NationMaster - Encyclopedia: John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird (August 13, 1888 – June 14, 1946) was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system. Although Baird's electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems (such as those of Vladimir Zworykin and Philo Farnsworth), his early successes demonstrating working television broadcasts and his colour and cinema television work earn him a prominent place in television's invention. Image File history File linksMetadata John_Logie_Baird,_Bust. ... Image File history File linksMetadata John_Logie_Baird,_Bust. ... For the suburb of Wollongong in Australia, see Helensburgh, New South Wales. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the country. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In engineering, electromechanics combines electromagnetism and mechanics. ... Vladimir Zworykin, 1929, holding his kinescope Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin (Russian: ) (July 30, 1889 - July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. ... Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 â€“ March 11, 1971) was an American inventor. ... Television Broadcasts Limited (HKSE: 0511), commonly known as TVB, is the first over-the-air commercial television station in Hong Kong. ... A modern 82 (208 cm) LCD television. ...

Baird was born in Helensburgh, Argyll, Scotland. He was educated at Larchfield School (now part of Lomond School), Helensburgh; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (which later became the University of Strathclyde); and the University of Glasgow. His degree course was interrupted by World War I and he never returned to graduate. For the suburb of Wollongong in Australia, see Helensburgh, New South Wales. ... Argyll, archaically Argyle (Airthir-Ghaidheal in Gaelic, translated as [the] East Gael, or [the] East Irish), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a traditional county of Scotland. ... This article is about the country. ... The University of Strathclyde (Scottish Gaelic: ) is a university in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Master of Theology (MTh) Dentistry Nursing Affiliations Russell Group Universitas 21 Website http://www. ... â€œThe Great War â€ redirects here. ...

Television experiments

Although the development of television was the result of work by many inventors, Baird is one of its foremost pioneers and made major advances in the field. He is generally credited with being the first person to produce a live, moving television image in halftones by reflected light. Baird achieved this, where other inventors had failed, by obtaining a better photoelectric cell and improving the signal conditioning from the photocell and the video amplifier. Image File history File links John_Logie_Baird,_Apparatus. ... Image File history File links John_Logie_Baird,_Apparatus. ... Image File history File links John_Logie_Baird,_1st_Image. ... Image File history File links John_Logie_Baird,_1st_Image. ... Left: halftone spots. ... Imagine feeding the output of a temperature sensor, which is in millivolts, to an Analog-to-digital converter to be processed. ...

In his first attempts to develop a working television system, Baird experimented with the Nipkow disk, and in February 1924 demonstrated to the Radio Times that a semi-mechanical analogue television system was possible by transmitting moving silhouette images, such as his fingers wiggling, in his London laboratory. Baird gave the first public demonstration of moving silhouette images by television at Selfridges department store in London in a three-week series of demonstrations beginning on March 25, 1925. A Nipkow disk is a mechanical, geometrically operating image scanning device (by itself, it performs neither image acquisition or reproduction), invented by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, which was primarily used as a fundamental component in mechanical television. ... Analog television encodes picture information by varying the voltages and/or frequency of the signal. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Selfridges in Birmingham. ...

On October 2, 1925 Baird successfully transmitted in his laboratory the first television picture with halftones: the head of a ventriloquist's dummy nicknamed "Stooky Bill" in a 30-line vertically scanned image, at five pictures a second.^[1] Baird went downstairs and fetched an office worker, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton, to see what a human face would look like, and Taynton became the first person to be televised in full tonal range.^[2] is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Left: halftone spots. ... Stooky Bill was the name given to the head of a ventriloquist dummy that John Logie Baird used in his early experiments to transmit a televised image between rooms in his laboratory at 22 Frith Street London. ...

First public demonstrations

On January 26, 1926 Baird repeated the transmission for members of the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times in his laboratory at 22 Frith Street in the Soho district of London. By this time he had improved the scan rate to 12.5 pictures a second. It was the world's first demonstration of a true television system, one that could broadcast live moving images with tone graduation. is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Royal Institution of Great Britain was set up in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, including Henry Cavendish and its first president George Finch, the 9th Earl of Winchilsea, for diffusing the knowledge, and facilitating the general introduction, of useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and for... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club at 47 Frith Street. ... Cast-iron architecture in Greene Street SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...

