Werner Flechsig (8 June 1900 - 12 October 1981) was a German physicist and television pioneer.

Life

Werner Flechsig was born on 8 June 1900, in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany. He began studying mathematics and physics at the Technical University of Hanover. He continued his education at the

Georg August University of Göttingen Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg "Spiders Georg" is an Internet meme that began circulating on the mic ...

. There, Flechsig assisted Robert Wichard Pohl. In 1925, Flechsig completed his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

with the dissertation "Science of Photoelectric Primary Current in Crystals." In this document, Flechsig dealt with hot cathodes and

photocells A photoresistor (also known as a light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-conductive cell) is a passive component that decreases in resistance as a result of increasing luminosity (light) on its sensitive surface, in other words, it exhibits phot ...

. He also considered the work of Pohl assistant Bernhard Gudden. Flechsig became an employee of Fernseh-AG in Berlin, where he developed TV camera tubes. In 1936, he made the

orthicon Video camera tubes are devices based on the cathode-ray tube that were used in television cameras to capture television images, prior to the introduction of charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors in the 1980s. Several different types of tubes ...

technology practical. At the

Olympic summer games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, orthicon camera tubes supplanted the earlier

iconoscope The iconoscope (from the Greek Language, Greek: ''εἰκών'' "image" and ''σκοπεῖν'' "to look, to see") was the first practical video camera tube to be used in early television cameras. The iconoscope produced a much stronger signal tha ...

tubes. In 1937, the

Internationale Funkausstellung The IFA ( ), or Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (International radio exhibition Berlin, a.k.a. 'Berlin Radio Show'), is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany. Between 1924 and 1939 it was an annual event, but from 1950 it w ...

of the Reichspost Research Institute displayed a color television method. (The Internationale Funkausstellung is the International Radio Exposition.) The new color television method used two primary colors. The process failed to produce satisfactory pictures. Members of the organization discussed developing a more accurate method to produce a full-color display: Additive color mixing with three primary colors. Flechsig invented the principle of color picture generation with shadow-mask picture tubes., He registered his shadow-mask process in July 1938 as a German Reichspatent. The patent title was "Cathode Ray Tube for the Development of Multicolored Pictures on a Fluorescent Screen." An exhibit at the 1939 Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin displayed a prototype of Flechsig's color television receiver.Wikipedia, "Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin," 2018, access on 22 May 2020. The war put an end to technical implementation of Flechsig's shadow mask picture tube. The

Radio Corporation of America RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

produced the first commercial realization in 1949. Flechsig was an honorary member of the Television and Cinema Engineering Society. Werner Flechsig died on 12 October 1981, in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

Writings

* "''Science of Photoelectric Primary Current in Crystals''," 1926, dissertation. * "''About the Saturation of Photoelectric Primary Current in Crystals''," 1928. * "''Cathode Ray Tube for Development of Multicolored Pictures on a Fluorescent Screen''," 1938, Reichspatent 736,575.

Bibliography

* ''History of Electronic Entertainment'', David L. Morton, 1999. * ''Physical Sheets'' 37, No. 5, 1981. * Andreas Fickers: "''Politics of Grandeur" versus "Made in Germany." Political Cultural History of Technology, Using the Example of the PAL-SECAM Controversy.'' Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, .

Footnotes

External links

Werner Flechsig: First Practical Color CRT, 193

Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin, "History" section (IFA) IFA Berlin#History The story of the shadow mask picture tube

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flechsig, Werner 20th-century German inventors 1900 births Scientists from Cologne 1981 deaths 20th-century German physicists Leibniz University Hannover alumni University of Göttingen alumni