Television debuted as a scanning device invented in 1883 by the german Paul Nipkow. Images could be broken down into miniscule pieces, using a rotating disk with spiralling perforations. German Paul Gottlieb Nipkow patented the Nipkow Disc in 1884. This flat circular disc was perforated with tiny holes that spiralled from the centre to the rim. The disc revolved in front of your eye as the image was scanned all over the disc. Later, Scotsman John Logie Baird added a photoelectric cell into the system. The cell could translate light into an electric signal, which could play back the image. Despite the advances, the disc still didn't succeed. An american named Charles Francis Jenkins experimented into the 1920s with this invention. Elaborations of this disk were used to broadcast silhouettes and in 1926 television was first publicly demonstrated, using these shadow pictures. By 1928 outdoor and colour scenes had been broadcasted. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson tested television daily and on September 11, 1928, "The Queen's Messenger", the first ever dramatic television production, was broadcast. Sound was played on a radio station.

Several other scientists from several different countries all contributed to the evolution of the television; cathode-ray tubes, the brainchild of Englishman Alan Cambell Swinson, were perfected and patented by the RussianBoris Rosing. Television was once again demonstrated in 1939 at the New York World's Fair. This was the year that the first public television sets were produced by the DuMont laboratories of an engineering graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. NBC commenced telecasts in 1932, and during the 30's the news about television started to spread. The BBC got in on the action, taking control of TV. In '36 RCA began testing broadcasts from the Empire State Building at the speed of 30 frames per second. CBS installed a television system in the Chrysler Building. President Roosevelt was the first president to be on television.

Official network broadcasts began on February 1st, 1940, and in 1941 WNBT New York was the first commercial station with 15 hours per week of television programs. The events which unfolded that year at Pearl Harbour were the subject of the first ever television newscast on December 7, 1941.

Unfortunately, with the American involvement in World War II, television development ground to a halt. All available resources were being used for the war effort. Yet, in 1945, NBC picked up where they had left off and began network television. Others followed, and 3 years later there were 36 television stations with 70 more waiting in the wings-vying for the attention of the owners of the one million television sets in use. There was a freeze on new stations in 1948 which continued for several years due to the Korean War. However, in 1952 it was lifted and by 1954 90% of the USA had television coverage, and in 1953 specifications were adopted for colour television sets.

In 1969, 200 000 people experienced Neil Armstrong's moon walk, and in 1994, an estimated 2 billion viewers watched the final game of Soccer's World Cup '94. These life-touching experiences prove just how monumental this communication technology is, and serve as evidence that television will live on as an incredible icon of 20th century society.