He demonstrated the world's first colour transmission on July 3, 1928, using scanning discs at the transmitting and receiving ends with three spirals of apertures, each spiral with a filter of a different primary colour; and three light sources at the receiving end, with a commutator to alternate their illumination. That same year he also demonstrated stereoscopic television. In 1932, he was the first to demonstrate ultra-short wave transmission. is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Broadcasting

In 1927, Baird transmitted a long-distance television signal over 438 miles of telephone line between London and Glasgow; Baird transmitted the world's first long-distance television pictures to the Central Hotel at Glasgow Central Station.^[3] He then set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd, which in 1928 made the first transatlantic television transmission, from London to Hartsdale, New York, and the first television programme for the BBC. He televised the first live transmission of the Epsom Derby in 1931. He demonstrated a theatre television system, with a screen two feet by five feet, in 1930 at the London Coliseum, Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm.^[4] By 1939 he had improved his theatre projection system to televise a boxing match on a screen 15 ft by 12 ft (4.6 m by 3.7 m). For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... Hartsdale is an unincorporated census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York. ... This article is about the state. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Epsom Derby, ThÃ©odore GÃ©ricault, 1821. ... The London Coliseum The Coliseum Theatre is one of Londons largest and best equipped theatres, opening in 1904. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... For other uses, see Stockholm (disambiguation). ...

From 1929 to 1932, the BBC transmitters were used to broadcast television programmes using the 30-line Baird system, and from 1932-35, the BBC also produced the programmes in their own studio at 16 Portland Place. In November 1936, the BBC began alternating Baird 240-line transmissions with EMI's electronic scanning system which had recently been improved to 405-lines after a merger with Marconi. The BBC ceased broadcasts with the Baird system in February 1937, due mostly to the immobility of the Baird system's cameras.

Baird's television systems were replaced by the electronic television system developed by the newly-formed company EMI-Marconi under Isaac Shoenberg, which had access to patents developed by Vladimir Zworykin and RCA. Similarly, Philo T. Farnsworth's electronic "Image Dissector" camera was available to Baird's company via a patent-sharing agreement. However, the Image Dissector camera was found to be lacking in light sensitivity, requiring excessive levels of illumination. The Marconi Company Ltd. ... Sir Isaac Shoenberg Sir Isaac Shoenberg (March 1, 1880 - January 25, 1963) was an electronic engineer born in Russia who was best known for his role in history of televesion. ... Vladimir Zworykin, 1929, holding his kinescope Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin (Russian: ) (July 30, 1889 - July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. ... RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Baird made many contributions to the field of electronic television after mechanical systems had taken a back seat. In 1939, he showed colour television using a cathode ray tube in front of which revolved a disc fitted with colour filters, a method taken up by CBS and RCA in the United States. On August 16, 1944 he gave the world's first demonstration of a fully electronic colour television display. His 600-line colour system used triple interlacing, using six scans to build each picture.^[5] In 1943, the Hankey Committee was appointed to oversee the resumption of television broadcasts after the war. Baird persuaded them to make plans to adopt his proposed 1000-line Telechrome electronic colour system as the new post-war broadcast standard. The picture quality on this system would have been comparable to today's HDTV. The Hankey Committee's plan lost all momentum partly due to the challenges of post-war reconstruction. The monochrome 405-line standard remained in place until 1985 in some areas, and it was three decades until the introduction of the 625-line system in 1964 and (PAL) colour in 1967. A schematic diagram of a Crookes tube apparatus. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Interlacing is a method of displaying images on a raster-scanned display device, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT). ... For other uses, see PAL (disambiguation). ...

