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Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (1888/1889July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing
cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...
s. He played a role in the practical development of television from the early thirties, including charge storage-type tubes,
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
image tubes and the
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.


Early life and education

Vladimir Zworykin was born in
Murom Murom (, ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the west bank of the Oka River. It borders Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and is situated from the administrative center Vladimir, ...
, Russia, in 1888 or 1889, to the family of a prosperous
merchants A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
. He had a relatively calm upbringing, and he rarely saw his father except on religious holidays. He studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, under
Boris Rosing Boris Lvovich Rosing (; – 20 April 1933) was a Russian scientist and inventor of television. Biography Boris Rosing was born in Saint Petersburg into the family of a government official. His father, Lev Nikolaevich Rozing, served on the c ...
. He helped Rosing with experimental work on television in the basement of Rosing's private lab at the School of Artillery of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. They worked on the problem of "electrical telescopy," something Zworykin had never heard of before. At this time, electrical telescopy (or television as it was later called) was just a dream. Zworykin did not know that others had been studying the idea since the 1880s, or that Professor Rosing had been working on it in secret since 1902 and had made excellent progress. Rosing had filed his first patent on a television system in 1907, featuring a very early
cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...
as a receiver, and a mechanical device as a transmitter. Its demonstration in 1911, based on an improved design, was the world's first demonstration of TV of any kind. Zworykin married Tatiana Vasilieva in 1916, they had two daughters (the couple separated in the early 1930s).


Career

Zworykin graduated in 1912. He then studied X-rays under professor
Paul Langevin Paul Langevin (23 January 1872 – 19 December 1946) was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the '' Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', an anti-fascist ...
in Paris. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Zworykin was enlisted and served in the Russian Signal Corps. He then worked testing radio equipment that was being produced for the Russian Army. Zworykin left Russia for the
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in 1918 during the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
. He left through
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, travelling north on the River Ob to the
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as part of an expedition led by Russian scientist Innokenty P. Tolmachev, eventually arriving in the U.S. at the end of 1918. He returned to
Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...
, then capital of
Admiral Kolchak Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...
's government in 1919, via
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, then to the United States again on official duties from the Omsk government. These duties ended with the collapse of the
White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...
in Siberia at the death of Kolchak. Zworykin then decided to remain permanently in the United States. Once in the U.S., Zworykin found work at the Westinghouse laboratories in
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where he eventually had an opportunity to engage in television experiments. Zworykin applied for a television patent in the U.S. in 1923. He summarized the resulting invention in two patent applications. The first, entitled "Television Systems", was filed on December 29, 1923, and was followed by a second application in 1925 of essentially the same content, but with minor changes and the addition of a Paget-type
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 raster screen for color transmission and reception. He was awarded a patent for the 1925 application in 1928, and two patents for the 1923 application that was divided in 1931, although the equipment described was never successfully demonstrated. Zworykin described cathode-ray tubes as both transmitter and receiver. The operation, whose basic thrust was to ''prevent'' the emission of electrons between scansion cycles, was reminiscent of A. A. Campbell Swinton's proposal published in ''
Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' in June 1908. The demonstration given (sometime in late 1925 or early 1926) by Zworykin was far from a success with the Westinghouse management, even though it showed the possibilities inherent in a system based on the cathode-ray tube. He was told by management to "devote his time to more practical endeavours," yet continued his efforts to perfect his system. As attested by his doctoral dissertation of 1926, earning him a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from the
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
, his experiments were directed at improving the output of photoelectric cells. There were, however, limits to how far one could go along these lines, and so, in 1929, Zworykin returned to vibrating mirrors and facsimile transmission, filing patents describing these. At this time, however, he was also experimenting with an improved cathode ray receiving tube, filing a patent application for this in November 1929, and introducing the new receiver that he named the "kinescope", reading a paper two days later at a convention of the
Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...
. Having developed the prototype of the receiver by December, Zworykin met
David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian and American businessman who played an important role in the American history of radio and television. He led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of his career in ...
, who eventually hired him and put him in charge of television development for 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 ...
(RCA) at its factories and laboratories in
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. The move to the RCA's Camden laboratories occurred in the spring of 1930, and the difficult task of developing a transmitter could begin. There was an in-house evaluation in mid-1930, where the kinescope performed well (but with only 60 lines definition), and the transmitter was still of a mechanical type. A "breakthrough" would come when the Zworykin team decided to develop a new type of cathode ray transmitter, one described in the French and British patents of 1928 priority by the Hungarian inventor
Kálmán Tihanyi Kálmán Tihanyi (), or in English language technical literature often mentioned as Coloman Tihanyi or Koloman Tihanyi (28 April 1897 – 26 February 1947) was a Hungary, Hungarian physicist, electrical engineer and inventor. One of the ea ...
whom the company had approached in July 1930, after the publication of his patents in England and France. This was a curious design, one where the scanning electron beam would strike the photoelectric cell from the same side where the optical image was cast. Even more importantly, it was a system characterized by an operation based on an entirely new principle, the principle of the accumulation and storage of charges during the entire time between two scansions by the cathode-ray beam. According to Albert Abramson, Zworykin's experiments started in April 1931, and after the achievement of the first promising experimental transmitters, on October 23, 1931, it was decided that the new camera tube would be named the
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 ...
. Zworykin first presented his iconoscope to RCA in 1932. He continued work on it, and " e image iconoscope, presented in 1934, was a result of a collaboration between Zworykin and RCA's licensee
Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...
. ... In 1935 the
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started the public broadcastings using this tube and applying a 180 lines system." RCA filed an interference suit against rival television scientist
Philo Farnsworth Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971), "The father of television", was the American inventor and pioneer who was granted the first patent for the television by the United States Government. Burns, R. W. (1998), ''Televisi ...
, claiming Zworykin's 1923 patent had priority over Farnsworth's design, despite the fact it could present no evidence that Zworykin had actually produced a functioning transmitter tube before 1931. Farnsworth had lost two interference claims to Zworykin in 1928, but this time he prevailed and the
U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
rendered a decision in 1934 awarding priority of the invention of the image dissector to Farnsworth. RCA lost a subsequent appeal, but litigation over a variety of issues continued for several years with Sarnoff finally agreeing to pay Farnsworth royalties. Zworykin received a patent in 1928 for a color transmission version of his 1923 patent application; he also divided his original application in 1931, receiving a patent in 1935, while a second one was eventually issued in 1938 by the Court of Appeals on a non-Farnsworth-related interference case, and over the objection of the Patent Office.


