Philo T. Farnsworth

Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth in 1939
Born	Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-08-19)August 19, 1906 Beaver, Utah, United States
Died	March 11, 1971(1971-03-11) (aged 64) Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Resting place	Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah, United States
Nationality	American
Other names	Philo T. Farnsworth
Employer	Philco, Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, International Telephone and Telegraph
Known for	Inventor of the first fully electronic television; over 169 United States and foreign patents
Spouse(s)	Elma "Pem" Gardner
Parent(s)	Lewis Edwin Farnsworth, Serena Amanda Bastian
Relatives	Agnes Farnsworth (sister)

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television. He is perhaps best known for his 1927 invention of the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector", as well as the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. He was also the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the form of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to 1951, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, or simply "fusor", employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). Although not a practical device for generating nuclear energy, the fusor serves as a viable source of neutrons. The design of this device has been the acknowledged inspiration for other fusion approaches including the Polywell reactor concept in terms of a general approach to fusion design. Farnsworth held 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.

Philo T. Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children of Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, an LDS couple then living in a small log cabin built by Lewis's father in a place called Indian Creek near Beaver, Utah. In 1918, the family moved to a relative's 240-acre ranch near Rigby, Idaho, where Lewis supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick student in mechanical and electrical technology, repairing the troublesome generator, and upon finding a burned out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants, proceeding to rewind the armature and convert his mother's hand-powered washing machine into an electric-powered one. Philo developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with an out-of-state relative and the discovery of a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of the family’s new home, and won a $25 first prize in a pulp-magazine contest for inventing a magnetized car lock. Farnsworth was Mormon.