The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, & the Birth of Television

by Evan Schwartz

PerfectBound e-book exclusive The Story Behind the Story In a story that is both of its time and timeless, Evan I. Schwartz tells a tale of genius and greed, innocence and deceit, and corporate arrogance versus independent brilliance. In other words, the very qualities that have made this country -- for better or for worse -- what it is. Many men have laid claim to the title The Father of Television but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time. Farnsworth may have ended up a footnote in history, yet he was the first to demonstrate an electronic process for scanning, transmitting and receiving moving images, a discovery that changed the way we live. Growing up on a small farm in Idaho, Farnsworth was fascinated by anything scientific, especially the newest thing on the market

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2002

Reviews

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly entertaining biography of Philo T. Farnsworth, the brilliant young man who invented television in 1930 when he was only 24 (he conceived of the technology when he was 15). Schwartz smartly presents David Sarnoff, an executive at RCA, as Farnsworth’s business antagonist, the Goliath to Farnsworrh’s David, and so the narrative alternates between the two men like a dual biography.

For decades, several people were leading the development of television. Representing large corporations were Herbert Ives at Bell Laboratories, Ernst Alexanderson at General Electric, and Vladimir K. Zworykin at RCA. There were also three notable individual inventors in the field: John Logie Baird of London, Charles Francis Jenkins of Baltimore, and Farnsworth, whose lab was located at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. Farnworth's innovation was a purely electronic system that used electromagnets to manipulate rays of light energy, projecting an image with 300 lines of resolution, five times the clarity of the mechanical image scanning systems.

Farnsworth unquestionably had the best approach of all the television systems then in development, but he lacked the resources to compete with the likes of monopolistic RCA. Farnsworth faced enormous challenges in obtaining and protecting his patents before RCA outmuscled him, stole his intellectual property, and wore him down with endless legal battles.

The story has everything: history, science, romance, family tragedy, adventure, corporate espionage, and courtroom drama. It would make a great Hollywood movie, similar to Tucker: The Man and His Dream and Flash of Genius.

[Ted Alling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just absolutely loved this book. A young prodigy on a tractor in a farm from Utah invents the television.

One of the coolest things about the book, it was written in 2002 before the real boom of the internet & cell phones. .

My favorite parts

-similarities today between FB, Google, Amazon & RCA, NBC. How the government has never been able to know how to legislate scaling tech comps.

-How SF was first Angel tech investing

-How radio viral spread

-Philo’s relationship with wife

[Mariah Oleszkowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly, Farnsworth is the inventor of television as we know it. RCA and Sarnoff created how we experience it (even if he did it illegally). Along the way, we learn the history of radio, RCA, NBC, CBS,etc, patents, and legal challenges in the patent world. I love that in the end, Farnsworth gets some recognition (not enough) and that he gets to chat with his hero, Einstein.

[Ktbird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that explores the depressing financial reality facing inventors and why Philo T. Farnsworth, the true Father of Television, may be our last lone inventor.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would call this book interesting if not memorable. Farnsworth certainly doesn't get his due as the true father of television, and it's somewhat ironic the very medium he created was the same one that would marginalize him in the end when David Sarnoff used it as a platform for establishing himself as the mythical father of television. But other than general interest, I found the book reasonably forgettable.

[Deb]

Interesting history of the invention of television, but doesn't answer my pressing question of whether Professor Hubert Farnsworth is named after Philo Farnsworth. The World's Fair with a television demo even had the Futurama exhibit.