EOTO - The First Television

I did my Each One Teach One project on the first television. I was born in 1999 and through my 21 years of life I have not witnessed a great deal of adaptation with the television but just enough to be curious about its total evolution. I remember as a kid we had a chunky television in the living room that we kept in a cabinet. The screen puffed out a bit and the back side of the television expanded 1-2 feet back into the cabinet. It had a VCR underneath it and in the cabinet shelves we kept our VHS tapes. I have witnessed some evolution of television in my lifetime. Now, in our living room we have a flat screen television that is mounted to the wall and curves and instead of VHS tapes in the cabinet we keep 3d glasses for the TV’s 3d feature and hardly anyone knows what a VCR is anymore! Instead we have Apple TV and Netflix programmed onto it for all of our movie needs and desires. But where did the television come from? And how did it become what we know and love of it today?

There were several people who helped and worked together to develop the first television but Philo Taylor Farnsworth is the name known for being the inventor. He invented the first fully functional all electric television system in 1928 when he was only 21 years old. Farnsworth held 300 inventors patents. Ironically Farnsworth lived in a home without electricity until the age of 14 and also ironically even though he invented the television he only appeared on TV once. When he first invented the television system there would still be years to come before the product would be marketed to consumers.

A big reason why it would be years to come before being marketed to consumers was because the development of the television was disrupted by World War II. After World War II an improved version was out and was now found in people’s homes and in the workplace. The TV evolved and adapted in great leaps from when it was first invented. In the 1950’s the television started to be used for influencing public opinion in forms of advertisement and propaganda. In 1953 the first color TV was available instead of pictures being shown in just black and white. In the 2000’s High Definition television was made available instead of Standard definition. Now the television is how we know of it today and it’s crazy to think that my Grandparents lived to see a good amount of its evolution.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PveVwQhNnq8

https://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/scriptorium/adaccess/tv-history.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Farnsworth