Page 164 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)
P. 164
Television
Several different people were working on the invention of
the television at around the same time. John Logie Baird WOW!
developed a mechanical system for the BBC, an important
British broadcaster, in 1923. In the US, Philo Farnsworth ever broadcast in public
The first TV images
demonstrated an electronic television in 1934. However,
COMMUNICATION it was Russians Isaac Shoenberg and Vladimir Zworykin ventriloquist’s dummy
were of a scary-looking
called Stookie Bill
who created the electronic television we know today.
in 1926.
CATHODE RAY TUBE
The first important step was the invention Glass tube
with phosphor
of the cathode ray tube (CRT). The first screen at the end
was built by the German Ferdinand Braun
in 1897. It fired electrons down a glass tube
at a phosphor screen, which lit up.
EARLY BROADCASTING Controlling which bits of phosphor
lit up created a picture.
Although there were earlier broadcasts,
including the 1936 Olympic Games in
Berlin, the BBC service that started on
November 2, 1936 is regarded as the SPINNING DISK TELEVISION Cathode that sends out
world’s first regular public TV broadcast. Scottish engineer John Logie Baird used a electrons when heated
rotating disk to sweep a spotlight over the
subject to be televised, with a matching disk in the
receiver. He gave public demonstrations in 1926.
However, the pictures produced by this
Baird Televisor mechanical system were not as good
made in 1929
as those made using electronics.
REMOTE CONTROL
The American Zenith Radio
Corporation created the first television
remote control in 1950, called “Lazy
Bones” (above). It could turn a
television on and off, and change
channels. It was attached to the
television by a cable. The first wireless
remote control appeared in 1955.
Case containing A small screen displays
the rotating disk. the moving images.
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