Philo Farnsworth Television Tubes Collection
State History MS C 445
Browse photos of the collection
Handiwork of a genius
Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, was born in Beaver, Utah, in 1906. While a young teenager, he developed a theory for the electronic transmission of images. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1925, then in 1927 he demonstrated the first working model of a television system.
His invention, the "image dissector" tube, divided an image into particles that, when transmitted, could be restored to form a replica of the original image. Over the next several years, the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation continued to create and perfect cathode ray tubes.
After winning a patent dispute with RCA, Farnsworth held the patents for the technology from which commercial television was developed. Farnsworth died in 1971.
The collection
State History acquired this collection of Farnsworth's hand-blown cathode ray tubes from the Hansen Planetarium. The photos are not yet labeled, but we are working to find information on them and welcome any contributions of knowledge! Contact us.