Last post we featured one of the most modern televisions to date the C’Seed 201. This post we have decided to list the 10 most historical landmarks in the history of television. These 10 landmarks by inventors, big thinkers, and pioneers have forever changed the way people communicate, learn, and interact with each other.
1. 1831 – Electromagnetism “The Seed for Electronic Growth”
Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry’s and Michael Faraday’s work with electromagnetism jumpstarts the era of electronic communication.
It’s difficult to imagine the days before the realization of electromagnetism. Without this key understanding, there would be no television and many other devices that we use everyday. Electromagnetism was a seed in which an enormous tree grew. By far the most important ingredient in the invention of the television.
2. 1862 – First Still Image Transferred
Abbe Giovanna Caselli invents his Pantelegraph and becomes the first person to transmit a still image over wires.
To see the first ever electronic image must of been an exciting moment in time . After all, you have to walk before you can run. Soon, instead of a single image, there would be multiple images transported to create motion. The invention of the Pantelegraph by Abbe Giovanna Caselli was just the beginning of what was to come.
3. 1900 – And We Call It “Television”
As it turns out, the name stuck! There has to be someone who comes up with the name. In this case, it was a Russian by the name of Constantin Persky at the World’s Fair in Paris where the first International Congress of Electricity was held.
4. 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 Nipkow’s disk and a cathode ray tube and builds the first working mechanical TV system.
5. 1927 – Long Distance Use of Television
Bell Telephone and the U.S. Department of Commerce conduct the first long distance use of television that took place between Washington D.C. and New York City on April 9th. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover commented, “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 a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.”
Just like the transmission of the first electronic still image in 1862, this accomplishment of transmitting a log distant television signal must of been just as an exciting of a moment. To see someone from a far off place must of been like witnessing a teleportation.
6. 1946 – Color
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.
Let there be color!! Although it was still many years away from a main stream technology, adding color to television was like adding a light bulb to a room. Suddenly, viewers could see better.
7. 1956 – Remote Control
Robert Adler invents the first practical remote control called the Zenith Space Commander.
Control. Robert Adler’s invention of the modern day remote control for television paved the way for future control companies like Crestron.
9. 1973 – Giant Screen Projection TV
Why go to the theater when you can have your own theater in your home? These were the infant days of home theater applications.
10. 1996 – The FCC Approves ATSC’s HDTV Standard.
Almost as important as color TV was the invention of HDTV. Suddenly, the sporting game looked crisper and better in your living room then it looked in person.
Check out this video featuring a timeline of televisions.
Key Takeaway:
These 10 historical landmarks in television are a microcosm of how one idea spawns another. Looking at the past is a good indicator for future growth and development. There may be new inventions on the horizon that will make the television as obsolete as the typewriter. But one thing is for sure, the television and all the inventions before it will be the catalyst for whatever the next wave of electronic communication may be.