Who invented Television Philo Farnsworth versus Sarnoff and Zworykin

The invention of television was the work of many inventors over several decades, as we discussed in our
previous article. Turning the vision of the television as an invention into a real commercial product that
occupied American homes was the work of business visionary David Sarnoff with the help of Russian
American scientist Vladimir Zworykin.

Scientist and inventor Vladimir Zworykin

As a young engineering student, Vladimir Zworykin worked for Russian scientist and inventor Boris Rosing
and assisted him in some of his laboratory work at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology in Russia.
Following the Russian Revolution, Zworykin moved to the United States in 1919. Zworykin found work with
Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh. Based on their pioneering efforts in radio, he tried to
convince them to do research in television. His work on television resulted in two patent applications. The
first, entitled "Television Systems" was filed on December 29, 1923, and was followed by a second
application in 1925 that was awarded in 1928.

Zworykin applied to the physics department at the University of Pittsburgh in 1924. Due to his previous credited work Zworykin received his Ph.D. only two years later
upon completion of his dissertation on the improvement of photoelectric cells.

Zworykin demonstrated his invention for television to Westinghouse executives in 1925. According to Zworykin himself his demonstration, was “scarcely impressive.”
The Westinghouse executives suggested that Zworykin should spend his time on more practical endeavors.

Business visionary David Sarnoff

In 1917, General Electric purchased the American branch of the Marconi Company and combined its radio patents to form a new company called the Radio Corporation
of America (RCA). Russian born David Sarnoff was promoted to General Manager of RCA in 1921 and was given full authority to run the company. In the 1920s
David Sarnoff of RCA had the vision of developing television.

In 1929, Zworykin invented the all electric camera tube. Zworykin called his tube the Iconoscope "a viewer of icons". He demonstrated both the iconoscope and
kinescope to the Institute of Radio Engineers. The Iconoscope tube could produce good pictures with a reasonable amount of light. In attendance at the demonstration
was David Sarnoff of RCA. Sarnoff recruited Zworykin to develop television for RCA, and put Zworykin in charge of television development for RCA at their
laboratories in Camden, New Jersey.

Even though many others worked to invent television, and working models were demonstrated before RCA, Sarnoff used the 1939 World's Fair to introduce
commercial television to the world, and began regularly scheduled broadcasting at the same time. David Sarnoff realized the potential of television, and poured huge
resources into its development, even during the lean years of the depression.  Sarnoff had the drive, and the resources to turn his vision into a reality.
Philo T. Farnsworth fights the war over television
When I was young my encyclopedia told me that Vladimir Zworykin was the inventor of television. For many years I took it as a fact that Zworykin invented television.
Thanks to the commercialization of the internet, years later I found a whole new world of information, and
discovered that the invention of television was not a simple question to answer, and learned of a battle by the
followers of Philo T Farnsworth to promote his cause as the inventor of television.
Philo T. Farnsworth was a Mormon farmer who lived in Utah, not exactly the place for the hot bed of technology.
In 1922, a young Farnsworth filled several blackboards in his chemistry class with sketches and diagrams showing
his high school science teacher his idea for an electronic television system. Farnsworth received a patent for his
television system raised money from friends to build his invention. Many years later that high school teacher would
testify in court what he saw on the blackboards of the school, in support of Farnsworth's claims.

David Sarnoff offered to buy Farnsworth's patents in 1931, with the condition that Farnsworth become an employee
of RCA. Farnsworth refused Sarnoff's offer, and spend much of the next several years fighting David Sarnoff and
RCA in the court room over television patents.

When other developers and their patents got in Sarnoff’s way, he fought them hard. Philo T. Farnsworth was one of
the few who stood up to Sarnoff and won. Farnsworth eventually prevailed as RCA finally conceded to a multi-year licensing agreement with Farnsworth. But Sarnoff
and RCA would grab the spotlight as RCA introduced electronic television to the world at New York World's Fair 1939.

Who knows of Farnsworth?

Even though Farnsworth won the battle, defeating RCA in court to uphold his patent claims, he lost the war as the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation never
took off. Farnsworth sold his company to International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) in 1951. Most people have heard of RCA (Radio Corporation of America), they
went on to be a large and profitable company. Farnsworth's family continues to promote his name, and his claim to the invention of television.

Zworykin always the scientist.

Decades before NASA landed a man of the moon Vladimir Zworykin talked about the scientific discoveries that could be shared on television, stating that “You can see
the opposite side of the moon if someone sends a rocket there with a television camera. " In a 1975 interview Zworykin said he was disappointed with the outcome of
television. "Yes. I am not presently satisfied with the programs.... Our programs are commercial, and therefore the income from broadcasting depends upon the number
of people viewing. By taking surveys of this, right or wrong, they conclude that lower quality programs appeal to more people."

In their roles at RCA, it was clear that Sarnoff was the visionary businessman and Zworykin was always the scientist. Compared to Microsoft as the 800 pound gorilla
of technology of the 1990s, RCA was the 800 pound gorilla of technology of the 1930s. There have been comparisons made to David Sarnoff of RCA as a driving force
to establish the dominance of his company in the development of television to that of Bill Gates of Microsoft and his obsession to have Internet Explorer win the
browser wars.

Although many people have called Vladimir Zworykin the Father of Television, Zworykin himself always said that television was the creation of hundreds of inventors
and researchers. Zworykin seemed not only to be uncomfortable with being called the Father of Television, he also seemed to be unhappy with what became of his
work.
Sarnoff vs Farnsworth: The Battle for the Tube.
GLANCING AT HIS MORNING PAPER, DAVID SARNOFF QUICKLY REALISED HE HAD A BIG, BIG PROBLEM.

Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) had spent his entire adult life rising up through the ranks of the American Marconi wireless telegraph
company. David was a Russian immigrant who started as a mere office boy in 1906 at the age of 15, learning about electronics and wireless communications on-the-job.
He served at Marconi radiotelegraph stations on ships and on shore, soon becoming a manager of the telegraphers, then chief inspector and contract manager. However,
David wasn’t merely content to ride the radio wave of the present – rather, he was always looking toward the future, even then.

So was an Idaho farmboy named Philo T. Farnsworth.

David Sarnoff had already had some pretty big ideas.

The utility of the “wireless” had, to that point, been commonly seen as a point-to-point, two-way technology – you talked to the remote station, and they talked back.
You had a conversation, and when you were done, others took your place, like a telephone. But there were the occasional “broadcast” messages, like weather reports,
and that combined with news of voice transmission tests piqued Sarnoff’s interest. He wondered if new radio technologies could transmit music with any clarity, and so
in 1915 he did a demonstration of his own, from a station in New York, broadcasting music to anyone who could – and wanted to – listen.

David wrote a memo to his superiors proposing the idea of a receiver-only radio set, one that would allow an owner to listen to music broadcasts passively, but his
superiors scoffed at the idea and ignored him. Why would they congest the airwaves with rubbish like that, wasting valuable space that could be used for two-way
communication? The radio, after all, was going to eventually replace the telephone, wasn’t it? Time went on. After World War I ended, General Electric bought
American Marconi, and Sarnoff revived his idea, which once again was discounted. Why would anyone want to listen to an arbitrary sequence of songs over the radio
when they could play whatever recordings they wanted? They could go to the music hall for that sort of thing. And newspapers did news – that’s what they were for!
David’s “receiver” would never catch on. Going down that road would just waste the company’s time and money.

But Sarnoff was undeterred. In 1921 he helped to privately organise a “live” broadcast of a heavyweight boxing match between Georges Carpentier and Jack Dempsey
and afterward, the public demand for radio receivers was palpable. Having adequately demonstrated an application of radio – live event coverage – that was unavailable
to any other medium, David’s bosses at RCA had no choice but to journey with Sarnoff down his rabbit-hole, and in 1925 RCA purchased its first radio station in New
York, launching the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and placing Sarnoff at its helm. He would guide and grow the world’s first radio network for four years,
before becoming the president of RCA. However Sarnoff wasn’t content.

