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Electronic communication takes off
The work and experiments on electromagnetism conducted by two scientists, Joseph Henry and Michael Faraday, kickstarted the development in the field of electronic communication. -
First still picture
The Pantelegraph was invented by Abbe Giovanna Caselli. Just like telephone wires could transfer sound, this invention allowed the first ever still image to be transmitted through wires. -
Further developments on image transfers
Through experimenting with selenium, two scientists (May and Smith) discovered something which would make sending images through wires much easier; those images could now be turned into electronic signals. -
The "TV" is conceptualised
George Carey, a Boston civil servant, conceptualised the "TV". A year later in 1877, he put forward his concept of a "selenium camera"; a device that would use electricity to enable viewers to see pictures. -
Bell and Edison contribute
World famous inventors Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell contributed to the progression of TV communication via the invention of their Photophone. It was capable of transferring sound, but they hoped to make it work for pictures too. -
Finishing the puzzle
In 1984, German engingeer Paul Nipkow was able to solve the mystery; he worked out how to transfer multiple images through wires by using a rotating disk to move the images. -
The naming!
In 1900, the name "television" originated as it was seen at the World Fair in Paris. -
The early electronic systems
A new idea emerged; both Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing independtly suggested using cathode ray tubes to transmit images and both independtly worked on developing such things. -
First TV station
The first TV station emerged in 1928 and was called W3XK. It was owned by Charles Jenkins. -
Slowly developing
Top scientist, Vladimir Zworkin, demonstrated the first practical electronic system for both the transmission and reception of images using his new kinescope tube. John Baird opened the first TV studio, however, the image quality was poor. -
Only 200 TVs
By 1936, only approximately 200 television sets were in use, worldwide. -
Cable TV
To bring TV to rural areas, cable television was introduced in Pennsylvania in 1948. -
Colour TV
The first colour television was released in the United States in 1950, but note most homes couldn't view it as they only had black and white TV sets. In 1964, prime-time viewing in the US progressed to colour, and this gradually expanded over time. -
Increasing popularity of the TV
In the United States alone, at least 12 million television set were in use by 1951. Just 5 years earlier in 1946, a mere 6000 were in use. -
Half of America owned one
By 1955, half of all homes in the United States owned a television set. -
TV from the moon
As the first astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, the world watched at home; we could now broadcast from out-of-space. -
Colour TV
By 1972, half of the TVs in homes were now coloured not black and white. -
Video-cassette recorders
The first home video-cassette recorder was introduced by Sony, known as the 'betamax'. -
Surround sound
In 1982, Dolby surround sound for home television sets was introduced. -
1 billion TVs
By 1996, there were now 1 billion TV sets throughout the world. -
The flat-screen
Panasonic developed the first flat-screen television in 1997. It rapidly escalated to the top of the market. -
Blu-ray
Blu-ray DVDs were released in 2006. -
Switching to digital
In 2009, under the HDTV mandate, the USA made the switch to all-digital viewing. -
3D television
In 2010, 3D television sets were introduced.
