February 21, 2013
Television is without doubt one of the most revolutionary inventions that has ever been dreamed up. It was not a device simply dreamed up by one person, but rather, famous names across the years have studied different scientific aspects of how to transmit sounds and moving images, and added their own innovations to improve performance. Today, televisions find themselves in every living room and practically all businesses, displayed to perfection on pop up TV stands and surveyed by a huge percentage of the world’s population on a daily basis. But how did this ubiquitous device go from brainchild of numerous inventors, to mainstay in all homes?
In 1862, Abbe Giovanna Caselli became the first person to transmit a still image over wires, using his Pantelgraph, and just over a decade later, two scientists, May and Smith, discovered that it was possible to transform these images into electronic signals. Eugene Goldstein then coined the phrase ‘cathode rays’, which would be vital in the eventual creation of all-electronic televisions. Cathode rays was a term used to describe the light which was emitted when an electric current passed through a vacuum tube. The early 20th century saw early versions of the television begin to come into existence, with cathode ray tubes crucial in the creation of the earliest electronic systems. Philo Farnsworth from Idaho, USA, eventually filed for a patent on the very first electronic television system.
By 1948, one million homes in the USA had a television set. Progression and growth of the technology was rapid, with color televisions approved for sale in 1950. Now proudly displayed on the TV lift cabinets of the day, television was here to stay. In 1960, a transmission from the moon garnered a worldwide audience of more than 600 million people; impressive figures even by today’s standards. Inventions such as cassette recorders came into prominence, and work began on the innovations of today, such as high-definition television.
In 1996, there were a billion television sets worldwide. They hung from walls in cafes, they were used to watch informative videos in schools, there are giant versions in town squares and famous gathering points; they have become one of the most widely used pieces of technology of all time. They have most revolutionised the home, bringing families together to watch moving images and to experience themes and subjects they wouldn’t be exposed to without television. On motorized TV stands in the middle of a lounge, at the foot of a bed in a bedroom or in a games room for use with consoles and Blu-Ray players; the television is universally understood to be one of man’s greatest achievements.