David was aware of recent experiments regarding the transmission of moving images. Scottish inventor John Logie Baird had demonstrated the first working
“television” (the term coined in 1900 by Russian engineer Konstantin Perskiy – vision meaning “to see” and tele signifying “over a distance”) in 1926, and Sarnoff
deduced quite accurately that if the public had gone crazy over being able to hear a boxing match, they would go completely insane if they could actually see it. To say
television was on Sarnoff’s radar would be a gross understatement indeed. But Baird’s system was mechanical, low definition and hard to see, and Sarnoff didn’t think
it was practical. But eventually it would improve and then he would pounce, using RCA’s might to shut Baird out of the North American market, appropriating the
Scotsman’s technology for itself, and taking all the credit (and the profits).

And so, when Sarnoff looked at his newspaper and saw that an American couple, Philo and Pem Farnsworth, had demonstrated not only a working television system but
an all-electronic television system using the cathode-ray tube on both the transmission and receiving sides, and without the annoyances of its mechanical cousin – it was
quieter, and the screen was brighter and larger – he quickly realised he had a problem. His first instinct was to buy the Farnsworths out, but he soon discovered they had
investors – bankers that reportedly owned 60% of their company, and who weren’t going to sell cheaply. RCA hadn’t made its fortunes by being generous to others – in
fact, Sarnoff was often accused of being a robber baron, and if he couldn’t get what he wanted one way, he would get it another.

Philo Farnsworth hadn’t had much of a choice. He needed money in order to pursue his invention, and that was the only offer on the table. Investing in television would
seem like a no-brainer today, but at its birth it was considered an extremely risky investment – not only had inventors been chasing the dream (and spending money) for
over two decades, but they still hadn’t adequately answered the question of whether anyone really wanted it enough to pay for it. But Farnsworth was convinced of
television’s revolutionary potential, and had been ever since 1921, when he was fifteen and had drawn sketches of a proposed fully-electronic television system for his
high school science teacher.

But Philo Farnsworth hadn’t had much of a choice. He needed money in order to pursue his invention, and that was the only offer on the table. Investing in television
would seem like a no-brainer today, but at its birth it was considered an extremely risky investment – not only had inventors been chasing the dream (and spending
money) for over two decades, but they still hadn’t adequately answered the question of whether anyone really wanted it enough to pay for it. But Farnsworth was
convinced of television’s revolutionary potential, and had been ever since 1921, when he was fifteen and had drawn sketches of a proposed fully-electronic television
system for his high school science teacher.

Born in 1906 in Utah, Philo T. Farnsworth moved to Rigby Idaho with his family in 1918 on to a relative’s 240-acre ranch. The farmhouse had an electric generator,
and Philo soon found a cache of technology-related magazines in the attic. He was a quick study, learning how to perform repairs on the generator and fix burnt-out
electric motors. But his young mind soon turned to larger problems. Philo began to contemplate the idea of all-electronic television, reportedly having an epiphany
regarding the raster scanning (scanning sequentially in rows) process of an image using cathode rays while gazing upon the impressions left in a harvested Idaho wheat
field, but the bulk of his proposed system was likely influenced by the work of Scottish engineer Alan Campbell-Swinton, whose extremely similar theoretical system
of television Campbell-Swinton had first described in a letter to the British journal Nature in 1908, titled “Distant Electric Vision”, in which he described a system of
two cathode-ray tubes.

Cathode rays were discovered in 1869 by German physicist Johann Hittorf. He had been experimenting with Crookes tubes, a glass bulb enclosing a partial vacuum,
with two metal electrodes, one inserted at one end and the other suspended in the tube toward the other. When high-voltage was applied to the first electrode (the
cathode), a stream of particles (later named electrons) would bridge across the vacuum to the other electrode (the anode), but more importantly, many would overshoot
and “sparkle” as they hit the glass wall of the tube. A bit of fluorescent paint applied to the end of the tube showed that the electrons were travelling in straight lines,
and hence the streams were called “cathode rays”. After British physicist William Crookes (the inventor of the Crookes tube) demonstrated that the direction of cathode
rays could be controlled by magnetic fields (a concept improved upon by Campbell-Swinton), German Ferdinand Braun built the first proper cathode-ray tube in 1897,
containing a phosphor-coated screen which he used to build the first oscilloscope, a device for visualising frequencies.

However, the number of electrons striking the screen in the Braun tube were few, and the light output was dim. An American physicist, John B. Johnson, developed a
“hot cathode” tube, where the cathode is heated to increase the number of electrons emitted (this heating process is why older CRT-based televisions can sometimes
take a few seconds to show a screen), and his tube entered commercial production in 1922, one year after Farnsworth’s presentation to his teacher. All-electronic
television was now possible, someone only had to work out the details and build it.

Campbell-Swinton’s theoretical television system was featured in a 1915 issue of the popular American magazine Electrical Experimenter. It is much more likely a
young Philo Farnsworth had encountered that article (maybe even in his attic), given the similarities between his system and Campbell-Swinton’s, and gained most of
his initial inspiration there rather than inventing an entire television process in an Idaho wheat-field on his own, but regardless of where Farnsworth obtained his ideas,
he was American; he was first to make it actually work (a remarkable achievement); and, worst of all, he was someone else’s property – making David Sarnoff’s only
remaining advantage the wealth of RCA, which he could leverage with great abandon…and would.

The race was on.

Sarnoff met with Vladimir Zworykin, an engineer at American manufacturing company Westinghouse, who had studied in Russia under Boris Rosing, a Saint
Petersburg scientist who had been working on television since 1902. Rosing demonstrated the first television of any kind in 1911, and Zworykin graduated the
following year in 1912. He moved to the United States toward the end of the Russian Civil War and found work at Westinghouse engaging in television experiments,
filing patents in 1923 and 1925.

Zworykin’s initial system was similar to Campbell-Swinton’s; it used the cathode-ray tube in both the transmitter and the receiver. Zworykin developed and patented a
prototype receiver in 1929 he named the kinescope, and soon after spoke about it at a convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers. This garnered Sarnoff’s attention.
He hired Zworykin away from Westinghouse in 1930, promising him virtually unlimited funds. Sarnoff didn’t care how Zworykin made television work, only that he
did – and soon, before a competitor could upset RCA’s supremacy over the airwaves. But displaying the image was far less of a problem than capturing it. Zworykin
was still using a mechanical device for that half of the television process and it wasn’t working out. He had toured Farnsworth’s laboratory toward the end of his time at
Westinghouse and had been impressed by Farnsworth’s all-electronic “image dissector”, and believed a much better solution could be found there.

Two years after Philo’s impromptu presentation to his science teacher, he and his family had moved back to Utah, where he studied electronics at Brigham Young
university. During this time he met his wife Elma Gardner, who went by the name Pem. After a brief foray into a radio repair business with Pem’s brother which failed,
Farnsworth became acquainted with a pair of San Fransisco-based philanthropists who agreed to fund further research into his television ideas, and set up a laboratory
for him in Los Angeles. Philo married Pem and they relocated to California, eager to begin their work.

Television experimentation to that point had employed a spinning mechanical disc to direct a “flying spot” of light systematically over the subject to be transmitted,
using an electronic sensor to gauge the intensity of the light reflected back, and sending an electrical signal portraying that varying intensity to the receiver which could
then reproduce it either using a variable light bulb and another spinning disc or using a cathode-ray tube (see Gadget Graveyard). This method was extremely restrictive
– flying spot scanners were fixed in place and needed complete darkness. While improvements and variations in the method were developed, Farnsworth felt that
capturing a television image should be as easy and straightforward as using a film camera, with all of the functionality they provided. And so, he developed a cathode-
ray tube similar to the one Campbell-Swinton proposed.

Farnsworth’s image dissector tube contained a photocathode plate (a plate coated with a photosensitive material that emits negatively-charged electrons proportional to
the amount of light it is exposed to) on one end. Lenses outside of the tube focussed an image on to the plate, and electrons were then released as a result, attracted to a
positively-charged electrode (the anode) at the opposite end of the tube. However, an aperture (or small hole) only allowed a section of the electrons through, which
would then hit the anode and create an electrical signal, measuring the light hitting the associated area on the plate. Rather than physically moving the aperture around
in order to “scan” the complete image, magnetic fields were used to shift the flow of electrons from the plate, obtaining the same result with no moving parts.

It worked! In 1927 Farnsworth transmitted a simple straight line captured with the dissector, in 1928 he held his first demonstration for the press (where the first image
transmitted was a dollar sign, a dig at his investors who “wanted to see money from this thing”), and by 1929 he was able to transmit a live image of Pem. But as most
of the electrons released by the photocathode plate were blocked by the aperture the signal from the anode was weak, and it required an extreme amount of light to be
cast on its subjects – the associated heat was unbearable, and as a result Pem’s eyes were closed when she became the dissector’s first human subject. Zworykin
discounted the image dissector tube as ultimately impractical, and looked for another solution.

