Television---- By: Jennifer Higgins

Television was not invented by a single inventor, instead many people working together and alone over the years, contributed to the evolution of television.

Broadcasting Pioneers: The Many Innovators Behind Television HistoryAt the dawn of television history there were two distinct paths of technology experimented with by researchers.
Early inventors attempted to either build a mechanical television system based on the technology of Paul Nipkow's rotating disks; or they attempted to build an electronic television system using a cathode ray tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing.
Electronic television systems worked better and eventual replaced mechanical systems.

Mechanical T.V. History:
-German, Paul Nipkow developed a rotating-disc technology to transmit pictures over wire in 1884 called the Nipkow disk. Paul Nipkow was the first person to discover television's scanning principle, in which the light intensities of small portions of an image are successively analyzed and transmitted.

-In the 1920's, John Logie Baird patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television. Baird's 30 line images were the first demonstrations of television by reflected light rather than back-lit silhouettes. John Logie Baird based his technology on Paul Nipkow's scanning disc idea and later developments in electronics.

-Charles Jenkins invented a mechanical television system called radiovision and claimed to have transmitted the earliest moving silhouette images on June 14, 1923.

Electronic T.V. History:
-Electronic television is based on the development of the cathode ray tube, which is the picture tube found in modern TV sets. German scientist, Karl Braun invented the cathode ray tube oscilloscope (CRT) in 1897.

-Russian inventor, Vladimir Zworykin invented an improved cathode-ray tube called the kinescope in 1929. The kinescope tube was sorely needed for television. Zworykin was one of the first to demonstrate a television system with all the features of modern picture tubes.

-In 1927, Philo Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television image comprised of 60 horizontal lines. The image transmitted was a dollar sign. Farnsworth developed the dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic televisions. He filed for his first television patent in 1927 (#1,773,980).

-Louis Parker invented the modern changeable television receiver. The patent was issued to Louis Parker in 1948.
Rabbit Ears - AntennaeMarvin Middlemark invented "rabbit ears", the "V" shaped TV antennae. Among Middlemark's other inventions were a water-powered potato peeler and rejuvenating tennis ball machine.

Color T.V.:
-Color TV was by no means a new idea, a German patent in 1904 contained the earliest proposal, while in 1925 Zworykin filed a patent disclosure for an all-electronic color television system. A successful color television system began commercial broadcasting, first authorized by the FCC on December 17, 1953 based on a system invented by RCA.

Cable T.V.:
-Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940's. The first successful color television system began commercial broadcasting on December 17, 1953 based on a system designed by RCA.

Remote Control:
-It was in June of 1956, that the TV remote controller first entered the American home. The first TV remote control called "Lazy Bones," was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics Corporation (then known as Zenith Radio Corporation).

Children's Programming:
-The American Broadcasting Company first aired Saturday morning TV shows for children on August 19, 1950.

Plasma T.V.:
-The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in 1964 by Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson.

Closed Captioning T.V.:
-TV closed captions are captions that are hidden in the television video signal, invisible without a special decoder.

Web T.V.:
-Web TV was rolled out in 1996.

Timeline:
1894-
Charles Francis Jenkins patents the phantascope, one of the first practical motion picture projection machines

1895-
Louis and Auguste Lumière patent the cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures and on December 28 show the first motion pictures at the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard Des Capucines

1896-
Louis and Auguste Lumière patent the cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures and on December 28 show the first motion pictures at the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard Des Capucines
April 23: Thomas Edison shows the first motion pictures in the USA in Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York
September 2: Guglielmo Marconi granted the worlds first radio patent

1897-
Heinrich Rudolph Hertz produces radio waves
K.F. Braun invents the cathode-ray tube
Thomas Edison continues experiments with motion pictures

1899-
Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson patent the Kinetoscope
Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel successfully transmit static or luminous imagery

1900-
Congress of Electricity held at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris
Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word "television."Scientists were looking at two methods - Mechanical television and Electronic television

1906-
Lee de Forest invented the "Audion" vacuum tube with the ablity to amplify signals
Boris Rosing combines Paul Nipkow's disk and a cathode ray tube and builds the first working mechanical TV system.
Reginald Fessenden invents wireless telephony, a means for radio waves to carry signals a significant distance.

1907-
1907: Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing suggest using cathode ray tubes to transmit images via Electronic television
Charles Jenkins and Scotsman John Baird experiment with the mechanical television model
Philo Farnsworth experiment with the the electronic television model.

1909-
1909 Nobel Prize awarded to Karl Ferdinand Braun and Guglielmo Marconi for the development of radio

1912-
The Radio Act of 1912 limits broadcasting on radio stations to the 360m wavelength, which jams signals.

