Philo Taylor Farnsworth

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• FamilySearch ID: KWCQ-PFY
• Initiatory (LDS): 27 May 1969, SLAKE

Notes:

An American inventor who developed the first all-electronic television s y stem.

Farnsworth was a technical prodigy from an early age. An avid reader o f s cience magazines as a teenager, he became interested in the problem o f te levision and was convinced that mechanical systems that used, for ex ample , a spinning disc would be too slow to scan and assemble images man y time s a second. Only an electronic system could scan and assemble an i mage fa st enough, and by 1922 he had worked out the basic outlines of el ectroni c television.

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In 1923, while still in high school, Farnsworth also entered Brigham You n g University in Provo, Utah, as a special student. However, his father ’ s death in January 1924 meant that he had to leave Brigham Young and wo r k to support his family while finishing high school.

Farnsworth had to postpone his dream of developing television. In 192 6 h e went to work for charity fund-raisers George Everson and Leslie Gor rell . He convinced them to go into a partnership to produce his televisi on sy stem. Farnsworth moved to Los Angeles with his new wife, Pem Gardne r, an d began work. He quickly spent the original $6,000 put up by Everso n an d Gorrell, but Everson procured $25,000 and laboratory space from th e Cro cker First National Bank of San Francisco. Farnsworth made his firs t succ essful electronic television transmission on September 7, 1927, an d file d a patent for his system that same year.

Farnsworth continued to perfect his system and gave the first demonstrat i on to the press in September 1928. His backers at the Crocker First Nat io nal Bank were eager to be bought out by a much larger company and in 1 93 0 made overtures to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which sen t th e head of their electronic television project, Vladimir Zworykin, t o eval uate Farnsworth’s work. Zworykin’s receiver, the kinescope, was su perio r to that of Farnsworth, but Farnsworth’s camera tube, the image di ssecto r, was superior to that of Zworykin. Zworykin was enthusiastic abo ut th e image dissector, and RCA offered Farnsworth $100,000 for his work . He r ejected the offer.

Instead, Farnsworth joined forces with the radio manufacturer Philadelph i a Storage Battery Company (Philco) in 1931, but their association onl y la sted until 1933. Farnsworth formed his own company, Farnsworth Telev ision , which in 1937 made a licensing deal with American Telephone & Tel egrap h (AT&T) in which each company could use the other’s patents. Buoye d by t he AT&T deal, Farnsworth Television reorganized in 1938 as Farnswo rth Tel evision and Radio and purchased phonograph manufacturer Capehar t Corporat ion’s factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to manufacture both devi ces. Produc tion of radios began in 1939.

RCA had not taken Farnsworth’s rejection lightly and began a lengthy ser i es of court cases in which RCA tried to invalidate Farnsworth’s patent s . Zworykin had developed a successful camera tube, the iconoscope, bu t ma ny other necessary parts of a television system were patented by Far nswor th. Finally, in 1939, RCA agreed to pay Farnsworth royalties for hi s pate nts.

The years of struggle and exhausting work had taken their toll on Farnsw o rth, and in 1939 he moved to Maine to recover after a nervous breakdow n . World War II halted television development in America, and Farnswort h f ounded Farnsworth Wood Products, which made ammunition boxes. In 194 7 h e returned to Fort Wayne, and that same year Farnsworth Television pr oduc ed its first television set. However, the company was in deep financ ial t rouble. It was taken over by International Telephone and Telegrap h (IT&T ) in 1949 and reorganized as Capehart-Farnsworth. Farnsworth wa s retaine d as vice president of research. Capehart-Farnsworth produced t elevision s until 1965, but it was a small player in the industry when co mpared wit h Farnsworth’s longtime rival RCA.

Farnsworth became interested in nuclear fusion and invented a device cal l ed a fusor that he hoped would serve as the basis for a practical fusi o n reactor. He worked on the fusor for years, but in 1967 IT&T cut his f un ding. He moved to Brigham Young University, where he continued his fus io n research with a new company, Philo T. Farnsworth Associates, but th e co mpany went bankrupt in 1970.

Philo married Elma "Pem" Gardner on 27 May 1926 in Provo, Utah, Utah, United States. Elma (daughter of Bernard Edward Gardner and Alice Maria Mecham) was born on 25 Feb 1908 in Jensen, Uintah, Utah, United States; died on 27 Apr 2006 in Bountiful, Davis, Utah, United States; was buried on 12 May 2006 in Provo City Cemetery, Utah, Utah, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Initiatory (LDS): COMPLETED
• FamilySearch ID: L56K-GMS

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• Initiatory (LDS): Not Needed
• FamilySearch ID: L56G-WDG

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• FamilySearch ID: LR6Q-2SQ