Zworykin had previously designed his own camera tube, which he had called the “Iconoscope”, and had filed a patent for it in 1925. It used an “image plate” made of
aluminum oxide with an array of photo-sensitive potassium globules on one side and a metal mesh on the other, and a cathode-ray tube to scan it (we will describe this
further in a moment.) But, while it worked, the resulting picture had poor resolution. Zworykin would abandon the Iconoscope and move on to other projects.

But now that he was at RCA, work on his camera tube began again in earnest. A breakthrough came in 1931 when one of Zworykin’s underlings, Sanford Essig, left
one of the revised plates, made of mica rather than aluminium and coated in silver instead of potassium, baking in an oven too long. Upon examination, he noticed the
silver layer had shattered into a large number of tiny silver globules, far more than they had been able to produce by manually placing each one. This would improve the
resolution of the captured image substantially, creating the first practical picture.

The revised design worked by using a mica plate covered with an array of “cells” made up of photosensitive material, each of which had a grain of silver at its centre. A
layer of silver was also applied to the back of the plate, causing each one of the cells to become a capacitor, able to store a charge, but never release it. Each one of those
cells was like a pixel on a computer screen. A cathode-ray electron gun “charges up” the plate by scanning it. Then, a period of time passes while the photosensitive
material coating each cell releases electrons depending on the amount of light hitting them from a lens-focussed image. The more light, the more electrons are released,
and the more charge is dissipated.

The cathode-ray gun scans the plate again, and any electrons the cells cannot absorb are reflected back to a ring of metal around the sides of the tube. These collected
electrons create an electronic representation of the image, a signal that can then be amplified and inverted, and then used to reconstruct the image using a cathode-ray
“picture” tube. Zworykin rushed to patent the new design, late in 1931.
However, Farnsworth had patented many elements of his “camera tube” and that was going to eventually prove problematic for Sarnoff. In 1931 he offered to buy
Farnsworth’s patents for US$100,000 but only if he went to work for RCA.

Despite investment having dried up in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, Philo refused, and instead joined the Philco company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
moving there with Pem and their two children. Sarnoff retaliated by filing a patent-interference lawsuit against Farnsworth, claiming that Zworykin’s 1925 patent took
precedence. To make matters worse, Sarnoff threatened to stop licensing RCA’s radio patents to Philco, and in 1933 it severed its relationship with Farnsworth. Things
looked bleak for Philo, but his old high-school teacher had kept copies of some of his early diagrams, and he won the patent case. But Sarnoff threw his army of lawyers
at Farnsworth, filing a number of appeals and injunctions.

By 1935 Philo had formed a new company, and he demonstrates a fully-functional television system in the summer of that year, but because of his patent fight with
RCA nobody invests. At the invitation of John Logie Baird, Philo travels to Europe, not just to demonstrate his working system, but also in a quest to find funding for it,
and he finds some success, licensing his image dissector tube to a German company, which used it to broadcast the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

After Farnsworth returned to the US, he began experimental broadcasts, and invented a process for sterilising milk using radio waves, and a fog-penetrating beam for
ships and airplanes. RCA, meanwhile, was perfecting its technology, including the invention of a “photomultiplier” tube that enhanced the Iconoscope’s signal, with an
aim to launch electronic television at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. Farnsworth had managed to outlast Sarnoff, and RCA was forced to pay US$1 million in
royalties to settle the patent dispute in order to move ahead with their launch, where Sarnoff would effectively declare himself the father of television. When Farnsworth
heard Sarnoff had taken the credit, he remarked to a reporter, “The baby has been born with a beard.” Sarnoff would ignore Farnsworth’s contribution, but at least Philo
was set to reap the profits of his invention – or so he thought.

Unfortunately, World War II broke out soon after, and manufacturing facilities in the US were appropriated for the war effort. Television was put on hold, and
Farnsworth’s patents would expire in the meantime. By the time post-war television started to gear up, Farnsworth was broke, and in 1951 he sold his company to
International Telephone and Telegraph, where he worked on a number of inventions, including the forerunner to modern air-traffic control systems. Philo had done
much for the invention of television, but saw little reward for it. RCA, on the other hand, moved its National Broadcasting Company into television with gusto,
establishing a country-wide network of stations and a slate of television programming that would make it the number one broadcaster for decades.

Sarnoff had won.

…Or had he?

Without Philo T. Farnsworth to provoke him, Sarnoff may have not put as much (if any) effort into his pursuit of television. After all, he wasn’t so much interested in
forging a brave new world as he was afraid of losing control over a new medium – or, in today’s lingo, he had FOMO. Farnsworth, meanwhile, may never have solved
the problems with his image dissector, and without Sarnoff on his back, Zworykin may have never perfected the Iconoscope – Sanford Essig may have never over-
baked his mica plate. Innovation needs competition, and so we declare this race a tie, for without all of the competitors, it is arguable the finish line might never have
been crossed.
Philo T Farnsworth, Inventor of TV, Screwed by David Sarnoff, CEO of RCA

Philo T Farnsworth (1906-1971)was a Mormon farm boy who is the undisputed inventor of television
yet he made little money and got little credit for his efforts. Instead he was tied up in litigation by
David Sarnoff and his RCA corporate lawyers, and, although he eventually was ruled the sole inventor
of TV  by the US Patent Office, he collected precious few royalties from Sarnoff and RCA before his
patent expired in 1947 shortly before the post war boom in TV sets really took off. In 1935 the US
Patent Office declared that Farnsworth was the undisputed inventor of TV. However Sarnoff and RCA
tied Farnsworth up in litigation that prevented Farnsworth from marketing a single TV set. Then
along came World War II which prevented Farnsworth from pursuing his commercial venture. After
the war Farnsworth had two years to market and collect royalties before his patent expired in 1947
and TV became public domain. It wasn't until after 1947 that TV sales really took off with the result
that RCA didn't have to pay royalties to Farnsworth at all and most of the profits went to RCA.
Farnsworth eventually died depressed and alcoholic having spent his life dedicated to his invention.
The basic history of the invention is the following:

In 1921 the 14-year-old Mormon had an idea while working on his father's Idaho farm. Mowing hay in rows, Philo realized an electron beam could scan a picture in
horizontal lines, reproducing the image almost instantaneously. This would prove to be a critical breakthrough in Philo Farnsworth's invention of the television in
1927.

Earlier TV devices had been based on an 1884 invention called the scanning disk, patented by Paul Nipkow. Riddled with holes, the large disk spun in front of an
object while a photoelectric cell recorded changes in light. Depending on the electricity transmitted by the photoelectric cell, an array of light bulbs would glow or
remain dark. Though Nipkow's mechanical system could not scan and deliver a clear, live-action image, most would-be TV inventors still hoped to perfect it.

So Farnsworth used electronics instead of a mechanical device to scan the picture a line at a time similar to the way he raked hay a row at a time. With the advent of
digital TV, each row is divided up into a number of picture elements or pixels which are then given a digital value. But Farnsworth's black and white TV was simpler.
The camera recorded an analog signal which represented the values between pure black and pure white continuously, a line at a time, using the photoelectric effect to
convert light intensity into an electron stream. This signal was then converted into a radio wave that was sent out over the air and then reconverted into an electron
stream at the receiver. The electron beam was then swept back and forth in rows or lines (similar to Farnsworth's hay field) across a cathode ray tube which then lit up
according to the lightness or darkness of the original image.

Interested in electricity and science from an early age, Philo explained his ideas for television in a diagram to his high school teacher. This diagram turned out to be
invaluable when the Patent Office had to decide who had precedence in the invention of television. They decided that Farnsworth's ideas took precedence and he was
issued a patent in 1927. At the age of 19, having dropped out of college, Philo persuaded two backers to put up the money necessary for him to develop his ideas. He
had to develop a camera that would turn an image into a stream of electrons and a television tube that would turn a stream of electrons into an image.

