Philo Farnsworth

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Philo Farnsworth : biography

19 August 1906 – 11 March 1971

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer.Obituary Variety, March 17, 1971, page 79. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector", the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system, and for being the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public."". Popular Mechanics, Dec. 1934, p. 838–839. Retrieved 2010-03-13.Burns, R. W. (1998), Television: An international history of the formative years. IEE History of Technology Series, 22. London: , p. 370. ISBN 0-85296-914-7. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the firm of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to 1951.

In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, or simply "fusor", employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). Although not a practical device for generating nuclear energy, the fusor serves as a viable source of neutrons.. U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, October 2000. Retrieved 2010-03-13. The design of this device has been the acknowledged inspiration for other fusion approaches including the Polywell reactor concept in terms of a general approach to fusion design. Farnsworth held 165 patents, mostly in radio and television.

Early life

Philo T. Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children of Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, a Mormon couple then living in a small log cabin built by Lewis’s father in a place called Indian Creek near Beaver, Utah. The family moved to a farm in Rigby, Idaho, in 1918, where Lewis supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick study in mechanical and electrical technology, repairing the troublesome generator, and upon finding a burned out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants, proceeding to rewind the armature and convert his mother’s hand-powered washing machine into an electric-powered one.Schatzkin, Paul (2002), The Boy Who Invented Television. Silver Spring, Maryland: Teamcom Books, pp. 7-10. ISBN 1-928791-30-1. Philo developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with an out-of-state relative and the discovery of a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of the family’s new home, and won a $25 first prize in a pulp-magazine contest for inventing a magnetized car lock.

Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked his high school science teacher, Justin Tolman, for advice about an electronic television system he was contemplating. He provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically. He asked his teacher if he should go ahead with his ideas, and he was encouraged to do so. One of the drawings he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

In the fall of 1922 the Farnsworths moved to Provo, Utah, but Philo stayed behind to work for the railroad in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, saving enough money to begin classes at Brigham Young University (BYU) when he rejoined his family in the fall of 1923. The family had moved into the first floor of a large two-story house, renting the top floor to BYU students. In early January of the following year, Lewis Farnsworth died of pneumonia, leaving fifteen-year-old Philo to care for his mother, two sisters and two brothers.