Inventor Philo T. Farnsworth pointing to his invention, the first electronic television.
He had envisioned the idea of transmitting pictures electronically at the age of 14, sharing it with his chemistry teacher Justin Tolman, who Farnsworth later credited as being his inspiration.
He didn't do it until he was 21. By then, he had found investors, a few assistants and a loving wife ("Pem") who assisted him in his research. He moved to San Francisco and set up a laboratory in an empty loft. On Sept. 7, 1927, Farnsworth painted a square of glass black and scratched a straight line on the center. In another room, Pem's brother, Cliff Gardner, dropped the slide between the Image Dissector (the camera tube that Farnsworth had invented earlier that year) and a hot, bright, carbon arc lamp. Farnsworth, Pem and one of the investors, George Everson, watched the receiver. They saw the straight-line image and then, as Cliff turned the slide 90 degrees, they saw it move--which is to say they saw the first all-electronic television picture ever transmitted.
He first demonstrated this new electronic marvel to the news media on September 1, 1928, televising a motion picture film, and to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934, televising live images.
Unfortunately through a series of incidents, including spying, lawsuits and a suspension of TV sales during WWII, he lost out to RCA as the winner in the race to profitably introduce television to the public.
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