Vladimir Zworykin
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin ( - Vladimir Koz'mich Zvorykin) (July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television
technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode ray tubes. He played a role in the practical development of television from the early thirties, including charge storage-type tubes, infrared
image tubes and the electron microscope
.
, Russia
, in 1888, on July 29 (old style July 17), to the family of a prosperous merchant. He had a relatively calm upbringing, rarely seeing his father except on religious holidays. He studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, under Boris Rosing
. According to recently discovered accumulated personal correspondence of Zworykin, he helped Boris Rosing with experimental work on television in the basement of Rosing's private lab at the School of Artillery of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Rosing had filed his first patent on a television system in 1907, featuring a very early cathode ray tube as a receiver, and a mechanical device as a transmitter. Its demonstration in 1911, based on an improved design, was among the first demonstrations of TV of any kind.
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Although most biographies maintain that Zworykin graduated in 1912 and, thereafter, studied X-rays under Professor Paul Langevin
in Paris, in the above referenced correspondence Zworykin gives the dates of having studied with Rosing as between 1910 and 1914. In any case, during World War I
, Zworykin was enlisted and served in the Russian Signal Corps, then succeeded in getting a job working for Russian Marconi, testing radio equipment that was being produced for the Russian Army. Zworykin decided to leave Russia for the United States
in 1918, during the Russian Civil War
. He left through Siberia
, travelling north on the River Ob to the Arctic Ocean
as part of an expedition led by Russian scientist Innokenty P. Tolmachev, eventually arriving in the US at the end of 1918. He returned to Omsk
, then capital of Admiral Kolchak
's government in 1919, via Vladivostok
, then to the United States again on official duties from the Omsk government
. These duties ended with the collapse of the White movement
in Siberia at the death of Aleksandr Kolchak
. Zworykin decided, this time, to remain permanently in the US.
Once in the U.S., Zworykin found work at the Westinghouse
laboratories in Pittsburgh
, where he eventually had an opportunity to engage in television experiments. 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 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
in June 1908. This would result in the television signal being derived from the modest number of electrons released at the instant the cathode ray swept over an image point.
The demonstration given by Zworykin sometime in late 1925 or early 1926 — not in 1923, as popular accounts would have it — was far from a success with the Westinghouse management, even though it showed the possibilities inherent in a system based on the Braun tube. Although he was told by management to "devote his time to more practical endeavours", Zworykin continued his efforts to perfect his system. As attested to by his own writing, including his doctoral dissertation of 1926, earning him a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh
, 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 "Kinescope", reading a paper two days later at a convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers
.
Having developed the prototype of the receiver by December, Zworykin met David Sarnoff
, who eventually hired him and put him in charge of television development for RCA at their newly established laboratories in Camden, New Jersey
.
The move to the 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 80 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 Kalman Tihanyi
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 Iconoscope
. The system was ready to be launched at the end of 1934, a contract had of course been signed with the Hungarian inventor for the purchase of his patents. In early 1935, the new tube was introduced in Germany. It was soon developed there, with some improvements, and was successfully used at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games as one of several cameras, including Philo Farnsworth
's Image Dissector
, for film transmission only, broadcasting the games to some two-hundred public theaters.
Although the tube went through a number of adjustments and improvements, it continued to be called by the generic name of Iconoscope.
The developments in England, by the British firm Marconi/EMI
, followed the original charge storage design under a patent exchange. This electronic system was officially adopted by the BBC
whose experimental public broadcasts began in England in November 1936 and initially included the Baird
-system. The British electronic system featured 405 scanning lines, while German television adopted 441 line
scanning and so did RCA following the initial (1934) 375 line definition.
. It was the second marriage for both. The ceremony was in Burlington, New Jersey
. He retired in 1954.
But new frontiers in medical engineering and biological engineering
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.
.
He was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal
from The Franklin Institute in 1947.
He received the first Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor from the German Eduard Rhein Foundation 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.
; and the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Additionally, Tektronix
in Beaverton, Oregon
has named a street on their campus after Zworykin.