Contribution to Development of Military Technology for World War 2

According to the book “Global Communication Since 1844” by Peter J. Hughill, Zworykin was part of a group of Russian Jewish scientists  in the 1930s who wanted their research to advance military technology with the possibility of a forthcoming war with Germany. The account, credited to British government scientis
Brian Callick
is supported by other contemporary evidence. The group, also comprising
David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian and American businessman who played an important role in the American history of radio and television. He led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of his career in ...
,
Simeon Aisenstein Simeon Aisenstein (25 January 1884, Kyiv, Kiyv, Ukraine, Russian Empire, Imperial Russia – 3 September 1962, Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom; born Семёна Моисеевича Айзенштейна, Semyon Moise'evich Aisenstein) was ...
and
Isaac Shoenberg Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1 March 1880 – 25 January 1963) was a British electronic engineer born in Belarus who was best known for his role in the history of television. He was the head of the EMI research team that developed the 405-line (Marconi ...
, knew each other well from Russia and saw possible military applications for their work on television. The group is said to have raised one million pounds sterling (about $5 million at the time) from US donors. The specific work took place at EMI-Marconi in the U.K. and resulted in Britain becoming significantly advanced in television development and able to launch a public service on 2nd November 1936. The military applications helped the development of radio-location (later named radar). In addition the design and production in quantity of television equipment and sets allowed the similar military technology (cathode ray tubes, VHF transmission and reception and wideband circuits to be advanced. A former British defence minister, Lord Orr-Ewing, referred to the work in
1979 BBC interview
and stated “that’s how we won the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
”.


Later life

Zworykin married for a second time in 1951. His wife was Katherine Polevitzky (1888–1985), a Russian-born professor of bacteriology at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
. It was the second marriage for both. The ceremony was in
Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a City (New Jersey), city situated on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the c ...
. A photographic record of his marriage and worldwide tour can be viewed online. He retired in 1954. New frontiers in
medical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...
and
biological engineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number ...
appealed to him, and he became a founder and first president of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. The Federation continues to honor outstanding research engineering with a ''Zworykin Award'', the prize being travelling funds to the award's presentation at a World Congress.


Death

Zworykin died on July 29, 1982, in
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
. His wife Katherine died on February 18, 1985.


