A Historical Timeline Evolution of the TV(1831-1996)

Television was not invented by a single inventor, instead of many people working together and alone over the years, contributed to the evolution of television. 1831 Joseph Henrys and Michael Faradays work with electromagnetism jumpstarts the era of electronic communication. 1862: First Still Image Transferred Abbe Giovanna Caselli invents his Pantelegraph and becomes the first person to transmit a still image over wires. 1873 Scientists May and Smith experiment with selenium and light, this reveals the possibility for inventors to transform images into electronic signals. 1876 Boston civil servant George Carey was thinking about complete television systems and in 1877 he put forward drawings for what he called a selenium camera that would allow people to see by electricity. Eugen Goldstein coins the term cathode rays to describe the light emitted when an electric current was forced through a vacuum tube. The Late 1870s Scientists and engineers like Paiva, Figuier, and Senlecq were suggesting alternative designs for Telectroscopes. 1880 Inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison theorize about telephone devices that transmit image as well as sound. Bells Photophone used light to transmit sound and he wanted to advance his device for image sending. George Carey builds a rudimentary system with light-sensitive cells. 1881 Sheldon Bidwell experiments with his Telephotography that was similar to Bells Photophone. 1884: 18 Lines of Resolution Paul Nipkow sends images over wires using a rotating metal disk technology calling it the electric telescope with 18 lines of resolution. 1900: And We Called It Television At the Worlds Fair in Paris, the first International Congress of Electricity was held. That is where Russian Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word television. Soon after 1900, the momentum shifted from ideas and discussions to the physical development of television systems. Two major paths in the development of a television system were pursued by inventors. Inventors attempted to build mechanical television systems based on  Paul Nipkows  rotating disks orInventors attempted to build  electronic television systems  based on the  cathode ray  tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing. 1906: First Mechanical Television System Lee de Forest invents the Audion vacuum tube that proved essential to electronics. The Audion was the first tube with the ability to amplify signals. Boris Rosing combines Nipkows disk and a cathode ray tube and builds the first working mechanical TV system. 1907: Early Electronic Systems Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing suggest using  cathode ray tubes  to transmit images. Independent of each other, they both develop electronic scanning methods of reproducing images. 1923 Vladimir  Zworykin  patents his  iconoscope  a TV camera tube based on Campbell Swintons ideas. The  iconoscope, which he called an electric eye becomes the cornerstone for further television development.  Zworkin  later develops the kinescope for picture display (aka the  receiver). 1924-25: First Moving Silhouette Images American  Charles Jenkins  and  John Baird  from Scotland, each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits. John Baird  becomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkows disk. Charles Jenkin  built his Radiovisor and 1931 and sold it as a kit for consumers to put together (see photo to right). Vladimir  Zworykin  patents a  color television  system. 1926-30: Lines of Resolution John Baird  operates a television system with 30 lines of resolution system running at 5 frames per second. 1927 Bell Telephone  and the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted the first long-distance use of television that took place between Washington D.C. and New York City on April 7th. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover commented, â€Å"Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.† Philo Farnsworth, files for a patent on the first completely electronic television system, which he called the Image Dissector. 1928 The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television station license (W3XK) to  Charles Jenkins. 1929 Vladimir Zworykin  demonstrates the first practical electronic system for both the transmission and reception of images using his new kinescope tube. John Baird  opens the first TV studio, however, the image quality was poor. 1930 Charles Jenkins  broadcasts the first TV commercial. The BBC begins regular TV transmissions. 1933 Iowa State University (W9XK) starts broadcasting twice-weekly television programs in cooperation with radio station WSUI. 1936 About 200 hundred television sets are in use worldwide. The introduction of coaxial cable, which is a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and aluminum covering. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone, and data signals. The first experimental coaxial cable lines were laid by ATT between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first regular installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, WI in 1941. The original L1 coaxial-cable system could carry 480 telephone conversations or one television program. By the 1970s, L5 systems could carry 132,000 calls or more than 200 television programs. 1937 CBS begins its TV development. The BBC begins high definition broadcasts in London. Brothers and Stanford researchers Russell and Sigurd Varian introduce the Klystron. A Klystron is a high-frequency amplifier for generating microwaves. It is considered the technology that makes UHF-TV possible because it gives the ability to generate the high power required in this spectrum. 1939 Vladimir Zworykin  and RCA conduct experimentally broadcasts from the  Empire State Building. Television was demonstrated at the New York Worlds Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition. RCAs David Sarnoff used his companys exhibit at the 1939 Worlds Fair as a showcase for the 1st Presidential speech (Roosevelt) on television and to introduce RCAs new line of television receivers, some of which had to be coupled with a radio if you wanted to hear the sound. The Dumont company starts making tv sets. 1940 Peter Goldmark invents 343 lines of the resolution  color television  system. 1941 The FCC releases the NTSC standard for black and white TV. 1943 Vladimir Zworykin  developed a better camera tube called the Orthicon. The Orthicon (see photo right) had enough light sensitivity to record outdoor events at night. 1946 Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his  color television  system to the FCC. His system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of a  cathode ray tube. This mechanical means of producing a color picture was used in 1949 to broadcast medical procedures from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City hospitals. In Atlantic City, viewers could come to the convention center to see broadcasts of operations. Reports from the time noted that the realism of seeing surgery in color caused more than a few viewers to faint. Although Goldmarks mechanical system was eventually replaced by an electronic system he is recognized as the first to introduce a broadcasting  color television  system. 1948 Cable television  is introduced in Pennsylvania as a means of bringing television to rural areas. A patent was granted to Louis W. Parker for a low-cost television receiver. One million homes in the United States have television sets. 1950 The FCC approves the first  color television  standard which is replaced by a second in 1953. Vladimir Zworykin  developed a better camera tube called the Vidicon. 1956 Ampex introduces the first practical  videotape  system of broadcast quality. 1956 Robert Adler  invents the first practical  remote control  called the Zenith Space Commander. It was proceeded by wired remotes and units that failed in sunlight. 1960 The first split screen broadcast occurs on the Kennedy - Nixon debates. 1962 The All-Channel Receiver Act requires that UHF tuners (channels 14 to 83) be included in all sets. 1962 A joint international collaboration between ATT, Bell Labs, NASA, British General Post Office, the French National Post, Telegraph, and Telecom Office results in the development and launch of  Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts - broadcasts are now internationally relayed. 1967 Most TV broadcasts are in color. 1969 July 20, first TV transmission from the moon and 600 million people watch. 1972 Half the TVs in homes are color sets. 1973 Giant screen projection TV is first marketed. 1976 Sony introduces  Betamax, the first home video cassette recorder. 1978 PBS becomes the first station to switch to all satellite delivery of programs. 1981: 1,125 Lines of Resolution NHK demonstrates HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution. 1982 Dolby  Surround  Sound for home sets is introduced. 1983 Direct Broadcast Satellite begins service in Indianapolis, In. 1984 Stereo TV broadcasts approved. 1986 Super VHS introduced. 1993 Closed captioning required on all sets. 1996 The FCC approves ATSCs HDTV standard. A billion TV sets worldwide.