Television was not invented by a single inventor. Instead, many people working together and alone over the years contributed to the evolution of the device.
1831
Joseph Henry's and Michael Faraday's work with electromagnetism jumpstarts the era of electronic communication.
1862
Abbe Giovanna Caselli invents his Pantelegraph and becomes the first person to transmit a still image over wires.
1873
Scientist Willoughby Smith experiments with selenium and light, revealing the possibility for inventors to transform images into electronic signals.
1876
Boston civil servant George Carey was thinking about complete television systems and in 1877 he put forward drawings for what he called a selenium camera that would allow people to see by electricity.
Eugen Goldstein coins the term "cathode rays" to describe the light emitted when an electric current was forced through a vacuum tube.
The Late 1870s
Scientists and engineers like Valeria Correa Vaz dePaiva, LouisFiguier, and ConstantinSenlecq were suggesting alternative designs for telectroscopes.
1880
Inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison theorize about telephone devices that transmit images as well as sound.
Bell's photophone used light to transmit sound and he wanted to advance his device for image sending.
George Carey builds a rudimentary system with light-sensitive cells.
1881
Sheldon Bidwell experiments with his telephotography that was similar to Bell's photophone.
1884
Paul Nipkow sends images over wires using a rotating metal disk technology calling it the electric telescope with 18 lines of resolution.
1900
At the World's Fair in Paris, the first International Congress of Electricity was held. That is where Russian Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word "television."
Soon after 1900, the momentum shifted from ideas and discussions to the physical development of television systems. Two major paths in the development of a television system were pursued by inventors.
- Inventors attempted to build mechanical television systems based onPaul Nipkow'srotating disks.
- Inventors attempted to buildelectronic television systemsbased on thecathode raytube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing.
1906
Lee de Forest invents the Audion vacuum tube that proves essential to electronics. The Audion was the first tube with the ability to amplify signals.
Boris Rosing combines Nipkow's disk and a cathode ray tube and builds the first working mechanical TV system.
1907
Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing suggest usingcathode ray tubesto transmit images. Independent of each other, they both develop electronic scanning methods of reproducing images.
1923
VladimirZworykinpatents hisiconoscopea TV camera tube based on Campbell Swinton's ideas. Theiconoscope, which he called an electric eye, becomes the cornerstone for further television development.Zworkinlater develops the kinescope for picture display (aka thereceiver).
1924–1925
AmericanCharles JenkinsandJohn Bairdfrom Scotland each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits.
John Bairdbecomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkow's disk.
Charles Jenkinbuilt his Radiovisor and in 1931 and sold it as a kit for consumers to put together.
VladimirZworykinpatents acolor televisionsystem.
1926–1930
John Bairdoperates a television system with 30 lines of resolution system running at five frames per second.
1927
Bell Telephoneand the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted the first long-distance use of television that took place between Washington, D.C., and New York City on April 7. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover commented, “Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in (this) new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.”
Philo Farnsworth files for a patent on the first completely electronic television system, which he called the Image Dissector.
1928
The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television station license (W3XK) toCharles Jenkins.
1929
Vladimir Zworykindemonstrates the first practical electronic system for both the transmission and reception of images using his new kinescope tube.
John Bairdopens the first TV studio; however, the image quality is poor.
1930
Charles Jenkinsbroadcasts the first TV commercial.
The BBC begins regular TV transmissions.
1933
Iowa State University (W9XK) starts broadcasting twice-weekly television programs in cooperation with radio station WSUI.
1936
About 200 television sets are in use worldwide.
Coaxial cable—a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and aluminum covering—is introduced. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone, and data signals.
The first experimental coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first regular installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in 1941.
The original L1 coaxial cable system could carry 480 telephone conversations or one television program. By the 1970s, L5 systems could carry 132,000 calls or more than 200 television programs.
1937
CBS begins its TV development.
The BBC begins high-definition broadcasts in London.
Brothers and Stanford researchers Russell and Sigurd Varian introduce the Klystron. A Klystron is a high-frequency amplifier for generating microwaves. It is considered the technology that makes UHF-TV possible because it gives the ability to generate the high power required in this spectrum.
1939
Vladimir Zworykinand RCA conduct experimental broadcasts from theEmpire State Building.
Television was demonstrated at the New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition.
RCA's David Sarnoff used his company's exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair as a showcase for the first presidential speech (by Franklin D. Roosevelt) on television and to introduce RCA's new line of television receivers, some of which had to be coupled with a radio if you wanted to hear the sound.
The Dumont company starts making TV sets.
1940
Peter Goldmark invents 343 lines of the resolutioncolor televisionsystem.
1941
The FCC releases the NTSC standard for black and white TV.
1943
Vladimir Zworykindevelops a better camera tube called the Orthicon. The Orthicon has enough light sensitivity to record outdoor events at night.
1946
Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated hiscolor televisionsystem to the FCC. His system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of acathode ray tube.
This mechanical means of producing a color picture was used in 1949 to broadcast medical procedures from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City hospitals. In Atlantic City, viewers could come to the convention center to see broadcasts of operations. Reports from the time noted that the realism of seeing surgery in color caused more than a few viewers to faint.
Although Goldmark's mechanical system was eventually replaced by an electronic system, he is recognized as the first to introduce a broadcastingcolor televisionsystem.
1948
Cable televisionis introduced in Pennsylvania as a means of bringing television to rural areas.
A patent was granted to Louis W. Parker for a low-cost television receiver.
One million homes in the United States have television sets.
1950
The FCC approves the firstcolor televisionstandard, which is replaced by a second in 1953.
Vladimir Zworykindeveloped a better camera tube called the Vidicon.
1956
Ampex introduces the first practicalvideotapesystem of broadcast quality.
1956
Robert Adlerinvents the first practicalremote controlcalled the Zenith Space Commander. It was preceded by wired remotes and units that failed in sunlight.
1960
The first split-screen broadcast occurs during the debates between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1962
The All-Channel Receiver Act requires that UHF tuners (channels 14 to 83) be included in all sets.
1962
A joint international collaboration between AT&T, Bell Labs, NASA, British General Post Office, the French National Post, Telegraph, and Telecom Office results in the development and launch ofTelstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts. Broadcasts are now internationally relayed.
1967
Most TV broadcasts are in color.
1969
On July 20, 600 million people watch the first TV transmission made from the moon.
1972
Half the TVs in homes are color sets.
1973
Giant screen projection TV is first marketed.
1976
Sony introducesBetamax, the first home video cassette recorder.
1978
PBS becomes the first station to switch to an all-satellite delivery of programs.
1981
NHK demonstrates HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution.
1982
DolbySurroundSound for home sets is introduced.
1983
Direct Broadcast Satellite begins service in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1984
Stereo TV broadcasts are approved.
1986
Super VHS is introduced.
1993
Closed captioning is required on all sets.
1996
The FCC approves ATSC's HDTV standard.
TV sets are in excess of 1 billion homes across the world.
