Father of Television

In 1918, a young man wandered through an abandoned factory in Yekaterinburg, carefully studying the area and collecting seemingly useless radio parts. He was putting his finds in his pocket and was about to leave when he was stopped by a squad of Chekists. His explanations that he was just collecting parts for electronic equipment did not impress them. He faced execution as a looter, but soon Yekaterinburg was unexpectedly liberated by Kolchak's troops, and the young man was released. This young man was the future creator of television, Vladimir Zworykin.

While studying at the Technological Institute, Zworykin participated in the first experiments in the field of 'television,' conducting experiments with live image transmission. Perhaps television could have originated in the Russian Empire, but World War I began, and Zworykin, as a skilled technical specialist, was sent to the signal troops.

He did not accept the October Revolution and later emigrated to the USA, where he continued to work on image transmission over distances. Due to his poor English, he was denied support for the development of unique equipment, but Zworykin did not despair and continued his experiments independently. In 1923, he filed a patent application for television, and since then, the technology for transmitting video images began to rapidly develop worldwide. In 1929, Zworykin improved electronics and invented the kinescope, and later developed a method for splitting the light beam into blue, red, and green colors, which made color television possible. In addition, the talented engineer invented night vision devices and television-guided bombs.

Zworykin holds more than 120 patents for various inventions. He received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science from President Lyndon Johnson in 1967. In Russia, the legendary scientist was only remembered in the 21st century, while in the West, his developments were already actively used.