Meanwhile, in 1929 David Sarnoff hired Vladimir Zworykin, a Russian emigre like himself,
who had a competing version of electronic television. Sarnoff had engineered a virtual monopily
for RCA in the radio industry, was sitting on a large capital war chest, and was determined to do it
again with television. In 1930 Sarnoff sent Zworykin to California  to check out Farnsworth's
invention which was considerably more developed at that time than Zworykin's. Farnsworth had a
working TV camera. Farnsworth was too naive to  realize that Zworykin's mission was to steal
his ideas for RCA which then tried to do a work-around of Farnsworth's patent. Zworykin told
Farnsworth disingenuously, "That's a beautiful tube. I wish I had invented it." Later Sarnoff
himself visited Farnsworth and offered him $100,000 for his invention. Farnsworth refused since
he felt that, as the inventor, he should be paid royalties instead. Sarnoff had famously said,
"RCA doesn't pay royalties; we collect them."

In 1931, Farnsworth found a company that agreed to license his television technology. In an old
brick building in Philadelphia, Farnsworth signed a secret deal with a radio company called
Philco that wanted to get a head start in television. They agreed to his terms and offered to fund
his research if he would bring his lab to Philadelphia. The move was shrouded in secrecy
because Philco wanted to hide their plans from RCA. After leaving Philco and forming his own
company, Farnsworth demonstrated live TV in Philadelphia in 1934. Sarnoff decided to use his
corporate might and his team of patent lawyers to fight Farnsworth, who had only one patent
attorney, in court. Teetering on the verge of bankruptcy Farnsworth signed a deal with an
English company that enabled him to put the first TV station on the air in 1936.

Burned out by constant work and pressure, Farnsworth started to drink heavily, decided to get away form the TV business and retreated to a farm in Maine. Meanwhile,
David Sarnoff was finally ready to unveil RCA television to America. The history books would say that television was born in 1939 at the New York World's Fair.
Farnsworth's first public demonstration in Philadelphia, five years earlier, was forgotten. At the World's Fair in 1939, David Sarnoff  stated, "We have added radio sight
to sound." Although RCA lore would not mention Farnsworth as having anything to do with bringing TV to the world, after seven years of crippling litigation,
Farnsworth finally won his case against RCA. In October, 1939, Sarnoff was forced to admit defeat. For the first time in RCA's history, royalties would be paid to an
outside inventor. The small inventor had dared to take on the giant corporation, and he had won. But it was a Pyrrhic victory. Just as TV was about to go into
production, World War II intervened. By the time the war was over, Farnworth had just two years left before his patent would become public domain. So in the end, he
was shoved aside and RCA, the corporation, was the one that got the credit for developing and presenting television to the American people.
After the war Farnsworth worked on a variety of projects for ITT. But his health deteriorated due to alcoholism
and depression. He had to sit by while Sarnoff and RCA took all the credit and the money for the invention of
television. As always his ventures teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Stress associated with his job threw
Farnsworth into relapse.  He was eventually terminated and allowed medical retirement.

In the spring off 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at Brigham
Young University, which presented him with an honorary doctorate. The university also offered him office space
and an underground concrete bunker location for the project. Realizing the fusion lab was to be dismantled at
ITT, Farnsworth invited staff members to accompany him to Salt Lake City as team members in his planned
Philo T. Farnsworth Associates (PTFA) organization. By late 1968 the associates began holding regular business
meetings and PTFA was underway. However, although a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration was promptly secured and more possibilities were within reach, the financing needed to pay the
$24,000 in monthly expenses for equipment rental and salaries was stalled.

By Christmas 1970, PTFA had failed to secure the necessary financing and the Farnsworths had sold all their
own ITT stock and cashed out Philo's life insurance policy to maintain organization stability. The underwriter
had failed to provide the financial backing that was to have supported the organization during its critical first
year. The banks called in all outstanding loans. Repossession notices were placed on anything not previously
sold and the Internal Revenue Service put a lock on the laboratory door until delinquent taxes were paid. During
January 1970, Philo T. Farnsworth Associates disbanded. Farnsworth became seriously ill with pneumonia and
died on 11 March 1971, broke and depressed.

Philo Farnsworth was named one of Time magazine's 100 greatest scientists and thinkers of the 20th century.
He had had high hopes for television - that it would bring the world together and provide unlimited educational
opportunities for all. Like the inventor of radio, Edwin Armstrong, and the inventor of the triode, Lee de Forest,
he was sadly disillusioned by the programming that was put on his invention instead. However, in 1969 he and
his wife, Pem, watched a man walk on the moon, and he knew his work had been worthwhile. Meanwhile,
David Sarnoff, who had driven Armstrong to suicide over his invention of FM radio and Farnsworth to drink
and depression, continued to make profits for RCA Corporation.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer.[2][3] He made many crucial contributions to the early
development of all-electronic television.[4] He is best known for his 1927 invention of the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube),
the image dissector, as well as the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. [5][6] Farnsworth developed a television system complete with
receiver and camera—which he produced commercially through the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation from 1938 to 1951, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. [7][8]

In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). It was not a practical
device for generating nuclear power, though it provides a viable source of neutrons.[9] The design of this device has been the inspiration for other fusion approaches,
including the Polywell reactor concept.[10] Farnsworth held 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.

Early life

Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children[11] of Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, a Latter-day Saint couple living in a small
log cabin built by Lewis's father near Beaver, Utah. In 1918, the family moved to a relative's 240-acre (1.0 km2) ranch near Rigby, Idaho,[12] where his father
supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find that his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco
generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick student in mechanical and electrical technology, repairing the troublesome generator. He
found a burned-out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants and rewound the armature; he converted his mother's hand-powered washing
machine into an electric-powered one.[13] He developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with a distant relative, and he discovered a
large cache of technology magazines in the attic of their new home.[14] He won $25 in a pulp-magazine contest for inventing a magnetized car lock.[11] Farnsworth was a
member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[15][16]

Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked science teacher Justin Tolman for advice about an electronic television system that he
was contemplating; he provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically, and Tolman
encouraged him to develop his ideas.[17] One of the drawings that he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference
case between Farnsworth and RCA.[18]

In 1923, the family moved to Provo, Utah, and Farnsworth attended Brigham Young High School that fall. His father died of pneumonia in January 1924 at age 58, and
Farnsworth assumed responsibility for sustaining the family while finishing high school.[12] After graduating BYHS in June 1924, he applied to the United States Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he earned the nation's second-highest score on academy recruiting tests.[14] However, he was already thinking ahead to his
television projects; he learned that the government would own his patents if he stayed in the military, so he obtained an honorable discharge within months of joining [14]
under a provision in which the eldest child in a fatherless family could be excused from military service to provide for his family. He returned to Provo and enrolled at
Brigham Young University, but he was not allowed by the faculty to attend their advanced science classes based upon policy considerations. [12] He attended anyway and
made use of the university's research labs, and he earned a Junior Radio-Trician certification from the National Radio Institute, with a full certification in 1925.[12] While
attending college, he met Provo High School student Elma "Pem" Gardner,[12] (February 25, 1908 – April 27, 2006),[19] whom he eventually married.

Farnsworth worked while his sister Agnes took charge of the family home and the second-floor boarding house, with the help of a cousin living with the family. The
Farnsworths later moved into half of a duplex, with family friends the Gardners moving into the other side when it became vacant. [20] He developed a close friendship
with Pem's brother Cliff Gardner, who shared his interest in electronics, and the two moved to Salt Lake City to start a radio repair business.[14] The business failed, and
Gardner returned to Provo.

Farnsworth remained in Salt Lake City and became acquainted with Leslie Gorrell and George Everson, a pair of San Francisco philanthropists who were then
conducting a Salt Lake City Community Chest fund-raising campaign.[21][22] They agreed to fund his early television research with an initial $6,000 in backing,[23] and set
up a laboratory in Los Angeles for Farnsworth to carry out his experiments.[24]

Farnsworth married Pem[19] on May 27, 1926,[12] and the two traveled to Berkeley, California, in a Pullman coach.[14] They moved across the bay to San Francisco where
Farnsworth set up his new lab at 202 Green Street. It was at this time that he received his first television patent.

