He was an American research engineer and an industrial executive. He was responsible for the development of modern television. Philo was just thirteen, Philo dreamed of trapping light in an empty jar and transmitting it, one line at a time, on a magnetically deflected beam of electrons. When he put the blue print on the board at school for the early version of the television, the teacher he showed it to was named Justin Tolman. This man would later be a witness at a trial giving credit to Philo for the development of the television.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth Credit: invent.org

At the center of Philo's diagram were two devices, a photoelectric cell and a cathode-ray tube. The photoelectric cell, a major part of his television camera, could change light into electrical energy. The cathode-ray tube, a major element of the receiving set, could change electrical current into glowing fluorescence, therefore painting pictures on the television screen.

He was unable to pay for his college education at Brigham Young University in Utah (The United States). He joined the Navy, but was discharged when his father died in 1924. His mother needed him at home to help support his younger brothers and sisters. Philo found work at a community chest campaign to get funds to support welfare agencies. At this job he met two men who would later help him get money to continue his research on his television. The men were George Everson and Leslie Gorrell.

The two would be investors questioned Philo how this idea of his worked. He described how pictures taken by a camera can be converted into electrical current and how, at the receiving end of the system, this current can be converted back into images moving on a screen. Other large companies such as Bell Telephone and General Electric and other inventors were also working on the idea of the television.

Philo explained that these people were going to work in the same way he was, but for one important detail that only he thought about. This was a device known as a scanner. Every other person working on the television was using a mechanical disk that was a moving part. To produce clear pictures, a television system must operate at a very fast speed that no moving parts can be used. Farnsworth system was all electric and not moving parts.

The real trial and error part for Farnsworth was started in California in 1926. He married Elma Garnder and moved his new bride and his test equipment into their new apartment. The first electronic transmitter tube was built in this apartment. This tube would later be known as the image dissector tube. It would be the major feature of the Farnsworth television camera. The real problems were still ahead. He was running out of money, his apartment was to small for all the equipment, and experts in several different fields were needed. His friend and partner Everson came to his rescue and the work moved steadily along.

It was twelve more years before an actual clear picture was seen on the television. What his backers and supporters saw at his early viewing was the first motion picture to be broadcast over a television. The work was now moving at a quicker pace. In 1931 he had moved his family to Pennsylvania to continue work in his own workshops. There he met Vladimir Zworykin, a physicist who was also working on the television. These two men showed each other their designs. Farnsworth stated that some of Zworykin's parts were better. Several of the major parts of the television come from Zworykin.

Philo had to start making money for his backers. He sold the rights to a number of his electronic inventions to the Atlantic Telephone and Telegraph Company. The second World War held up the final completion of the television. In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the television system began in operation.