Albert Abramson wrote the definitive biography on Zworykin in 1995.
- Vladimir Zworykin on his feelings about his children watching television.
"The switch. The switch to turn the damn thing off."
- Vladimir Zworykin on his favorite thing on television.
Video:
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode ray tubes. He played a role in the practical development of television from the early thirties, including charge storage-type tubes, infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
image tubes and the electron microscope
Electron microscope
An electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a beam of electrons to illuminate the specimen and produce a magnified image. Electron microscopes have a greater resolving power than a light-powered optical microscope, because electrons have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than...
.
Biography
Zworykin was born in MuromMurom
Murom is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of Oka River. Population: -History:In the 9th century CE, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of the Finno-Ugric people called Muromians. The Russian Primary Chronicle...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, in 1888, on July 29 (old style July 17), to the family of a prosperous merchant. He had a relatively calm upbringing, rarely seeing his father except on religious holidays. He studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, under Boris Rosing
Boris Rosing
Boris Lvovich Rosing was a Russian scientist and inventor in the field of television.Born to a family of Swedish descent, Rosing first envisioned a Television system using the CRT on the receiving side in 1907. Rosing filed a patent application in Germany on November 26, 1907 and—on the improved...
. According to recently discovered accumulated personal correspondence of Zworykin, he helped Boris Rosing with experimental work on television in the basement of Rosing's private lab at the School of Artillery of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Rosing had filed his first patent on a television system in 1907, featuring a very early cathode ray tube as a receiver, and a mechanical device as a transmitter. Its demonstration in 1911, based on an improved design, was among the first demonstrations of TV of any kind.
Although most biographies maintain that Zworykin graduated in 1912 and, thereafter, studied X-rays under Professor Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin was a prominent 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 antifascist organization created in the wake of the 6 February 1934 far right riots...
in Paris, in the above referenced correspondence Zworykin gives the dates of having studied with Rosing as between 1910 and 1914. In any case, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Zworykin was enlisted and served in the Russian Signal Corps, then succeeded in getting a job working for Russian Marconi, testing radio equipment that was being produced for the Russian Army. Zworykin decided to leave Russia for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1918, during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. He left through Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, travelling north on the River Ob to the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
as part of an expedition led by Russian scientist Innokenty P. Tolmachev, eventually arriving in the US at the end of 1918. He returned to Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
, then capital of Admiral Kolchak
Aleksandr Kolchak
Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...
's government in 1919, via Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, then to the United States again on official duties from the Omsk government
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
. These duties ended with the collapse of the White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
in Siberia at the death of Aleksandr Kolchak
Aleksandr Kolchak
Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...
. Zworykin decided, this time, to remain permanently in the US.
Once in the U.S., Zworykin found work at the Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric (1886)
Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
laboratories in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, where he eventually had an opportunity to engage in television experiments. 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 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.
Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton
Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton, FRS was a Scottish consulting electrical engineer. He described an electronic method of producing television in a 1908 letter to Nature.-Biography:...
's proposal published in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
in June 1908. This would result in the television signal being derived from the modest number of electrons released at the instant the cathode ray swept over an image point.
The demonstration given by Zworykin sometime in late 1925 or early 1926 — not in 1923, as popular accounts would have it — was far from a success with the Westinghouse management, even though it showed the possibilities inherent in a system based on the Braun tube. Although he was told by management to "devote his time to more practical endeavours", Zworykin continued his efforts to perfect his system. As attested to by his own writing, including his doctoral dissertation of 1926, earning him a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, 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 "Kinescope", reading a paper two days later at a convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers
Institute of Radio Engineers
The Institute of Radio Engineers was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .-Founding:Following several attempts to form a...
.
Having developed the prototype of the receiver by December, Zworykin met David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff was an American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his...
, who eventually hired him and put him in charge of television development for RCA at their newly established laboratories in Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
.