Career

A few months after arriving in California, Farnsworth was prepared to show his models and drawings to a patent attorney who was nationally recognized as an authority
on electrophysics. Everson and Gorrell agreed that Farnsworth should apply for patents for his designs, a decision that proved crucial in later disputes with RCA.[26]
Most television systems in use at the time used image scanning devices ("rasterizers") employing rotating "Nipkow disks" comprising a spinning disk with holes
arranged in spiral patterns such that they swept across an image in a succession of short arcs while focusing the light they captured on photosensitive elements, thus
producing a varying electrical signal corresponding to the variations in light intensity. Farnsworth recognized the limitations of the mechanical systems, and that an all-
electronic scanning system could produce a superior image for transmission to a receiving device.[26][27]

On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth's image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, to a receiver in another room of his laboratory at 202
Green Street in San Francisco.[23] Pem Farnsworth recalled in 1985 that her husband broke the stunned silence of his lab assistants by saying, "There you are – electronic
television!"[23] The source of the image was a glass slide, backlit by an arc lamp. An extremely bright source was required because of the low light sensitivity of the
design. By 1928, Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press.[28] His backers had demanded to know when they would see
dollars from the invention;[29] so the first image shown was, appropriately, a dollar sign. In 1929, the design was further improved by elimination of a motor-generator;
so the television system now had no mechanical parts. That year Farnsworth transmitted the first live human images using his television system, including a three and a
half-inch image of his wife Pem.

Many inventors had built electromechanical television systems before Farnsworth's seminal contribution, but Farnsworth designed and built the world's first working
all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices. He first demonstrated his system to the press on September 3,
1928,[28][30] and to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934.[31]

In 1930, RCA recruited Vladimir Zworykin—who had tried, unsuccessfully, to develop his own all-electronic television system at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh since
1923[32]—to lead its television development department. Before leaving his old employer, Zworykin visited Farnsworth's laboratory, and was sufficiently impressed
with the performance of the Image Dissector that he reportedly had his team at Westinghouse make several copies of the device for experimentation. [33] Zworykin later
abandoned research on the Image Dissector, which at the time required extremely bright illumination of its subjects, and turned his attention to what became the
Iconoscope.[34] In a 1970s series of videotaped interviews, Zworykin recalled that, "Farnsworth was closer to this thing you're using now [i.e., a video camera] than
anybody, because he used the cathode-ray tube for transmission. But, Farnsworth didn't have the mosaic [of discrete light elements], he didn't have storage. Therefore,
[picture] definition was very low.... But he was very proud, and he stuck to his method."[35] Contrary to Zworykin's statement, Farnsworth's patent #2,087,683 for the
Image Dissector (filed April 26, 1933) features the "charge storage plate" invented by Tihanyi in 1928 and a "low velocity" method of electron scanning, also describes
"discrete particles" whose "potential" is manipulated and "saturated" to varying degrees depending on their velocity. [36] Farnsworth's patent numbers 2,140,695 and
2,233,888 are for a "charge storage dissector" and "charge storage amplifier," respectively.

In 1931, David Sarnoff of RCA offered to buy Farnsworth's patents for US$100,000, with the stipulation that he become an employee of RCA, but Farnsworth refused.
[7]
In June of that year, Farnsworth joined the Philco company and moved to Philadelphia along with his wife and two children.[37] RCA later filed an interference suit
against Farnsworth, claiming Zworykin's 1923 patent had priority over Farnsworth's design, despite the fact it could present no evidence that Zworykin had actually
produced a functioning transmitter tube before 1931. Farnsworth had lost two interference claims to Zworykin in 1928, but this time he prevailed and the U.S. Patent
Office rendered a decision in 1934 awarding priority of the invention of the image dissector to Farnsworth. RCA lost a subsequent appeal, but litigation over a variety
of issues continued for several years with Sarnoff finally agreeing to pay Farnsworth royalties. [38][39] Zworykin received a patent in 1928 for a color transmission version
of his 1923 patent application;[40] he also divided his original application in 1931, receiving a patent in 1935,[41] while a second one was eventually issued in 1938[42] by
the Court of Appeals on a non-Farnsworth-related interference case,[43] and over the objection of the Patent Office.[44]

In 1932, while in England to raise money for his legal battles with RCA, Farnsworth met with John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor who had given the world's first
public demonstration of a working television system in London in 1926, using an electro-mechanical imaging system, and who was seeking to develop electronic
television receivers. Baird demonstrated his mechanical system for Farnsworth.[45]

In May 1933, Philco severed its relationship with Farnsworth because, said Everson, "it [had] become apparent that Philo's aim at establishing a broad patent structure
through research [was] not identical with the production program of Philco."[46] In Everson's view the decision was mutual and amicable.[47] Farnsworth set up shop at
127 East Mermaid Lane in Philadelphia, and In 1934 held the first public exhibition of his device at the Franklin Institute in that city. [48]

After sailing to Europe in 1934, Farnsworth secured an agreement with Goerz-Bosch-Fernseh in Germany. [26] Some image dissector cameras were used to broadcast the
1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.[49]

Farnsworth returned to his laboratory, and by 1936 his company was regularly transmitting entertainment programs on an experimental basis. [50] That same year, while
working with University of Pennsylvania biologists, Farnsworth developed a process to sterilize milk using radio waves. [1] He also invented a fog-penetrating beam for
ships and airplanes.[26]

In 1936 he attracted the attention of Collier's Weekly, which described his work in glowing terms. "One of those amazing facts of modern life that just don't seem
possible – namely, electrically scanned television that seems destined to reach your home next year, was largely given to the world by a nineteen-year-old boy from
Utah ... Today, barely thirty years old he is setting the specialized world of science on its ears."

In 1938, Farnsworth established the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with E. A. Nicholas as president and himself as director of
research.[7] In September 1939, after a more than decade-long legal battle, RCA finally conceded to a multi-year licensing agreement concerning Farnsworth's 1927
patent for television totaling $1 million. RCA was then free, after showcasing electronic television at New York World's Fair on April 20, 1939, to sell electronic
television cameras to the public.[7][31]:250–54

Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation was purchased by International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) in 1951. During his time at ITT, Farnsworth worked in a
basement laboratory known as "the cave" on Pontiac Street in Fort Wayne. From there he introduced a number of breakthrough concepts, including a defense early
warning signal, submarine detection devices, radar calibration equipment and an infrared telescope. "Philo was a very deep person – tough to engage in conversation,
because he was always thinking about what he could do next", said Art Resler, an ITT photographer who documented Farnsworth's work in pictures. [8] One of
Farnsworth's most significant contributions at ITT was the PPI Projector, an enhancement on the iconic "circular sweep" radar display, which allowed safe air traffic
control from the ground. This system developed in the 1950s was the forerunner of today's air traffic control systems.[1]

In addition to his electronics research, ITT management agreed to nominally fund Farnsworth's nuclear fusion research. He and staff members invented and refined a
series of fusion reaction tubes called "fusors". For scientific reasons unknown to Farnsworth and his staff, the necessary reactions lasted no longer than thirty seconds.
In December 1965, ITT came under pressure from its board of directors to terminate the expensive project and sell the Farnsworth subsidiary. It was only due to the
urging of president Harold Geneen that the 1966 budget was accepted, extending ITT's fusion research for an additional year. The stress associated with this managerial
ultimatum, however, caused Farnsworth to suffer a relapse. A year later he was terminated and eventually allowed medical retirement. [51]

In the spring of 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at Brigham Young University, which presented him with an
honorary doctorate. The university also offered him office space and an underground concrete bunker for the project. Realizing ITT would dismantle its fusion lab,
Farnsworth invited staff members to accompany him to Salt Lake City, as team members in Philo T. Farnsworth Associates (PTFA). By late 1968, the associates began
holding regular business meetings and PTFA was underway. They promptly secured a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and
more possibilities were within reach—but financing stalled for the $24,000 a month required for salaries and equipment rental. [51]

By Christmas 1970, PTFA had failed to secure the necessary financing, and the Farnsworths had sold all their own ITT stock and cashed in Philo's life insurance policy
to maintain organizational stability. The underwriter had failed to provide the financial backing that was to have supported the organization during its critical first year.
The banks called in all outstanding loans, repossession notices were placed on anything not previously sold, and the Internal Revenue Service put a lock on the
laboratory door until delinquent taxes were paid. In January 1971, PTFA disbanded. Farnsworth had begun abusing alcohol in his later years, [52] and as a result became
seriously ill with pneumonia, and died on March 11, 1971.[51]

Farnsworth's wife Elma Gardner "Pem" Farnsworth fought for decades after his death to assure his place in history. Farnsworth always gave her equal credit for creating
television, saying, "my wife and I started this TV." She died on April 27, 2006, at age 98.[53] The inventor and wife were survived by two sons, Russell (then living in
New York City), and Kent (then living in Fort Wayne, Indiana).[53]

