with 19th century answers to a 20th century problem, Philo T. Farnsworth, age 13, dreamed of
trapping light in an empty jar and transmitting it, one line at a time, on a magnetically deflected
beam of electrons"
early vision of home-screen delights, by Robida
The idea of "pictures that could fly through the air" was not original to Philo T. Farnsworth. There's really no telling
where the idea originated, or how long ago. But it's clear that once the industrial age gave us movies and radio,
some sort of marriage of the two seemed inevitable.
The term "television" is credited to a science writer named Hugo Gernsback, who published a number of "Popular
Science" --like journals beginnng around the turn of the century. Before Gernsback, the idea had a number of
fanciful names: "Radioscope," "Motion Picture by Ether Waves," "Radiovision" and "Telephone Eye," are some of
the ideas that were being tossed around in the early days.
What all these terms have in common what Marshall McLuhan called "looking through the rear-view mirror," or
using old terminology to describe a new technology. The notion is accurate because that's precisely how the
inventors, engineers and scientists of the day approached the challenge -- by trying to adapt existing old answers
to an entirely new problem.
To truly appreciate the magnitude of Farnsworth's genius, it is useful to look back at some of the fanciful
approaches to television that the sprocket-hole mentality of the early 20th century produced. Here are a few of
my personal favorites, drawn from the archives I compiled while researching the Farnsworth story. There's about
a half-a-meg of graphics here, so give it some time to download.
--Paul Schatzkin
Among the early American pioneers experimenting with mechanical
television systems was C. Francis Jenkins, pictured at left with one of his
inventions from the mid-1920's. The caption for the photo at right reads,
"The time is not far off now when
inaugural ceremonies, ball games,
pageants and other notable events may
be seen reproduced in action on a
small screen in the home there by
radio." No mention of Lucy or Oprah.
