Vladimir K. Zworykin Credit: invent.org

Zworykin developed some of the most important electronic TV camera and receiver technologies. While he was a student in Russia, Zworykin studied under Boris Rosing, an early cathode-ray tube experimenter. Zworykin immigrated to the U.S. in 1919. He began research on his "Iconoscope" (an early electronic camera tube) which he patented in 1923.

Vladimir K. Zworykin Credit: invent.org

, One of Zworykin's superiors at Westinghouse found out that he was researching television, and told Zworykin to work on something more useful. Over the next 6 years, he continued research in photoelectric and receiving tubes. In 1929, Zworykin demonstrated his all-electronic television system in Pittsburgh, a full 10 years before it was introduced to the public at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

At David Sarnoff's invitation, Zworykin came to work for RCA, where he directed all of the television research, particularly that which led up to RCA's introduction of television at the New York World's Fair. .