Television is one of the most influential inventions of all time, but it’s history is something like a made for TV movie. The movie stars a lone, brilliant scientist versus a corporate giant who will top for nothing to get what he wants. Farnsworth is the scientist, and Sarnoff is the corporate giant. Let me tell about each man.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, near the town of Beaver in Southwestern Utah. His parents were Lewis Edwin and Serena Bastian Farnsworth. He was named after his grandfather who built the log cabin where he was born. Even as a small child he was interested in electronics. He would read everything he could about the subject. He became so knowledgeable about he subject that when his family moved to a ranch in Rigby, Idaho that he used the farms own power system to operate the family’s washing machine, sewing machine, and barn lights.
In high school he was advanced in math and science. Later his family was forced to move to Provo, Utah. Farnsworth attended a university for two years till his father died and he was forced to support the family. He worked in many different places till he finally met George Everson and Leslie Gor rell (Bio. Farnsworth).
These two men were the ones who first offered to financially support Farnsworth idea of an image vacuum tube.
Now let me give the history of the other man in this story. Sarnoff was born in Uz lian, Russia, in 1891, the same year the electron was acknowledged, and traveled steerage to New York nine years later with his family. Knowing no English, he helped support his family by selling newspapers and with other small jobs. At 15 he bought a telegraph key, learned Morse code and, after being hired as an office boy for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America, became a junior operator in 1908.
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Although he was not the genius that Farnsworth was he was technically skilled and that led him to quick promotion up the Marconi ladder. Sarnoff was a pioneer in the development of radio. And thru his leadership RCA was able to make a fortune in radio production. Sarnoff knew the quickest why to make more money was to create a network (the stringing of hundreds of stations across the nation).
In 1926 he became general manager of NBC (Father of Broadcasting).
This is where the path of these two men meets. On September 7, 1927, George Everson watched with staff members as Farnsworth slowly turned on the controls. An unmistakable line appeared across the small bluish square of light on the end of the tube.
Although fuzzy at first, it became distinct with adjustment, and through the visual static each could see the side of a black triangle. This was the first ancestor of the modern television. Farnsworth group was later called the Crocker Research Laboratories. This later became know as Television Inc. , and began to draw a lot more publicity and attention.
In 1930 a man named Dr. Vladimir Zworykin, who worked for Sarnoff’s RCA, was invited by the company. The purpose that Farnsworth invited him there was to try to sell his idea for television to RCA and have them become partners. But Zworykin was sent there to get information on how to replicate the necessary television equipment.
Sarnoff is quoted as saying that “RCA doesn’t buy patents, we make them.” For the next ten years Farnsworth fought in court battles to convince the United States Patent Office that it was he and not Vladimir Zworykin who had invented the basic components of electronic television. Later the courts decided to have Sarnoff’s RCA concede and pay one million dollars for rights to the Farnsworth patents. Sarnoff might have been forced to pay Farnsworth the money, but in the end he came out the winner. Even though RCA had lost the patent right, Sarnoff and RCA still got most of the acknowledgments. There is no question that much of the credit for refining all the aspects of television technology belongs to RCA. Sarnoff used his ruthless tactics to ward off the severe competition of other television companies.
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Sarnoff used his ability to mix with both scientist and businessmen to make RCA a powerhouse. Thanks to Sarnoff’s early contributions RCA is still one the world’s leading companies today. Farnsworth on the other hand didn’t fair as well. Farnsworth spent a great deal of time and money winning his patent case. In 1933 he was able to acquire new capital investment to reorganize his company, naming it Farnsworth Television, Inc. The company grew, but so did Farnsworth responsibilities, taking away from his new research.
Then came the Great Depression, which greatly slowed the purchasing of television sets. He was forced to sell one of his factories. Once World War II started his factory like many others were converted to produce wartime materials. Once the war was waning down the other television companies like RCA started to file for commercial licenses and began to retool their factories to produce televisions again. Farnsworth quickly found himself behind. Eventually Farnsworth had to sell his company.
Farnsworth spent most of latter years working of fusion research. In the end one of the most important invention of all time still does not have a clear and cut inventor. Now a days people don’t care about who invented television they just care that someone did. They don’t care that the corporate giant beat out the lone scientist, and that maybe he didn’t get his proper credit..
