Customer Reviews

Philo T Farnsworth

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When Philo T. Farnsworth was fifteen, and plowing a field, he thougth up the concept that became electronic television. After one year of college, Farnsworth started repairing radio and then got support in the 1920s to develop electronic television. The only competition he faced was RCA and RCA tried to stop him. What followed were years of intense work and bitter frustrations. But in the end, Fransworth was proven to be the creator of television. Although forgotten today, this biography brings back to the public the importance of Philo T. Farnsworth and how the technology he developed back in the 1920s is till used today. An excellent read.

While Godfrey has compiled, and reasonably well organized a great deal of information, his written presentation lacks style and readibility. The quality of writing is what one might expect from a newly-minted PhD attempting to gain recognition by publishing his/her dissertaion. I could not recommend this book to anyone looking for a general Farnsworth biography. For the occasional advanced undergraduate or graduate student studying the history of technology, I would recommend it for its reference value.

but it doesn't change the truth. Unless you believe the teacher lied (and I have never heard that suggested or demonstrated) you have no basis for an assumption that Farnsworth did not invent the essential element of electronic tv. And Sarnoff, as well as Zworykin, are known to have (to be polite) exaggerated their deeds and discoveries.

The book is a lie. Farnsworth did not invent television. Television was around before Farnsworth was born. Other inventors' patents were used by RCA, notably Kalman Tihanyi, who patented the iconoscope in 1928.