If I were to give you a quick quiz on who the inventors of the light bulb or the telephone are, I’m sure you would pass with flying colors. But if I asked you to name the inventor of another commonly used gadget, the television, would you be able to name its inventor?
Would you believe it that the inventor’s high school science teacher saved the day when RCA, one of the largest producers of televisions, tried to claim that their scientist was the actual inventor of television?
This is the power of a teacher; to listen, inspire, prepare, motivate, and instruct the students he or she has been entrusted with. I loved my years as a teacher of language arts in Johnston. There is something incredible when you see “the light turn on” for a student when a new concept is taught or introduced. Watching skills and abilities sharpen and blossom is an amazing experience as you realize you are just an instrument in helping a student achieve their potential.
My daughters have benefited from incredible teachers both here in Mount Vernon and in the school districts we were a part of in Texas, Washington and Alaska. They knew not to give their teachers grief because, as a former teacher myself, I would not tolerate my daughters being disruptive in class. They have been challenged and motivated by assignments and discussions and they have felt valued because of their presence and participation in class.
Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, grew up poor and moved around to several towns as his family tried to make a living as farmers in the early 1900s. Being in and out of several schools and also helping out with the farm made it difficult to have a steady education. But his mother always encouraged him to read and his father helped him with his interest in machines.
In a rented house they lived in, there was a stack of Popular Science magazines that Philo would study from cover to cover. In one issue, he read about the idea of television, even though scientists had yet to conceive of how to make it work.
When he was plowing one of the farm fields, he saw all the perfectly parallel lines he had carved in the soil and realized that this was how images could be sent as lines of light, capturing them and transmitting them as electrons, then reassembling them for a viewer. The whole process would have to be done quickly, but he knew that this was the way television would be possible.
He explained the idea to his father who then suggested that he share everything with his science teacher who would understand the scientific aspects better than him. This is exactly what Philo did and his teacher, Mr. Tolman, listened very closely. Because the concept was well thought out and Philo had drawn the principles all over the chalkboard, Mr. Tolman copied down everything and tucked it away…..just as many teachers have done when a student has astounded them.
Philo went on to study for a time in college, but had to drop out because he lacked money to attend. He continued his research with television and in 1927 demonstrated the first working television. By 1930 the idea had caught on and companies began to produce television sets. RCA wanted to pay Philo for his idea, but Philo wanted to have the patent for television because he knew had invented it. RCA claimed that their employee, Vladimir Zworykin, had actually invented television.
And this is where the power of a teacher saved his former student and won a court battle. Mr. Tolman was called upon to testify and brought with him the drawings he had tucked in his desk in 1922. When he was able to recount the story of Philo coming into his classroom with the idea of how to transmit pictures and was able to produce the notes from that conversation, Philo won the patent and not RCA and Dr. Zworykin.
You may wonder how I know all these details. It turns out that Philo’s youngest sister is Laura Farnsworth Player, my husband’s grandmother. She was very proud of her big brother and was even one of his early models when he would give demonstrations of how he could transmit pictures from a camera to a television.
Their family never knew fame and fortune from his invention because the royalties for his patent ran out soon after World War II, when people could finally afford to get televisions for their homes. However, the greater lesson for the Farnsworth family and their descendants was the power of education and how dedicated teachers can make the difference in the lives of their students.
The power of teachers
December 2, 2021
Philo Farnsworth and his mother, Serena Bastian Farnsworth. Philo is the man who holds the patent for the creation of the television, thanks to the intervention of a high school teacher.