The move to the 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 80 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 Kalman Tihanyi
Kálmán Tihanyi
Kálmán Tihanyi , was a Hungarian physicist, electrical engineer and inventor. One of the early pioneers of electronic television, he made significant contributions to the development of cathode ray tubes , which were bought and further developed by the Radio Corporation of America , and German...
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 Iconoscope
Iconoscope
The Iconoscope was the name given to an early television camera tube in which a beam of high-velocity electrons scans a mosaic of photoemissive isolated granules...
. The system was ready to be launched at the end of 1934, a contract had of course been signed with the Hungarian inventor for the purchase of his patents. In early 1935, the new tube was introduced in Germany. It was soon developed there, with some improvements, and was successfully used at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games as one of several cameras, including Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device , the "image...
's Image Dissector
Image dissector
An image dissector, also called a dissector tube, is a video camera tube in which photocathode emissions create an "electron image" which is then scanned to produce an electrical signal representing the visual image...
, for film transmission only, broadcasting the games to some two-hundred public theaters.
Although the tube went through a number of adjustments and improvements, it continued to be called by the generic name of Iconoscope.
The developments in England, by the British firm Marconi/EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, followed the original charge storage design under a patent exchange. This electronic system was officially adopted by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
whose experimental public broadcasts began in England in November 1936 and initially included the Baird
John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...
-system. The British electronic system featured 405 scanning lines, while German television adopted 441 line
441 lines
441 lines, or 383i if named using modern standard, is an early electronic television system. It was used with 50 interlaced frames per second in France and Germany, where it was an improvement over the previous 180 lines system...
scanning and so did RCA following the initial (1934) 375 line definition.
Second marriage and calling
Zworykin married for a second time in 1951. His wife was Katherine Polevitzky, a Russian-born professor of bacteriology at the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. It was the second marriage for both. The ceremony was in Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920....
. He retired in 1954.
But new frontiers in medical engineering and biological engineering
Biological engineering
Biological engineering, biotechnological engineering or bioengineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology to solve problems in life sciences, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional...
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.
Honors
Throughout his steady rise in rank, he remained involved in the many important developments of the company and received several outstanding honours, including, in 1934, the Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize from the Institute of Radio EngineersInstitute of Radio Engineers
The Institute of Radio Engineers was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .-Founding:Following several attempts to form a...
.
He was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal
Howard N. Potts Medal
The Howard N. Potts Medal was a science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.Also see The Franklin Institute Awards.-Laureates:Following people received the Howard N. Potts Medal:...
from The Franklin Institute in 1947.
He received the first Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor from the German Eduard Rhein Foundation 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.
Legacy
He was inducted into the New Jersey Inventor's Hall of FameNew 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 invention contributions. Award recipients are recognized at the annual Award Banquet Dinner...
; and the National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging invention and creativity through the administration of its programs. The Hall of Fame honors the men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human,...
Additionally, Tektronix
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc. is an American company best known for its test and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. In November 2007, Tektronix became a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation....
in Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley.As of the 2010 census, the population is 90,267. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city...
has named a street on their campus after Zworykin.
Albert Abramson wrote the definitive biography on Zworykin in 1995.
Quote
"I hate what they've done to my child...I would never let my own children watch it."- Vladimir Zworykin on his feelings about his children watching television.
"The switch. The switch to turn the damn thing off."
- Vladimir Zworykin on his favorite thing on television.
See also
- List of people known as "father" or "mother" of something
- Philo FarnsworthPhilo FarnsworthPhilo Taylor Farnsworth was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device , the "image...
- John Logie BairdJohn Logie BairdJohn Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...
- Kalman TihanyiKálmán TihanyiKálmán Tihanyi , was a Hungarian physicist, electrical engineer and inventor. One of the early pioneers of electronic television, he made significant contributions to the development of cathode ray tubes , which were bought and further developed by the Radio Corporation of America , and German...
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 }}}}
- Compilation of biographies of Vladimir Zworykin- including photographs and bibliography, compiled by Prof. Eugenii Katz of The Hebrew University.
- Recipients of the IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award
- (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
- Awards of Vladimir K. Zworykin
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