Evolution of the Television, 1880 to 1884

Alexander Graham Bell
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The technology necessary to bring the television concept to fruition was quickly being developed, and dreams of viewing pictures on an electronic device were quickly coming to life. By 1880, things were really beginning to pick up steam. More and more inventors were becoming interested in the concept of the television, and this meant that some of the best and brightest possible minds were on the case.

In 1880, inventors Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were both creating theories about using a telephone device that would be capable of transmitting the image as well as the sound. The Photophone invention from Alexander Graham Bell used light in order to transmit the sound of the callers, and he hoped that he could advance his device to the point where it was also sending images.

George Carey, in 1880, managed to build a rudimentary system making use of light sensitive cells as well.

In 1881, a man named Sheldon Bidwell began to experiment with a Telephotography invention that was quite similar in nature to the Photophone that Alexander Graham Bell had invented.

In 1884, Paul Nipkow began to send images across wires by using technology involving a rotating metal disk. He called this the electric telescope, and pointed out that it had 18 different lines of resolution. This was a big step in the right direction moving toward television development, and yet was very far away from the televisions of today as we know them.

Once again, this was still just the beginning when it came to the development of technology involving the television set. While technological inventions were moving along quickly during this era, it would still be a long time before the true television set was developed in any sense close to what we now know as the television set.

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Evolution of the Television in 1900

Modern colour televisor. A test card can just ...
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The 1900s is when things really began to move in terms of television invention, evolution and development. In the Paris World’s Fair, the first ever International Congress of Electricity saw the light of day. Constantin Perskyi, a Russian inventor, was the first person ever during this era to use the term television to refer to the invention that has been in development for so many years.

Evolution of the Television in 1900 and Beyond

Soon after the year 1900, the momentum really began to shift away from discussions and ideas and into actual physical development of these television systems. There were two major paths that were pursued by these inventors in the way of developing television systems.

Inventors were beginning to build mechanical systems for televisions based on the rotating disks that Paul Nipkow had invented, and other inventors had begun to build electronic systems that were based on cathode ray tube technology. This technology was independently developed in the year 1907 by an English inventor named A.A. Campbell-Swinton along with the help of a scientist by the name of Boris Rosing.

An American inventor named Charles Jenkins, working with a Scotsman named John Baird began to follow this mechanical model. On the other hand, Philo Farnsworth in San Francisco and a Russian emigrant named Vladimir Zworkin began to advance the electronic concept for television development.

Eventually it was the electronic television system that won out, replacing the mechanical television system concept. Both systems had a lot of merits, but the electronic system using the cathode ray tube technology was proving to be the simpler and straighter forward concept, and so it was better received in comparison to the mechanical model. By now, it was clear that the first mechanical and electronic systems were well on their way in terms of development.

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The Golden Age of Media

Family watching television, c. 1958

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, the methods that brought people news were vastly slow and sometimes unreliable. For many people living in the United States of America, the news came in the form of newspapers and word of mouth from those who had traveled to a larger city or had access to a telegraph. News from overseas such as the United Kingdom or Europe came via telegraph or letters or foreign diplomats. Most people were content with the slow pace of receiving bad news from around the world.

Then, the radio came with its static sounding voices, music, and programming. Now, we could broadcast news from Europe and Asia over radio waves. This meant that people in the United States of America could get news about World War I much quicker. Many families learned about the sinking of the Titanic via the radio. Besides bringing bad news faster,  the radio had various shows for kids, parents, and grandparents. Weekly shows told stories about interesting characters, and many people tuned in every night to hear these programs.

With the success of the radio, the home television came in its black and white format. Fuzzy pictures gave way to brilliant technicolor to high definition flat panel screens. In the beginnings of television, new shows came on once every evening. So for thirty minutes a day, a person got bad news. Now, the news has its own 24 hour channels constantly talking about and rehashing the bad news of the day. We can never escape the onslaught of bad news from the television. Television and news media has come a long way and is here in our homes to stay.

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