Philo T. Farnsworth - Provo, UT - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

The term television was coined in 1900 - six years before Philo Farnsworth was born and complete television systems were in operation by the mid-1920s. But these utilized a mechanical spinning wheel to capture the image and produce the electronic signal. A synchronized spinning wheel together with a fluorescent light was used to recreate the image on the viewer of the receiving unit. The viewing ‘screen’ was very small, a little over an inch square; the resolution was poor and being mechanical, failure was inevitable.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth developed the first practical all-electronic television system in the early 1930s. His ‘camera’ was a vacuum tube-based unit in which magnetic coils directed an electron beam back and forth across the photoelectric surface on which the image was focused. He called this device an ‘image dissector.’ Farnsworth claimed he got the idea by watching farmers plowing potato fields when he was a youth in Idaho. On the receiving end, the image was reproduced on an equally all-electronic screen. This method allowed for much higher image resolution and, by eliminating the spinning disks, removed the possibility of mechanical failure.

Farnsworth first described his television ideas to his chemistry teacher in high school, whose testimony was instrumental in settling some patent disputes between Farnsworth and RCA in 1934. Improvements were made by Farnsworth and others to both the television camera and the display units prior to its widespread availability, but Farnsworth’s concepts remained the basis for television transmission throughout the twentieth century.

Besides his contributions to television, Philo Farnsworth held 300 patents. These included a method of sterilizing milk with radio waves, improvements to radar systems, electron microscopes, baby incubators, night vision devices and a nuclear fusion system.

Farnsworth, who was born in Utah, returned there in 1967 to conduct research at Brigham Young University in Provo. He died there in 1971 and was buried in Provo City cemetery. His wife Elma is interred beside him and happens to hold the distinction of being the first person to appear on television when Farnsworth transmitted her image on his system in 1929.
(Source: wikipedia.com)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 08/19/1906 Date of death: 03/11/1971 Area of notoriety: Science/Technology Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: none Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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