Does the name Philo T. Farnsworth ring a bell? Before we watched the documentary, Big Dreams, Small Screen, I had never heard of Farnsworth. Considering he invented television, you would think that I would have at least recognized his name because we are a generation that has grown up watching television programs. However, there is a reason I don’t recognize his name…Farnsworth’s interest in television began when he found science and radio magazines in the attic of his home in Idaho. By age 14, he already had a blueprint for an electronic TV system. So why do we associate the name, Vladimir Zworykin, with the invention of television and not the name of a small town genius?
Zworykin was backed by RCA and therefore had power over Farnsworth. Farnsworth rejected an offer of $100,000 from RCA for his entire company, but in the end, RCA still ended up with the credit. RCA unveiled their TV at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and Franklin D. Roosevelt even gave the first speech about television. Farnsworth had unveiled his television 5 years earlier, but was somehow forgotten. Why? This is definitely a case of David and Goliath: only the little guy didn’t win.
The idea of domination/subordination can help explain Farnsworth’s story. Paula S. Rothenberg states on page 112 of “Race, Class, and Gender in the United States,” that “the dominant group usually holds all of the open power and authority and determines the ways in which power may be acceptably used.”
In this case, RCA was the dominant group. RCA wrongly used their power to send Zworykin to Farnsworth’s lab to steal the blueprints of his television tube. RCA had power because they were a large company and had money to finance research. Originally, Farnsworth went to the bank and borrowed $25,000 because he promised to have a picture within one year; however, RCA had many more resources. It’s unfair that RCA was able to maintain power over Farnsworth, but they were able to do so because they were such a well known company. Unfortunately, it makes sense that people would trust a radio giant rather than one unknown man.
Farnsworth eventually won the patent battle and was paid loyalties, but “RCA got credit for developing and presenting television,” according to the documentary “Big Dreams, Small Screen.” Farnsworth deserved to have the credit, but was powerless against the RCA giant.
1 comment:
When Farnsworth broke the news to the press in San Francisco when he had a picture you could appreciate, that story broke all over the world, in some countries like Japan it made headlines.
What PTF needed was a publicist to keep that alive.
PTF did not borrow $25K, investors made funds available, and well beyond the first year. And, yes, there was a picture on a CRT just shy of the first year of work which is astonshing to me.
I do recommend, highly, "Big Dream, Small Screen" I traveled with the crew of Windfall Films who were contracted to film this episode of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE for PBS. (WGBH and Margaret Drain were executive producers.) I wrote to them recently about a DVD of that program and there is none, but they did say there were VHS tapes availble. Sometimes you can request your local PBS station to replay episodes, and the comply where possible.
Kent M Farnsworth
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