The history and development of television Essay

The history and development of television - Essay Example The word television was coined by a Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi in a paper he presented at the International Electricity Congress at the International World Fair in Paris on August 25, 1900. Even before that, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a German student, had patented the first television in 1884. It was a electromechanical device based on the photoconductivity of the element Selenium and Nipkow’s spinning disk with a series of holes of equal diameter drilled into it at equal distances. In the camera unit, as the disk spun in front of the object, each hole produced a scan line which was captured by a light detecting device behind it. The scan line was transmitted by radio wave to the reproducer or receiving unit. This basic television and other refinements that came after it were however restricted to transmission of still images and silhouettes. It was only on October 2, 1925 that the Scottish scientist John Logie Baird, who took the lead in development of the electromechan ical television, achieved live transmission of moving half-tone images in his laboratory. Baird’s endeavour took the electromechanical television through a continuous phase of technical development ranging from the first transatlantic transmission between London and New York by his company in 1928, the first transmission between shore to ship, demonstratin of the first electromechanical colour, infrared and stereoscopic television to the first live transmission, of the Epson Derby in 1931 and demonstration of the ultra short-wave television in 1932.