Introduction
Wonderful inventions have been made in science and technology recently. This advances are changing the lifestyle of millions of people all over the world. By the end of the 20th century lots of inventions have been appeared. Some of them have become so commonplace that it is difficult to imagine them as inventions. People have invented a lot of useful things to make our life more comfortable. Almost every day a new technique or product appears in the world. But we always need something more useful, more effective, more comfortable.
Important inventions were made in different countries. What are some of these inventions? Who invented them and where?
We know some facts about useful inventions which were made in the long history of mankind. Most of them have really brought us comfort and convenience. We cannot imagine our life without electric lamps, cars or telephones, television or computers. People all over the world know about talented inventors, some of them are Russians and we can be proud of their achievements.
Inventions that shook the world
| In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell, an American engineer, invented telephone.
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| In 1895 the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, patented their cinematography and
opened the world`s first cinema in Paris.
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| In 1926 John Logie Baird from Scotland invented television.
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| In 1957 Sergei Korolyev from Russia designed the fist artificial satellite.
|
The History of Television
The invention that swept the world and changed leisure habits for countless millions
was pioneered by Scottish-born electrical engineer John Logie Baird.
It had been realized for some time that light could be converted into electrical impulses,
making it possible to transmit such impulses over a distance and then reconvert them into
light.
The television as we see it and know it today was not always this way. Let’s take a brief look at the history of television and how it came into being.
Timeline of TV History
Different experiments by various people, in the field of electricity and radio, led to the development of basic technologies and ideas that laid the foundation for the invention of television.
In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.
Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system.
From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems came into existence: mechanical television and electronic
Mechanical Television History
In 1923, an American inventor called Charles Jenkins used the disk idea of Nipkow to invent the first ever practical mechanical television system. By 1931, his Radiovisor Model 100 was being sold in a complete kit as a mechanical television.
In 1926, just a little after Jenkins, a British inventor known as John Logie Baird, was the first person to have succeeded in transmitting moving pictures through the mechanical disk system started by Nipkow. He also started the first ever TV studio.
From 1926 till 1931, the mechanical television system saw many innovations.
Electronic Television History
The experiments of Swinton in 1907, with the cathode ray tube for electronic television held great potential but were not converted into reality. Finally, in 1927, Philo Taylor Farnsworth was able to invent a working model of electronic television that was based on Swinton’s ideas.
His experiments had started when he was just a little boy of 14 years. By the time he became 21, Philo had created the first electronic television system, which did away with the rotating disks and other mechanical aspects of mechanical television. Thus was born the television system which is the basis of all modern TVs.
All the early television systems were black and white, with color television being invented much later on. Since the early invention of television in the beginning of the 1900s, history has seen many firsts in the area of television.
John Logie Baird invented television
John Logie Baird was born in 1888. His father was a graduate in Arts and Divinity of Glasgow University and had moved to Helensburgh, a little town on the Firth of Clyde, to become minister in a small parish church. The boy respected his father and adorned his mother.
After schooling in Helensburgh he was accepted to study for an Associateship in Electrical Engineering at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow, from where he graduated in 1914.
John Logie Baird pioneered early television with the mechanical scanning system he developed from 1923 to the late 1930s. He is remembered today as an inventor (178 patents) with considerable insight, who was in many ways ahead of his time. Among his pioneering ideas were early versions of color television, the video disc, large screen television, stereo television, televised sports, and pay television by closed circuit.
John Logie Baird is remembered as the inventor of mechanical television, radar and fiber optics. Successfully tested in a laboratory in late 1925 and unveiled with much fanfare in London in early 1926, mechanical television technology was quickly usurped by electronic television, the basis of modern video technology. Nonetheless, Baird's achievements, including making the first trans-Atlantic television transmission, were singular and critical scientific accomplishments.
Baird was the first inventor to use Nipkow's disc successfully, creating the first television pictures in his laboratory in October 1925.
Baird is best remembered for inventing a mechanical television system. During the 1920's, John Baird and American Clarence W. Hansell patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television and facsimiles respectively.
Baird's 30 line images were the first demonstrations of television by reflected light
rather than back-lit silhouettes. John Baird based his technology on Paul Nipkow's
scanning disk idea and later developments in electronics.
In 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation adopted television service using the
electronic television technology of Marconi-EMI.
Then, in September 1939, war was declared on Germany, and television in Britain was closed down for the duration. It could have been the end of Baird’s dream.
By the end of 1940, Baird had designed a high definition colour television receiver and the following year he produced stereoscopic colour. His system of producing colour was by means of rotating colour filters. He was determined to achieve a fully electronic colour television receiver. And he did. On 16th August 1944, he demonstrated the television picture of his favourite tailor’s dummy, dressed in a pink jacket and blue trousers, to a group of journalists in his workshop in London.
Baird died in his sleep on the 14th June 1946.
Television in our life
Television, also called TV, is one of the most important means of communication. It
brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of homes. The name
«Television» comes from Greek word meaning «far» and a Latin word meaning «to
see» , so the word «tele-vision» means «to see far».
It goes without saying that television plays a very important part in people`s lives. It`s
a wonderful source of information and one of best ways to spend free time and not to feel
bored. Television viewing is by far the most popular leisure pastime. Television is a
reflection of the modern world. It gives you an opportunity to travel all over the world,
to see different countries and people, learn about their customs and traditions.
Television keeps you informed about the rest of the world. Besides it helps to escape from
everyday problems. TV set is a good friend for lonely and disabled people.
As for me I prefer watching different quizzes. That`s why my favourite TV programme is «Who wants to be a millionaire?» The programme is now hosted by Dmitry Dibrov. I think it is the perfect way to be in the known of everything. I find this programme clever and informative.
In short, television does have its good points. Many of the programme that broadcast are educational and can help with schoolwork.
Bibliography
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упражнения по английскому языку. Москва, 2004г.
2. Бережная О.А., Кубарьков Г.Л., Куриленко Ю.В.,
Темы по английскому языку для школьников,
абитуриентов и студентов. Москва,2006г.
3. Цветкова И.В. Английский язык для
школьников и поступающих в ВУЗы. Москва, 2003г
4. Интернет=ресурсы:
Appendix
TV set from the early
