Mark Iosifovich Krivosheev (July 30, 1922 – October 16, 2018) was a Soviet and Russian engineer and academic who made pioneering contributions to the development of television technology as a head of television study groups at CCIR and

ITU-R The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is responsible for radio communications. Its role is to manage the international radio-frequenc ...

. He was a key figure in establishing Rec. 601 and

Rec. 709 ITU-R Recommendation 709, usually abbreviated Rec. 709, BT.709, or ITU-R 709, is a standard developed by the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) for image encoding and signal characteristics ...

technical standards for

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

broadcasting.

Early life and career

Krivosheev was born in 1922 in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. As a student at the

Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI) () is a Russian industry university in the field of information technology, telecommunications, and information security. History In February 1919, in addition to the existing t ...

in 1945, he participated in broadcasting the first post-war television program in Europe. In 1946, he designed a scanning unit for displaying new standard 625-line television images for the first time. After graduating in 1946, Krivosheev joined the , where he led the broadcast studio since 1947. On September 3, 1948, he broadcast the world's first

625-line 625-line (or CCIR 625/50) is a late 1940s European analog standard-definition television resolution standard. It consists of a 625-line raster, with 576 lines carrying the visible image at 25 interlaced frames per second. It was eventually ad ...

television programme.

Standardization work at ITU

Krivosheev began his decades-long involvement with the ITU's International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) in 1948. He was elected vice-chairman of CCIR Study Group 11 on Television in 1970 and became chairman in 1974, a position he held for about 30 years until 2000. As Study Group 11 Chairman, Krivosheev coordinated the development of over 150 recommendations that enabled the global implementation of digital television broadcasting. Notable achievements included ITU Recommendation 601 in 1981, which established the first digital television standard, and Recommendation 709 in the 1990s, which laid out basic parameter values for the

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

standard. Krivosheev advocated for a "global approach" to developing internationally unified television standards rather than regional or national ones.

Later career and legacy

After 2000, Krivosheev served as Honorary Chairman of the successor

Study Group 6 on Broadcasting. In 2015, he became the first Russian to receive the prestigious ITU 150 Award for his contributions over many decades. Krivosheev authored over 30 books and 90 patents related to television technology and standards. He was honored with many awards, including the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

and the French National Order of Merit. The Rec. 601 digital TV standard has been recognised with an Engineering Emmy award. Krivosheev remained actively working into his 90s. He passed away in Moscow in October 2018 at the age of 96.

Early life and career

Standardization work at ITU

Later career and legacy

References

Further reading