Invention of television

Experiments in the electrical transmission of pictures date back as far as the 1840s, but it was the 1920s that saw a series of rapid advances.

In Australia, Scotsman John Logie Baird is considered the inventor of television, but in reality its invention was the work of a number of scientists and innovators; Baird of course, but also Americans Philo Farnsworth and Charles Jenkins, the industrious Australian Henry Sutton, Russian Vladimir Zworykin, and others in Europe and Japan.

At first there were two competing models for delivering the technology; mechanical and electronic.

Baird and Jenkins were the main developers of the mechanical model, the early leader, but it was the electronic model progressed by Farnsworth and Zworykin (working for RCA) that soon became a clear leader in picture quality, and by the late 1930s, the sole technology pursued.

Television stations began broadcasting in the United States as early as 1928, and although the take-up was slow at first, by 1953 55% of American households had a television. In Britain, the BBC commenced regular, if problem-plagued, broadcasts in 1936 and after a wartime hiatus resumed in earnest.

Australia's first television broadcast took place in Melbourne in 1929 and the following decades were replete with such demonstrations. Whilst television continued its spread around the globe, progress was slow in Australia until a Royal Commission was formed in 1953 to find a way forward.

The chosen model was a mix of commercial and state broadcasters, with Melbourne and Sydney stations to launch in 1956 and other regions to follow.

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