1922-
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patents his iconscope television transmission tube leading the way for further advancement in the television

1924-
1924 - 1925: American Charles Jenkins and John Baird from Scotland, each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits. Photo Left: Jenkin's Radiovisor Model 100 circa 1931, sold as a kit. Baird becomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkow's disk. Vladimir Zworykin patents a color television system.
1924 l "Broadcast Listeners" Year Book forecasts 'The Wireless Musical Cinema' within two to three years.

1925-
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patents the first television color tube
October 30: The first moving image was transmitted (the famous grainy image of a ventriloquists dummy's head)

1927-
April 9: Bell Laboratories and the Department of Commerce held the 1st long-distance transmission of a live picture and voice simultaneously.
Philo Farnsworth patents the Image Dissector, the first complete electronic television system and transmits the first all-electronic television image
John Logie Baird set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd making the first television programmes for the BBC

1928-
Television is introduced in the United States
The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television license (W3XK) to Charles Jenkins
John Logie Baird beams a television image from England to the United States
The first television set is sold. The Daven television cost $75.
RCA begins work on large-screen television.

1929-
Television is introduced in the United Kingdom and Germany
John Logie Baird opens the first TV studio
CBS was founded by William S. Paley

1930-
1930: Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial
RCA demonstrate large screen television in New YorkUlysses A Sanabria gives a Cinema-television demonstration in ChicagoJuly 28: First UK public demonstration of large screen television given by John Logie Baird at the London Coliseum

1931-
January 4 John Logie Baird demonstrates ‘zone television’, showing full-length figures and a cricket lesson by Herbert Strudwick.
April 24: Lee De Forest files a US patent for a method of recording pictures, film or events Television is introduced in France and the USSR
By the end of 1931 there are nearly 40,000 television sets in the United States

1932-
June: John Logie Baird transmits pictures of the Derby horse race at Epsom to a large-screen television display at the Metropole Cinema in LondonNovember 8: John Logie Baird introduces a programme which is televised from Broadcasting House, London to the Arena Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark (600 miles away)

1934-
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of 1934

1936-
The firstexperimental" coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) debuts the world's first television service with three hours of programming a day.
August: Television at the Berlin Olympics. Television broadcasts from the Berlin Olympic Games are seen by 150,000 people in public television rooms in Berlin

1938-
February 4: First UK public demonstration of large-screen colour television at London’s Dominion theatre by John Logie Baird and is transmitted from the Baird studio at Crystal Palace in South London

1939-
January: Direct projection television with a 15ft x 12ft screen is installed at the 1,190-seat Marble Arch Pavilion by Baird Company.
Television was demonstrated by RCA at the New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition
Fritz Fischer patents the EidophorBaird Television Ltd goes into liquidation and is re-formed as Cinema-Television but without John Logie Baird on the board.
Television is introduced in Japan and Italy

1940-
1940: Peter Goldmark invents a 343 lines of resolution color television.

1941-
John Logie Baird, now working on his own, demonstrates a 600 line HDTV colour system for television

1943-
1943: Vladimir Zworykin develops a camera tube called the Orthicon

1944-
January 15: Patent is granted for the Eidophor television projection system.

1945-
June 14: John Logie Baird dies of pneumonia

1946-
Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his mechanical color television system to the FCC - the first to introduce a broadcasting color television system

1948-
1948: Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania
Louis W. Parker patents a low-cost television receiver
One million homes in the United States have television sets

1949-
August: In a document entitled 'Television and the Cinema', prepared for the Beveridge Committee on the future of broadcasting, the BBC states that 'the place of television is in the home'

1950-
The FCC approves the first color television standard which is soon replaced by a second in 1953
Vladimir Zworykin develops the Vidicon
Phonevision, the first pay-per-view television service, becomes available

1951-
Color television introduced in the U.S.Philips experiments and produces projection television

1952-
Television is introduced in Canada

1956-
Robert Adler invents Zenith Space Commander which is the first practical remote control

1962-
AT&T launches Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts and television broadcasts are relayed around the World.

1964-
Color television introduced in the U.S.

1969-
July 20: TV transmission from the moon watched by 600 million people

1972-
50% of home TVs are color television sets.

1973-
Giant screen projection television is first marketed.

1976-
Sony introduce Betamax, the first home video cassette recorder.

1980-
CNN, the first all-news network, is launched by Ted Turner

1981-
NHK demonstrate HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution.
The Supreme Court rules to allow television cameras in the courtroom.
1982:
Dolby surround sound for home televisionsets is introduced.

1986-
Super VHS is introduced

1988-
98% of U.S. households have at least one television set.The first commercial Direct broadcast satellite DBS service, Sky Television plc (now BSkyB), was launched in the UK

1992-
There are 900 million television sets in use around the world
201 million television sets are in the United States.

2006-
Television signals in both analog and digital formats
The US switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin NO LATER THAN February 17, 2009
The UK switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin in 2008. The last regions will be switched off in 2012
A UK Digital Terrestrial replacement, called Freeview, enables analogue television sets to receive prrogrammes

Sources:
http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/08-television-invention-timeline.htm