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Happy 105th Birthday, Philo T. Farnsworth

If not for Farnsworth, you'd probably be selling shoes. Considered by many to be the father of television, he was born on this day in 1906. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector"; the first complete all-electronic television system; and for being the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public. He died on March 11, 1971.

By TVNewsCheck | August 19, 2011 | 6:43 a.m. ET.
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Christina Perez says:

August 19, 2011 at 10:25 am

Thanks for giving Philo T. his due. He also was on the cusp of developing a practical method for the production of cheap “fusion” energy. His first practial broadcast TV system was exhibited at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute back in the 1930s, yet that well-known technology museum does not have a Farnsworth exhibit (to my knowledge). Since Farnsworth did much of his pioneering work in Philadelphia, Delaware Valley broadcasters should do something to commemorate his contributions. The reason Farnsworth has been denied his due — his legal challenge to RCA and Sarnoff for patent infringement. Although he was initially successful, he did not have the resources to fight through the appeal process, and the rest is history. The descendants of Sarnoff are STILL desparaging his role in the invention of television, as evidenced by postings on the internet by the Sarnoff family. This, IMO, is shameful.

r small says:

August 19, 2011 at 11:36 am

I thought he did his work in San Francisco.

    Brian Walshe says:

    August 19, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    He did his initial work in San Francisco, succeeding with the Image Dissector in 1927… joined Philco in June, 1932 and moved to Philadelphia. That relationship ended in 1933, and Farnsworth apparently remained in Philadelphia working on his own. In 1938, he moved to Ft. Wayne, Indiana and started Farnsworth Television and Radio Corp., which was bought by ITT in 1951. He remained with the company, working on a nuclear reaction project that ultimately caused a separation from ITT in 1967 partly due to alcohol abuse. A life-long Mormon, Farnsworth established connections with Brigham Young Univ., and some funding to continue the nuclear project as “Philo T. Farnsworth Associates. Financing for salaries never came through, and by 1970, Philo and his family had sold all their ITT stock and drained other assets to keep it going. Banks called in loans, the IRS padlocked the lab and Philo’s drinking problem got worse. He passed away from pneumonia related to the drinking on March 11,. 1971. That’s the sad part of the story. His various inventions, ultimately successful battle with RCA and the love of a wife and two sons are the happier parts.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

John McElfresh says:

August 19, 2011 at 11:40 am

The Sarnoffs also helped distroy DuMont.

    Andrea Rader says:

    August 20, 2011 at 2:40 am

    Destroy may be too strong a word (Major Armstrong stands alone in that regard) but certainly Dumont’s TV technology was eclipsed in the marketplace by RCA. There was much speculation in the trade press (including Sol Taishoff’s Broadcasting) at the time that if you wanted an NBC affiliation you’d better not stray from RCA in your equipment purchases.

Todd Keel says:

August 19, 2011 at 1:17 pm

There is a Philo museum in his hometown of Rigby Idaho..and he did do his original work in San Francisco

    Christina Perez says:

    August 19, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    Thanks for that 4-1-1. Checking to see their website. They should combine with Franklin Institute for an exhibit in Philadelphia. Original photos from Farnsworth first demo of electronic teleision at Franklin Institute still exist, and some are available on the internet.

    len Kubas says:

    August 20, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    No, they should move both to Aruba.

r small says:

August 19, 2011 at 3:57 pm

DuMont was a fourth network in a 2 1/2 network world, and they didn’t have the dough. Just having the physical network itself was colossally expensive in DuMont’s day.

    Andrea Rader says:

    August 20, 2011 at 3:05 am

    Although they had substantial resources on paper (including a state-of-the-art studio operation in New York and an extremely valuable VHF affiliate in Pittsburgh) the DuMont network’s ill-fated relationship with Paramount Pictures and the lack of a legacy radio network with which to create strong affiliations in each market (not to mention the legacy talent pool – read about Bill Paley’s “talent raid”) created insurmountable hurdles in obtaining the financial backing necessary to produce programming competitive with CBS and NBC. Ironically, many of the bits and pieces that made up the DuMont “empire” ended up forming to nucleus of FOX. And in between there was John Kluge’s Metromedia which used some of those same bits and pieces to form a syndication operation and a “network” of highly-profitable independents before selling out to Murdoch.

    len Kubas says:

    August 20, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    5 affiliates still isn’t a real network, even in that era. They couldn’t hold on to Jackie Gleason.

Christina Perez says:

August 22, 2011 at 12:39 pm

This video glimpse of Philo T. is fasinating; this man never gave up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKM4MNrB25o