Georges Valensi

M. Georges Valensi (1889–1980) was a French telecommunications engineer who, in 1938, invented and patented a method of transmitting color images via luma and chrominance so that they could be received on both color and black & white television sets. Rival colour television methods, which had been in development since the 1920s, were incompatible with monochrome televisions.

Valensi was an official of CCIF serving first as Secretary-General (1923–1948) and then as Director (1949–1956).

All current widely deployed colour television standards – NTSC, SÉCAM, PAL and today's digital standards – implement his idea of transmitting a signal composed of separate luminance and chrominance. Because his invention pre-dated the actual introduction of colour television by so long, his patent was exceptionally extended to 1971.

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