In 1999, Time magazine included Farnsworth in the "Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century".
Inventions
Electronic television

Farnsworth worked out the principle of the image dissector in the summer of 1921, not long before his fifteenth birthday, and demonstrated the first working version on
September 7, 1927, having turned 21 the previous August. A farm boy, his inspiration for scanning an image as series of lines came from the back-and-forth motion
used to plow a field.[54][55] In the course of a patent interference suit brought by the Radio Corporation of America in 1934 and decided in February 1935, his high school
chemistry teacher, Justin Tolman, produced a sketch he had made of a blackboard drawing Farnsworth had shown him in spring 1922. Farnsworth won the suit; RCA
appealed the decision in 1936 and lost.[56] Farnsworth received royalties from RCA, but he never became wealthy. The video camera tube that evolved from the
combined work of Farnsworth, Zworykin, and many others was used in all television cameras until the late 20th century, when alternate technologies such as charge-
coupled devices began to appear.[citation needed]

Farnsworth also developed the "image oscillite", a cathode ray tube that displayed the images captured by the image dissector. [57]

Farnsworth called his device an image dissector because it converted individual elements of the image into electricity one at a time. He replaced the spinning disks with
caesium, an element that emits electrons when exposed to light.

In 1984, Farnsworth was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Fusor

The Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor is an apparatus designed by Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically
confined plasma, the fusor injects high-temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.

When the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor was first introduced to the fusion research world in the late 1960s, the fusor was the first device that could clearly demonstrate it was
producing fusion reactions at all. Hopes at the time were high that it could be quickly developed into a practical power source. However, as with other fusion
experiments, development into a power source has proven difficult. Nevertheless, the fusor has since become a practical neutron source and is produced commercially
for this role.[9][58][59]

Other inventions
At the time he died, Farnsworth held 300 U.S. and foreign patents. His inventions contributed to the development of radar, infra-red night vision devices, the electron microscope, the baby
incubator, the gastroscope, and the astronomical telescope.

TV appearance

Although he was the man responsible for its technology, Farnsworth appeared only once on a television program. On July 3, 1957, he was a mystery guest ("Doctor X")
on the CBS quiz show I've Got A Secret. He fielded questions from the panel as they unsuccessfully tried to guess his secret ("I invented electronic television."). For
stumping the panel, he received $80 and a carton of Winston cigarettes.[21] Host Garry Moore then spent a few minutes discussing with Farnsworth his research on such
projects as high-definition television, flat-screen receivers, and fusion power.[61] Farnsworth said, "There had been attempts to devise a television system using
mechanical disks and rotating mirrors and vibrating mirrors—all mechanical. My contribution was to take out the moving parts and make the thing entirely electronic,
and that was the concept that I had when I was just a freshman in high school in the Spring of 1921 at age 14." [62] When Moore asked about others' contributions,
Farnsworth agreed, "There are literally thousands of inventions important to television. I hold something in excess of 165 American patents." The host then asked about
his current research, and the inventor replied, "In television, we're attempting first to make better utilization of the bandwidth, because we think we can eventually get in
excess of 2,000 lines instead of 525 ... and do it on an even narrower channel ... which will make for a much sharper picture. We believe in the picture-frame type of a
picture, where the visual display will be just a screen. And we hope for a memory, so that the picture will be just as though it's pasted on there."

A letter to the editor of the Idaho Falls Post Register disputed that Farnsworth had made only one television appearance. Roy Southwick claimed "... I interviewed Mr.
[Philo] Farnsworth back in 1953—the first day KID-TV went on the air."[63] KID-TV, which later became KIDK-TV, was then located near the Rigby area where
Farnsworth grew up.

Legacy

In a 1996 videotaped interview by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Elma Farnsworth recounts Philo's change of heart about the value of television, after
seeing how it showed man walking on the moon, in real time, to millions of viewers:[64]

Interviewer: The image dissector was used to send shots back from the moon to earth.

Elma Farnsworth: Right.

Interviewer: What did Phil think of that?

Elma Farnsworth: We were watching it, and, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Phil turned to me and said, "Pem, this has made it all worthwhile."
Before then, he wasn't too sure.

Honors
 In 2006, Farnsworth was posthumously presented the Eagle Scout award when it was discovered he had earned it but had never been presented with it. The award
was presented to his wife, Pem, who died four months later.[65]

 Farnsworth was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2006.[66]

 He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2013.[67]

 He is recognized in the Hall of Fame of the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers—which notes that, in addition to his inventive accomplishments, his company owned and
operated WGL radio in Fort Wayne. Indiana.

Memorials
 A bronze statue of Farnsworth represents Utah in the National Statuary Hall Collection, located in the U.S. Capitol building.[69] On January 28, 2018, amid extended
debate and over sizable public objection[70][71], the Utah Legislature voted to replace it with one of Martha Hughes Cannon.[72][73]

 Another statue sits inside the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.[74]

 A Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker located at 1260 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, commemorates Farnsworth's television
work there in the 1930s. The Plaque reads "Inventor of electronic television, he led some of the first experiments in live local TV broadcasting in the late 1930s from his
station W3XPF located on this site. A pioneer in electronics, Farnsworth held many patents and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame." [75]

 On September 15, 1981 a plaque honoring Farnsworth as The Genius of Green Street was placed on the 202 Green Street location ( 37.80037°N 122.40251°W)
of his research laboratory in San Francisco by the California State Department of Parks and recreation. [28]

 In October 2008, the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco installed a statue of Farnsworth sculpted by Lawrence Noble in front of its D building.[76]

 A plaque honoring Farnsworth is located next to his former home at 734 E. State Boulevard, in a historical district on the southwest corner of East State and St.
Joseph boulevards in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[77]

 Farnsworth is one of the inventors honored with a plaque in the Walt Disney World's "Inventor's Circle" in Future World West in Epcot. [78]

 A 1983 United States postage stamp honored Farnsworth.[79]

 On January 10, 2011, Farnsworth was inducted by Mayor Gavin Newsom into the newly established San Francisco Hall of Fame, in the science and technology
category.[80]

 Farnsworth's television-related work, including an original TV tube he developed, are on display at the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum in Rigby, Idaho

Fort Wayne factory razing, residence history

In 2010, the former Farnsworth factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was razed,[96] eliminating the "cave," where many of Farnsworth's inventions were first created, and
where its radio and television receivers and transmitters, television tubes, and radio-phonographs were mass-produced under the Farnsworth, Capehart, and Panamuse
trade names.[97] The facility was located at 3702 E. Pontiac St.[97]

Also that year, additional Farnsworth factory artifacts were added to the Fort Wayne History Center's collection, including a radio-phonograph and three table-top
radios from the 1940s, as well as advertising and product materials from the 1930s to the 1950s.[98]

Farnsworth's Fort Wayne residence from 1948–1967, then the former Philo T. Farnsworth Television Museum, stands at 734 E. state Boulevard, on the southwest
corner of E. State and St. Joseph Boulevards. The residence is recognized by an Indiana state historical marker and was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 2013.[
David Sarnoff (Belarusian: Даві́д Сарно́ў, Russian: Дави́д Сарно́в, February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian emigrant, an American businessman and
pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly after its
founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970.
He ruled over an ever-growing telecommunications and media empire that included both RCA and NBC, and became one of the largest companies in the world. Named
a Reserve Brigadier General of the Signal Corps in 1945, Sarnoff thereafter was widely known as "The General."[4]
Sarnoff is credited with Sarnoff's law, which states that the value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers.

