Story of America Cards

The Birth of Television

SO TV!, you're watching this on a TV screen, I presume, maybe that little box called a Cellphone, or a machine known as a Computer...and you're just wasting time on it because you have nothing else to do and found this history video or words (If you're reading it on wattpad).

But have you ever questioned what was life like when the TV first came out, what were people's reaction to the SCREEN!, you're going to learn the Birth of Television from the Science and Invention section from Story of America Cards.

(What is a Television?)

A Television is also called a TV for short, or if you're Spanish you will call it this; Televisión but with the accented "ó". (See Mr. Aybar; I'm learning- He's my spanish teacher).

But Televisions are a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound, you watch your TV shows, Movies, a Commercial (Which now try to be funny with what their advertising but they turn out awkward if not know right- you know what i'm talking about, I could probably make a video on ads like that, But back to history because that's not important!).

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions.

(Inventing the Miracle Screen)

Most Television viewers today assume that television was invented shortly after World War II, or perhaps as early as the 1930s. Actually, Television's beginnings go back as far as 1840, Alexandre Becqueral of France discovered the electrochemical effects of light.

Numerous other scientists investigated the field throughout the 19th century, But perhaps the first glimmering of television as we know it occurred in 1880, when two scientists an American named W.E Sawyer and a Frenchman; Maurice Leblanc (although i can't really find information if this is a different Leblanc or the one created the Arsene Lupin Books).

But- they conceived the idea of reproducing pictures by rapidly scanning each element line by line, That same principle underlies television to this day.

The first actual TV "broadcast" took place in 1911 when a Scottish engineer, A. Campbell Swinton, used an electron tube to convert light into electronic waves.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1923 when a Russian-born U.S scientist, Vladimir Zworykin, who is often called "The Father of Television", filed a patent for the iconoscope, which made possible an allocentric system.

An American engineer; Philo T. Farnsworth, meanwhile, had perfected a camera that's compatible with Zworykin's system.

Finally on September 11th 1928, the first televised dramatic show; The Queen's Messenger, was presented by General Electric Company, on a tiny 3- by 4-inch (7.5 cm, by 10 cm.) screen.

The sound for the program was transmitted by radio station WGY in Schenectady, New York, In 1936 the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) made field tests for an all-electronic system and commenced broadcasting twice a week to a small number of receivers from the Empire State Building in New York City.

The average person didn't get his first glimpse of wonder until the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, where visitors were invited to stand in front of a camera and watch themselves on the little miracle screen.

Earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been televised at the dedication of the fair, which was the first regularly scheduled commercial TV program ever.

After World War II, the infant TV industry began to boom. The first mass-produced home video screens were very small, sometimes only seven inches (17.5 cm.) diagonally, and curved pieces of glass were often placed in front of the screens to magnify the images.

Before long, however, nearly every home in America had a set, and everyone's neighborhood was suddenly expanded to include the whole world.

(Look at the Negatives)

Ok I think we should probably mention the Negative side of Television, this wouldn't be the history of TV without the ups and downs, right although i don't know if the information i got here would pin point out the negative side of TV but here are some.

One would obviously be Children, especially those aged 5 or younger as they are at risk of injury from falling televisions (I don't know if that's the case now but you don't know what kids will touch and it will hurt them).

And a CRT-style television that falls on a child will, because of its weight, hit with the equivalent force of falling multiple stories from a building.

There's also that there can be bad effects on watching TV, ALSO NO! It's not that teens are lazy looking at the TV (Ok maybe a little, but there cell phones now, you know what i'm talking about), and we all should listen to our parents to not sit too close to the TV or... good old blind and that there's also bad health effects too and this comes with binge watching that can be a bad habit for the long-term brain health and function.

(Ending)

And that's it for Television history, I'll wonder if you learned something from this, but for next cards I'm going into the Thought and Culture category so look into those ones, on a Saturday Evening, or a photographer for recording a whole war through pictures, so see you next time.