Philo Farnsworth
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Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19 1906 – March 11 1971) was an American inventor credited with the invention of the cathode ray tube television.
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Early life
Farnsworth was born near Beaver, Utah on August 19, 1906. His family were members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father later moved the family to Rigby, Idaho, where he worked as a sharecropper. Young Philo developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with an out-of-state relative and the discovery of a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of the family’s new home. He then enrolled at Brigham Young University in 1923.
After a brief stint in the Navy, Farnsworth returned to Idaho to help support his mother. He later moved to the San Francisco Bay area with his bride, Elma “Pem” Gardner-Farnsworth. A local philanthropist managing a community chest agreed to fund Farnsworth’s early television experiments (see below).
In 1926, Farnsworth formed a partnership with George Everson in Salt Lake City to develop Farnsworth’s television ideas. He moved to Los Angeles to carry out research.
In 1927 Farnsworth’s Image Dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line. By 1928 Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press. In 1929 the system was further improved by elimination of a motor generator; the television system now had no mechanical moving parts. In 1930 Vladimir Zworykin visited the laboratory and was impressed with the performance of the camera tube; the RCA project at the time still used a mechanical scanner. In 1931 David Sarnoff of RCA offered to buy Farnsworth’s patents but was refused; in June of that year Farnsworth joined the Philco company and moved his laboratory to Philadelphia, along with his wife and two children. Philco denied Farnsworth time to travel to Utah to bury his young son Kenny, who died in March 1932; this death put a strain on Farnsworth’s marriage and may have marked the beginning of his struggle with depression. Since RCA controlled key patents and manufacture of radio tubes, Philco was persuaded to sever its relationship with Farnsworth in 1934.
By 1936 Farnsworth’s company was transmitting regular entertainment programs; that year he travelled to England and formed an alliance with John Logie Baird. Baird and Farnsworth competed with EMI for forming the standard UK television system. By 1939 Farnsworth’s company had licenced patents to RCA.
Inventions
Television
Farnsworth developed the vacuum tube television display, an idea he conceived at age 14 and developed at age 21. During a patent lawsuit against RCA his high school chemistry teacher redrew a drawing Farnsworth had made on the blackboard when he was 14. Farnsworth won the suit and was paid royalties but never became wealthy. The cathode ray tube configuration developed from Farnsworth’s work was used in all television sets and other kinds of displays until the late 20th century alternate technologies such as liquid crystal displays started to appear.
Farnsworth developed the Image Dissector, a practical all-electronic image scanning device that made it possible to dispense with the moving parts of mechanical television.
Fusor
The Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor, or simply fusor, is an apparatus designed by Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects high temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.
When Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor was first introduced to the fusion research world in the late 1960s, the Fusor was the first device that could clearly demonstrate it was producing any fusion reactions at all. Hopes of the time were high that it could be quickly developed into a practical power source. However, as with other fusion experiments, development into a power source has proven difficult. Nevertheless the fusor has since become a practical neutron source, and is produced commercially for this role.
Memorials
Philo Farmsworth died from emphysema in 1971 at the age of 65.
A plaque honoring Farnsworth as The Genius of Green Street is located on the 202 Green Street location (37.80037N, 122.40251W) of his research laboratory in San Francisco, California.
A statue of Farnsworth represents Utah in the U.S. Capitol building.
The West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin has written a screenplay about Farnsworth’s life and work, The Farnsworth Invention. As of December 2005 it is not known whether it will lead to a play or a movie.
It is almost certain that the character Professor Farnsworth on the popular animated series Futurama was named after him. The character Philo from UHF was certainly named after him, as he works in a television station. Oliver Farnsworth, a character in the Walter Tevis novel The Man Who Fell to Earth was also, in all likelihood, named after him.
Patents
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Incandescent light source.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Cold cathode electron discharge tube.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Cold cathode electron discharge tube.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Electric discharge device for producing interaction between nuclei.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Method and apparatus for producing nuclear fusion reactions.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: Electrostatic containment in fusion reactors.
- P.T. Farnsworth, Template:US patent: X-ray projection device.
Misquote
Although Philo T. Farnsworth is sometimes quoted as telling his son Kent, with regard to television.
- “There’s nothing on it worthwhile, and we’re not going to watch it in this household, and I don’t want it in your intellectual diet.”
his family's website makes it clear that this is Kent's summation of his father's view, rather than a quote.
References
- Donald G. Godfrey, Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television, University of Utah Press, 2001, ISBN 0874806755
- Paul Schatzkin, "The Boy Who Invented Television" Teamcom Books, Silver Spring MD (2002) ISBN 1928791301
- Evan I. Schwartz, "The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit & the Birth of Television" HarperCollins, New York, USA (2002) ISBN 0066210690
- David E. Fisher and Marshall J. Fisher, Tube, the Invention of Television Counterpoint, Washington D.C. USA, (1996) ISBN 1887178171
- Daniel Stashower, The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television Broadway Books, New York, USA (2002) ISBN 0767907590
External links
- Official Homepage: “Philo. T Farnsworth Archives” (managed by Farnsworth heirs)
- Last Lone Inventor
- National Inventors Hall of Fame profile
- Philo Farnsworth photo archive
- Rigby, Idaho: Birthplace of Television (Jefferson County Historical Society and Museum)
- The Boy Who Invented Television; by Paul Schatzkin
- Philo Farnsworth's Gravesitede:Philo Farnsworth