Other inventions

Some of Baird's early inventions were not fully successful. In his twenties he tried to create diamonds by heating graphite and shorted out Glasgow's electricity supply. Not long afterwards Baird perfected a glass razor; it was completely rust-resistant, but it shattered. Inspired by pneumatic tires he had a go at pneumatic shoes, but his prototype contained semi-inflated balloons which burst. He also invented a thermal undersock (the Baird undersock), which was actually moderately successful. Baird suffered from cold feet, and after a number of trials, he found that an extra layer of cotton inside the sock provided warmth.^[6] This article is about the gemstone. ... For other uses, see Graphite (disambiguation). ...

Baird's numerous other developments demonstrated his particular talent at invention. He was a visionary and began to dabble with electricity. In 1928, he developed an early video recording device, which he dubbed Phonovision. The system consisted of a Phonodisc, which was a 78rpm record that could play a 30-line video signal. His other developments were in fiber-optics, radio direction finding, infrared night viewing and radar. There is discussion about his exact contribution to the development of radar, for his wartime defence projects have never been officially acknowledged by the British government. According to Malcolm Baird, his son, what is known is that in 1926 Baird filed a patent for a device that formed images from reflected radio waves, a device remarkably similar to radar, and that he was in correspondence with the British government at the time. Much of the information regarding Baird's work in this area is just beginning to emerge. For other uses, see Video (disambiguation). ... Phonovision, an experimental process for recording a television signal on phonograph records, was developed in the late 1920s in England by British television pioneer John Logie Baird. ... Optical fibers An optical fiber (or fibre) is a glass or plastic fiber designed to guide light along its length. ... For other uses, see Infrared (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ...

He built what was to become the world's first working television set by purchasing an old hatbox and a pair of scissors, some darning needles, a few bicycle light lenses, a used tea chest, and a great deal of sealing wax and glue.^[6]

Last years

From December 1944 until his death two years later, Baird lived at a house in Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, immediately north of the station itself.^[7] Baird died in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England on June 14, 1946 after a stroke in February of that year. Bexhill-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, in the south of England. ... This article refers to the historic county in England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Legacy

TV now spans the globe and is the world's most popular form of entertainment, offering multiple channels covering all sorts of subjects, though it has been suggested that Baird might not have altogether approved.

In the Channel 5 programme Don't Get Me Started, aired on August 29, 2006, presenter Selina Scott complained about the falling standards of British TV with such shows as Big Brother and other "reality" programmes. Malcolm Baird said in an interview that had his father known how TV would turn out in sixty years time, he would have dropped it and turned to other inventions. Five, launched in 1997, is the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue television channel to launch in the United Kingdom. ... is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Selina Scott (right) with Diana, Princess of Wales (Private Eye, 31 December 1982) Selina Scott (b. ... Big Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4. ...

The Australian Television awards are named the Logies in his honour. The Gold Logie Award The Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. ...

It was announced by producer Michael Glazer Morris that plans are in development for a film based on John Logie Baird's invention of the television. It is rumoured that Baird will be played by Martin Freeman or possibly an older actor such as John Hurt. It is also believed that Chuck Norris will have a cameo role as a contemporary American inventor. Martin Freeman (born September 8, 1971) is an English actor. ... For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt. ... Carlos Ray Chuck Norris (born on 10 March 1940) is an American martial artist, action star, Hollywood actor, and recently, an internet phenomenon, who is best known for playing Cordell Walker on Walker, Texas Ranger. ...

Notes

^ R. W. Burns, Television: An International History of the Formative Years, p. 264.
^ Donald F. McLean, Restoring Baird's Image, p. 37. Looking for publicity, Baird visited the Daily Express newspaper to promote his invention. The news editor was terrified: he was quoted by one of his staff as saying: "For God's sake, go down to reception and get rid of a lunatic who's down there. He says he's got a machine for seeing by wireless! Watch him — he may have a razor on him."[1]
^ Interview with Paul Lyons, Historian and Control and Information Officer at Glasgow Central Station
^ J.L. Baird, Television in 1932.
^ The World's First High Definition Colour Television System. McLean, p. 196.
^ ^a ^b American Media History, Fellow, p. 278
^ Named "Baird Court", Rother District Council gave permission for this property to be demolished and the land used for a modern block of flats in 2006, despite the efforts of many local residents who believed that this property should be listed and preserved due to its historical importance.

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