John Logie Baird
Alexander G Bell
Charles Babbage
Charles Goodyear
Guglielmo Marconi
John Logie Baird
Hernry Ford
Nikola Tesla
Wright Brothers
Archimedes
Enro Rubik
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John Logie Baird is remembered as the inventor of mechanical television, radar and fibre optics. Successfully tested in a laboratory in late 1925 and unveiled with much fanfare in London in early 1926, mechanical television technology was quickly usurped by electronic television, the basis of modern video technology. Nonetheless, John Logie Baird's achievements, including making the first trans-Atlantic television transmission, were singular and critical scientific accomplishments. Lonely, driven, tireless and often poor, the native Scot defined the pioneering spirit of scientific inquiry. Born in 1888 in Helensburgh, Scotland, John Logie Baird learned a Calvinist work ethic from his father, a Presbyterian minister. Not inclined toward the clergy or the sea, John Logie Baird realized he could do little to support himself in his homeland. Like so many other young Scots of his era, he eventually sought his fortune in London, though some of his early, highly significant research was conducted on the south coast of England. John Logie Baird filed a patent for his television design in July of 1923. But it was not until 1924 that he had an actual working prototype. Dubbed the "Televisor," it was a Rube Goldberg-like apparatus. Using an old tea chest as a base, he mounted a motor and attached a home-made Nipkow disc - a cardboard circle cut from a hat box. A darning needle became a spindle, and a discarded biscuit box made a suitable lamp housing. Apart from the motor, his greatest investments were a few bull's-eye lenses, purchased for four pence a piece. Glued together with sealing wax and string, it was a precarious contraption, but it worked. In his quarters, he managed to transmit a silhouette of a Maltese cross two or three yards to a receiver. Although crude, the images could not have been more beautiful to John Logie Baird. In October 1925 he succeeded in transmitting full television in his small attic laboratory in Soho, London. These were the true television pictures which picked up reflected light and showed light and shade effects. The first human being to be televised was a frightened teenage office boy, William Taynton, who had to be bribed to stay in front of the hot lights. Of course, television would not have much of a future unless it reproduced motion. John Logie Baird's early scanning discs and photoelectronics were simply too slow and insensitive to capture moving objects. But that quickly changed. On January 26, 1926 John Logie Baird demonstrated a fully working prototype of mechanical television to members of the Royal Institution at 22 Frith Street, John Logie Baird's residence and laboratory. This was the world's first demonstration of true television because it showed moving human faces with tonal gradients and detail. Far from perfect, the images flickered quite a bit, but the individuals on screen were fully recognizable. In September of 1929, John Logie Baird, in association with the BBC, began a series of experimental television transmissions. Working from his cramped studio, the project was plagued with technical difficulties. The worst setback was the lack of synchronized sound. Because they had access to only one transmitter, pictures and sound were broadcast alternately. The pictures themselves were minutely small; no larger than a saucer, even when magnified. Baird saw the Televisor as a prototype, not a finished product. It was replete with bugs and problems. Although BBC engineers had solved the sound synchronization glitch in 1930, the device was still crude; its picture flickering and tiny. In its current state, the Televisor could be no more than a novelty for a handful of amateur radio enthusiasts. Reluctantly, John Logie Baird prepared to mass produce the Televisor. Short of capital, he sought financing from Gaumont British, a formidable conglomerate holding company that owned a large chain of movie theatres and was very interested in showing large screen television. After that, the future of Baird Television passed forever beyond his control. |
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