Honors

Throughout his steady rise in rank, Zworykin remained involved in the many important developments of RCA and received several outstanding honours, including, in 1934, the
Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize The initially called Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize provided by the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award was created in 1919 in honor of Colonel Morris N. Liebmann. It was initially given to awardees who h ...
from the
Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...
. In 1941, he was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
. He was awarded the
Howard N. Potts Medal The Howard N. Potts Medal was one of The Franklin Institute Awards for science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Howard N. Potts. The first Howard N. Potts Medal was awarded in ...
from
The Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...
in 1947. He was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 1948. He was named honorary vice president of RCA in 1954. In 1966, the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, of which he was a member, awarded him the
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
for his contributions to the instruments of science, engineering, and television and for his stimulation of the application of engineering to medicine. In 1967, Zworykin received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
. He was founder-president of the International Federation for Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering, a recipient of the
Faraday Medal The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). As one of the world's most prestigious awards in engineering, it ...
from Great Britain (1965), and a member of the U.S. National Hall of Fame from 1977. He received the first
Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor The Eduard Rhein Foundation was founded in 1976 in Hamburg (Germany) by Eduard Rhein. The goal of the foundation is to promote scientific research, learning, arts, and culture. This is done in particular by granting awards for outstanding achieveme ...
from the German
Eduard Rhein Foundation The Eduard Rhein Foundation was founded in 1976 in Hamburg (Germany) by Eduard Rhein. The goal of the foundation is to promote scientific research, learning, arts, and culture. This is done in particular by granting awards for outstanding achieveme ...
in 1980. From 1952 to 1986, the IEEE made awards to worthy engineers in the name of Vladimir K. Zworykin. More recently the ''Zworykin Award'' has been bestowed by the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. The most complete list of Zworykin's awards can be found online at historyTV.net .


Legacy

Zworykin was inducted into the
New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame The New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame was established in 1987 to honor individuals and corporations in New Jersey for their inventions. Award recipients are recognized at the annual Award Banquet Dinner. The New Jersey Inventors Hall of ...
and the
National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...
. Additionally,
Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...
in
Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...
has named a street on its campus after Zworykin. In 1995
University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...
published ''Zworykin, Pioneer of Television'' by Albert Abramson. In 2010
Leonid Parfyonov Leonid Gennadyevich Parfyonov (, born January 26, 1960) is a Russian journalist, news presenter, TV producer and author of many documentary TV shows. Parfyonov is known for his studio work and productions for the NTV (of which he was Producer Ge ...
produced a documentary film "Zvorykin-Muromets" about Zworykin. Zworykin is listed in the Russian-American Chamber of Fame of
Congress of Russian Americans The Congress of Russian Americans is a non-governmental organization in the United States representing Russian-Americans and Russians. The CRA's stated purposes include preserving Russian culture in the United States, protecting the rights of Rus ...
, which is dedicated to Russian immigrants who made outstanding contributions to American science or culture.


See also

* List of people known as "father" or "mother" of something *
John Logie Baird John Logie Baird (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first mechanical Mechanical television, television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the fi ...
* Kalman Tihanyi


Notes


References


Further reading

*Albert Abramson (1987) ''The History of Television 1880 to 1941'', Jefferson: McFarland. *Albert Abramson (2003)''Die Geschichte des Fernsehens 1880 bis 1941'', München, Fink Verlag. *Albert Abramson (1995) ''Zworykin, Pioneer of Television'', University of Illinois Press, Champaign. *Fritz Schröter (1932) ''Handbuch der Bildtelegraphie und des Fernsehens'', Berlin: Julius Springer. *Fritz Schröter (1937) ''Fernsehen. Die neueste Entwicklung insbesondere der deutschen Fernsehtechnik'', Berlin: Julius Springer. *Walter Bruch (1967) ''Kleine geschichte des deutschen Fernsehens'', Berlin: Hande & Spender.
The Farnsworth Invention: Fact -v- Fiction
* *

including photographs and bibliography, compiled by Prof. Eugenii Katz of The Hebrew University. *
(Russian) Vasin A.N., Velembovskaya K.M. Pages of the Biography of the "Father of TV" V.K. Zworykin (1888-1982) magazine "Modern and Contemporary History", Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, 2009,№5



External links

*
Vladimir K. Zworykin papers
at
Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Po ...
;Videos
Zworykin interviewed in ''The Story of Television'' in the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zworykin, Vladimir 1880s births 1982 deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Murom White Russian emigrants to the United States Inventors from the Russian Empire Electrical engineers from the Russian Empire 20th-century American inventors American electrical engineers Television pioneers National Medal of Science laureates IEEE Medal of Honor recipients IEEE Edison Medal recipients History of television Discovery and invention controversies Swanson School of Engineering alumni Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology alumni Howard N. Potts Medal recipients IEEE Lamme Medal recipients People from Princeton, New Jersey Members of the American Philosophical Society