Early life and career

David Sarnoff was born to a Jewish family in Uzlyany, a small town in Russian Empire, the son of Abraham and Leah Sarnoff. Abraham emigrated to the United States
and raised funds to bring the family. Sarnoff spent much of his early childhood in a cheder (or yeshiva) studying and memorizing the Torah. He emigrated with his
mother and three brothers and one sister to New York City in 1900, where he helped support his family by selling newspapers before and after his classes at the
Educational Alliance. In 1906 his father became incapacitated by tuberculosis, and at age 15 Sarnoff went to work to support the family.[6] He had planned to pursue a
full-time career in the newspaper business, but a chance encounter led to a position as an office boy at the Commercial Cable Company. When his superior refused him
paid leave for Rosh Hashanah, he joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America on September 30, 1906, and started a career of over 60 years in
electronic communications.
Over the next 13 years, Sarnoff rose from office boy to commercial manager of the company, learning about the technology and the business of electronic
communications on the job and in libraries. He also served at Marconi stations on ships and posts on Siasconset, Nantucket and the New York Wanamaker Department
Store. In 1911, he installed and operated the wireless equipment on a ship hunting seals off Newfoundland and Labrador, and used the technology to relay the first
remote medical diagnosis from the ship's doctor to a radio operator at Belle Isle with an infected tooth.
The following year, he led two other operators at the Wanamaker station in an effort to confirm the fate of the Titanic.[2] Sarnoff later exaggerated his role as the sole
hero who stayed by his telegraph key for three days to receive information on the Titanic's survivors[6][7] The event began on a Sunday, when the store would have been
closed. Some researchers question whether Sarnoff was at the telegraph key at all. By the time of the Titanic disaster in 1912, Sarnoff was a manager of the
telegraphers.[8]
Over the next two years Sarnoff earned promotions to chief inspector and contracts manager for a company whose revenues swelled after Congress passed legislation
mandating continuous staffing of commercial shipboard radio stations. That same year Marconi won a patent suit that gave it the coastal stations of the United Wireless
Telegraph Company. Sarnoff also demonstrated the first use of radio on a railroad line, the Lackawanna Railroad Company's link between Binghamton, New York, and
Scranton, Pennsylvania; and permitted and observed Edwin Armstrong's demonstration of his regenerative receiver at the Marconi station at Belmar, New Jersey.
Sarnoff used H. J. Round's hydrogen arc transmitter to demonstrate the broadcast of music from the New York Wanamaker station.
This demonstration and the AT&T demonstrations in 1915 of long-distance wireless telephony inspired the first of many memos to his superiors on applications of
current and future radio technologies. Sometime late in 1915 or in 1916 he proposed to the company's president, Edward J. Nally, that the company develop a "radio
music box" for the "amateur" market of radio enthusiasts.[7][9] Nally deferred on the proposal because of the expanded volume of business during World War I.
Throughout the war years, Sarnoff remained Marconi's Commercial Manager,[4] including oversight of the company's factory in Roselle Park, New Jersey.

Business career (RCA)

Unlike many who were involved with early radio communications, who often viewed radio as point-to-point, Sarnoff saw the potential of radio as point-to-mass. One
person (the broadcaster) could speak to many (the listeners).
When Owen D. Young of General Electric arranged the purchase of American Marconi and turned it into the Radio Corporation of America, a radio patent monopoly,
Sarnoff realized his dream and revived his proposal in a lengthy memo on the company's business and prospects. His superiors again ignored him but he contributed to
the rising postwar radio boom by helping arrange for the broadcast of a heavyweight boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier in July 1921. Up to
300,000 people heard the fight, and demand for home radio equipment bloomed that winter.[10] By the spring of 1922 Sarnoff's prediction of popular demand for
broadcasting had come true, and over the next eighteen months, he gained in stature and influence.
In 1925, RCA purchased its first radio station (WEAF, New York) and launched the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the first radio network in America. Four
years later, Sarnoff became president of RCA. NBC had by that time split into two networks, the Red and the Blue. The Blue Network later became ABC Radio.[2]
Sarnoff was often inaccurately referred to later in his career as the founder of both RCA and NBC, but he was in fact founder of only NBC. [6]
Sarnoff was instrumental in building and establishing the AM broadcasting radio business that became the preeminent public radio standard for the majority of the 20th
century. This technology dominance continued until FM broadcasting radio re-emerged in the 1960s despite Sarnoff's efforts to suppress it.

RKO
Sarnoff negotiated successful contracts to form Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), a film production and distribution company.[6] Essential elements in that new company
were RCA, the Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), and the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) theater chain.[11]

Early history of television

When Sarnoff was put in charge of radio broadcasting at RCA, he soon recognized the potential for television, i.e., the combination of motion pictures with electronic
transmission. Schemes for television had long been proposed (well before World War I) but with no practical outcome. Sarnoff was determined to lead his company in
pioneering the medium and met with Westinghouse engineer Vladimir Zworykin in 1928. At the time Zworykin was attempting to develop an all-electronic television
system at Westinghouse, but with little success. Zworykin had visited the laboratory of the inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, who had developed an Image Dissector, part
of a system that could enable a working television. Zworykin was sufficiently impressed with Farnsworth's invention that he had his team at Westinghouse make several
copies of the device for experimentation.[12]

Zworykin pitched the concept to Sarnoff, claiming a viable television system could be realized in two years with a mere $100,000 investment. Sarnoff opted to fund
Zworkyin's research, most likely well-aware that Zworykin was underestimating the scope of his television effort. Seven years later, in late 1935, Zworykin's
photograph appeared on the cover of the trade journal Electronics, holding an early RCA photomultiplier prototype. The photomultiplier, subject of intensive research
at RCA and in Leningrad, Russia, would become an essential component within sensitive television cameras. On April 24, 1936, RCA demonstrated to the press a
working iconoscope camera tube and kinescope receiver display tube (an early cathode ray tube), two key components of all-electronic television.

The final cost of the enterprise was closer to $50 million. On the road to success they encountered a legal battle with Farnsworth, who had been granted patents in 1930
for his solution to broadcasting moving pictures. Despite Sarnoff's efforts to prove that he was the inventor of the television, he was ordered to pay Farnsworth
$1,000,000 in royalties, a small price to settle the dispute for an invention that would profoundly revolutionize the world.
In 1929, Sarnoff engineered the purchase of the Victor Talking Machine Company, the nation's largest manufacturer of records and phonographs, merging radio-
phonograph production at Victor's large manufacturing facility in Camden, New Jersey.
Sarnoff became president of RCA on January 3, 1930, succeeding General James Harbord. On May 30 the company was involved in an antitrust case concerning the
original radio patent pool. Sarnoff negotiated an outcome where RCA was no longer partly owned by Westinghouse and General Electric, giving him final say in the
company's affairs.
Initially, the Great Depression caused RCA to cut costs, but Zworykin's project was protected. After nine years of Zworykin's hard work, Sarnoff's determination, and
legal battles with Farnsworth (in which Farnsworth was proved in the right), they had a commercial system ready to launch. Finally, in April 1939, regularly scheduled,
electronic television in America was initiated by RCA under the name of their broadcasting division at the time, The National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The first
television broadcast aired was the dedication of the RCA pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fairgrounds and was introduced by Sarnoff himself. Later that month
on April 30, opening day ceremonies at The World's Fair were telecast in the medium's first major production, featuring a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
the first US President to appear on television. These telecasts were seen only in New York City and the immediate vicinity, since NBC television had only one station at
the time, W2XBS Channel 1, now WNBC Channel 4. The broadcast was seen by an estimated 1,000 viewers from the roughly 200 televisions sets which existed in the
New York City area at the time.

The standard approved by the National Television System Committee (the NTSC) in 1941 differed from RCA's standard, but RCA quickly became the market leader of
manufactured sets and NBC became the first television network in the United States, connecting their New York City station to stations in Philadelphia and
Schenectady for occasional programs in the early 1940s.
Meanwhile, a system developed by EMI based on Russian research and Zworykin's work was adopted in Britain and the BBC had a regular television service from
1936 onwards. However, World War II put a halt to a dynamic growth of the early television development stages.

World War II
At the onset of World War II, Sarnoff served on Eisenhower's communications staff, arranging expanded radio circuits for NBC to transmit news from the invasion of
France in June 1944. In France, Sarnoff arranged for the restoration of the Radio France station in Paris that the Germans destroyed and oversaw the construction of a
radio transmitter powerful enough to reach all of the allied forces in Europe, called Radio Free Europe. In recognition of his achievements, Sarnoff was decorated with
the Legion of Merit on October 11, 1944.[13]
Thanks to his communications skills and support he received the Brigadier General's star in December 1945, and thereafter was known as "General Sarnoff."[14] The
star, which he proudly and frequently wore, was buried with him.
Sarnoff anticipated that post-war America would need an international radio voice explaining its policies and positions. In 1943, he tried to influence Secretary of State
Cordell Hull to include radio broadcasting in post-war planning. In 1947, he lobbied Secretary of State George Marshall to expand the roles of Radio Free Europe and
Voice of America. His concerns and proposed solutions were eventually seen as prescient.

