. Braun was the first to conceive the use of a CRT as a display device.

Boris Rosing

May 8, 2021 No Comments

Boris Rosing managed to improve upon Nipkow’s “Electric Telescope” and produced the first fully working mechanical TV system, using a photocell detector and a CRT display. He filed a patent for his invention on July 25, 1907.

New Word: Television

May 8, 2021 No Comments

The word “Television” was coined during the first International Congress of Electricity at the World’s Fair in Paris by Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi in a paper read on August 24, 1900. Perskyi’s paper reviewed the existing electromechanical technologies, mentioning the work of Nipkow and others.

Paul Nipkow

May 8, 2021 No Comments

German technician and inventor Paul Nipkow managed to transmit static image with 18 horizontal lines of resolution. His “Electric Telescope” quickly became the basis of many future mechanical television designs.

First Practical Fax Machine

May 8, 2021 No Comments

The pantelegraph was an early form of facsimile machine transmitting over normal telegraph lines developed by Italian priest Giovanni Caselli. It could transmit handwriting, signatures, or drawings. The first “pantelegram” was sent from Lyons to Paris on 10 February 1862.