A D V E N T U R E S   in   C Y B E R S O U N D

The development of electronic methods began in 1897 when the German Karl Braun produced the first cathode ray tube, the ancestor of the picture tube.

In 1907 the Russian Boris Rosing suggested the use of Braun's tube to reproduce television images. Using a rotating mirror drum for scanning, Rosing actually transmitted crude geometrical shapes but was unable to reproduce halftone images.

In 1908 the Scotsman A. A. Campbell-Swinton proposed that the image be stored in the form of electric charge in a camera tube and reproduced on a picture tube, the essential features of today's system.

The crude techniques of that day did not permit the system to be realized in practice, and not until 1923 did the American Vladimir Zworykin, who had studied in Russia under Rosing, apply for a patent for a camera tube (iconoscope) that used a stored-charge image.

Source: The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia

Back to the Top | Scientists and Engineers N - Z | Quit | eMail: Dr Russell Naughton