Post-war expansion
After the war, monochrome TV production began in earnest. Color TV was the next major development, and NBC once again won the battle. CBS had their electro-
mechanical color television system approved by the FCC on October 10, 1950, but Sarnoff filed an unsuccessful suit in the United States district court to suspend that
ruling. Subsequently, he made an appeal to the Supreme Court which eventually upheld the FCC decision. Sarnoff's tenacity and determination to win the "Color War"
pushed his engineers to perfect an all-electronic color television system that used a signal that could be received on existing monochrome sets that prevailed. CBS was
now unable to take advantage of the color market, due to lack of manufacturing capability and color programming, a system that could not be seen on the millions of
black and white receivers and sets that were triple the cost of monochrome sets. A few days after CBS had its color premiere on June 14, 1951, RCA demonstrated a
fully functional all-electronic color TV system and became the leading manufacturer of color TV sets in the US.
CBS system color TV production was suspended in October 1951 for the duration of the Korean War. As more people bought monochrome sets, it was increasingly
unlikely that CBS could achieve any success with its incompatible system. Few receivers were sold, and there were almost no color broadcasts, especially in prime
time, when CBS could not run the risk of broadcasting a program which few could see. The NTSC was reformed and recommended a system virtually identical to
RCA's in August 1952. On December 17, 1953 the FCC approved RCA's system as the new standard.

Later years
In 1955, Sarnoff received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."
In 1959 Sarnoff was a member of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund panel to report on U.S. foreign policy. As a member of that panel and in a subsequent essay published
in Life as part of its "The National Purpose" series, he was critical of the tentative stand being taken by the United States in fighting the political and psychological
warfare being waged by Soviet-led international Communism against the West. He strongly advocated an aggressive, multi-faceted fight in the ideological and political
realms with a determination to decisively win the Cold War.[16]

Sarnoff retired in 1970, at the age of 79, and died the following year, aged 80. He is interred in a mausoleum featuring a stained-glass vacuum tube in Kensico
Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
Family life
On July 4, 1917, Sarnoff married Lizette Hermant, the daughter of a French-Jewish immigrant family who settled in the Bronx as one of his family's neighbors.[17][4] The
Museum of Broadcast Communications describes their 54-year marriage as the bedrock of his life.[6] Lizette was often the first person to hear her husband's new ideas as
radio and television became integral to American home life.[4]
The couple had three sons. Eldest son Robert W. Sarnoff (1918-1997)[1] succeeded his father at the helm of RCA in 1970.[18] Robert's second wife was operatic soprano
Anna Moffo.[1] Edward Sarnoff, the middle child, headed Fleet Services of New York.[19] Thomas W. Sarnoff, the youngest, was NBC's West Coast President.
Sarnoff was the maternal uncle of screenwriter Richard Baer.[20] Sarnoff was credited with sparking Baer's interest in television.[20] According to Baer's 2005
autobiography, Sarnoff called a vice president at NBC at 6 A.M. and ordered him to find Baer "a job by 9 o'clock" that same morning.[20] The NBC vice president
complied with Sarnoff's request.
Sarnoff's first cousin was Eugene Lyons, U.S. journalist and writer, who wrote a biography of Sarnoff.
David Sarnoff was initiated to the Scottish Rite Freemasonry[21][22] in the Renovation Lodge No. 97, Albion, NY[
Honors
 In 1938, he received an honorary degree Doctor of Commercial Science from Oglethorpe University.[25]
 Knight of the Cross of Lorraine (France), 1951. [4]
 Companion of the Resistance (France), 1951. [4]
 Legion of Merit from the United States Army, 1944. [13]
 Sarnoff was inducted into the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame in 1975.
 Sarnoff was the winner of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award in 1953. [26]
 Sarnoff was posthumously inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1984.[27]
 Sarnoff was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989.[2]
 Sarnoff was posthumously inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2014.
David Sarnoff was a giant of telecommunication and father of broadcasting. The pioneer of American television and radio, David Sarnoff became
the ruler of the consumer electronics and telecommunications industry.

Sarnoff was born on 27th February 1891 in Minsk (present day Belarus), Russia. His family emigrated to the U.S and most of his childhood was spent studying in
cheders and learning the Torah by heart. In 1900 he moved to New York City where he helped his family financially by selling newspapers before and after school. His
initial plan was to go into the newspaper business but he got a job as office boy at the Commercial Cable Company by pure chance. After some time he left this job
and started working for Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. This was the beginning of his 60 years long career in communications.

In the next decade Sarnoff rose up the ranks from office boy to the commercial manager and along the way gained experience and knowledge of
electronic communications. After Marconi Wireless he joined John Wannamaker as an operator. On 14 th April 1912 Sarnoff picked up the message of
the sinking of Titanic. One can say he was at the right place at the right time. He stayed at the telegraph for 72 hours getting and sending out names
of those who had survived. For this feat Sarnoff got rewarded and promoted to instructor and inspector at the institute.

Another one of Sarnoff’s big ideas was to bring music into homes without having to use wires. He wanted the radio to be something more than a
device used in shipping and turn it into something the public could use to listen to music and other entertaining programs. For that he established his
own broadcasting company called the National Broadcasting Co. by joining several hundred stations. Soon after Sarnoff became in charge of RCA
(Radio Corporation of America) he realized the scope of television. He wanted to be the first to use the medium and for that he met with Vladimir
Zworykin. Sarnoff offered to sponsor Zworykin’s research.

The final cost of this whole project was almost 50 million dollars. However a dispute rose between the actual inventor of the television Philo T.
Farnsworth who had patented his solution to broadcasting moving pictures. Even though Sarnoff tried his best to prove that he was in fact the one
who had invented the television he had to give royalties up to million dollars to settle the dispute. It was under the leadership of Sarnoff that NBC
had the first ever videotape telecast.

Today television is the most influential medium and where many people criticize some of  the broadcasted content but no one can deny its power.
This is what Sarnoff knew even at that time and this is what he worked for. He first gave the world sound through radio and then gave it sight.
Sarnoff died in 1971 at the age of 80. He got several honors for his massive contribution to the world. He recognized the power of communication
and then worked to achieve this power.

The American pioneer in radio and television David Sarnoff (1891-1971) was chairman of the board of
the Radio Corporation of America.

David Sarnoff was born on Feb. 27, 1891, in the Russian-Jewish community of Uzilan close to Minsk. In 1895 his father left to try his luck in the
United States; 5 years later he sent for his family. When the father died in 1906, David, as the eldest son, became the family provider. He started as a
messenger boy for the Commercial Cable Company. Six months later he became an office boy for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of
America.

Studying in his spare time, Sarnoff finally was promoted to wireless operator. While working at Sea Gage, N.Y., he completed a course in electrical
engineering at Pratt Institute and later acquired practical experience as a marine radio operator on various ships. He then became the operator for
John Wanamaker's New York station, where he was the first to pick up the distress call of the S.S. Titanic on April 12, 1912. This unfortunate
incident proved rewarding for Sarnoff, for his dedicated work in the disaster won him an appointment as a radio inspector and instructor at the
Marconi Institute. By 1914 he had risen to contract manager, and in 1919, when Owen D. Young's Radio Corporation of America (RCA) absorbed
American Marconi, Sarnoff was commercial manager. In 1917 he married Lizette Hermant, who bore him three sons.

By 1921 Sarnoff was general manager of RCA and had revived an earlier idea to send music over the air. RCA's directors were reluctant to invest
much money, but after Sarnoff broadcast the 1921 Dempsey-Cartier fight, they quickly changed their minds. Sarnoff became a vice president in 1922
as RCA began the manufacture of radio sets. He also was responsible for the creation of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in 1926.

Sarnoff is known as the father of American television. From the initial experiments in the early 1920s, he pushed its development to commercial
feasibility. As president of RCA (since 1930), he appeared on the first public demonstration of television, in April 1939. Although NBC launched
commercial telecasting in 1941, World War II retarded its growth. Sarnoff served as communications consultant to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and
emerged as a brigadier general.

In 1947 Sarnoff became chairman of the board of RCA, which grew into one of the world's largest corporations, its activities including leadership in
black-and-white and color television and many other associated industries. He received honorary degrees from over 26 universities and numerous
awards from foreign governments and technical institutes. He died on Dec. 12, 1971, in New York City.