April 29, 2024

"This has made it all worthwhile ..."

—Philo T. Farnsworth

Today is the 85th anniversary (April 30, 1939) of the day that RCA introduced television programming to America.

TV had been promised but delayed in America for quite some time. In fact, England had it before us. In London, the BBC televised the 1936 coronation of King George VI and then the 1937 Wimbledon tennis championship.

Why the delay on this side of the Pond? That story begins with a man -- a boy, really -- named Philo T. Farnsworth, who is generally credited with having invented electronic television when he was just a teen-aged high school freshman.

From the L.A. Times many years ago:

At 15, Farnsworth sketched his designs for an electronic television transmission tube (basically a TV camera) on scraps of paper in Mr. Tolman's classroom.

After high school, he got married, got a small research grant, and moved to California. There, at age 20, he built and patented the transmission tube he'd first sketched in chemistry class. Soon, he added a system with both a camera and a receiver.

It's at this point that RCA, one of the biggest companies in the world at the time, entered the story. Perhaps naively, Farnsworth offered demonstrations to anyone who asked, and RCA scientists were at the front of the line.

In 1927, RCA chief David Sarnoff offered Farnsworth $100,000 for all of his patents and inventions, but Farnsworth balked, saying he wanted royalties instead.

"RCA doesn’t pay royalties," Sarnoff scoffed. "We collect them."

Result: RCA tied Farnsworth up in court for years, trying to invalidate his patents.

While the case continued, Farnsworth improved his designs and partnered with other companies, but the litigation made it risky to build a U.S. business based on television. So nobody did.

Ultimately, Farnsworth won in court. Mr. Tolman, his chemistry teacher, had kept his high school notes, which proved pivotal.

But the battle wore him out, and with appeals pending, RCA settled for $1 million ( the equivalent of $25 million now), paving the way for the big RCA announcement of 1939.

Of course, World War II intervened, shutting down the industry. It was impossible to build TV sets, since the U.S. converted almost all factory production for the war.

Farnsworth went on to accumulate nearly 300 patents, ultimately developing an interest in fusion energy. At one frustrating juncture in his research in 1947, a mutual friend set him up with Albert Einstein for a pep talk.

His wife, known as Pem, recalled that when her husband got off the phone, "his face [was] aglow from the excitement of finding someone who understood what he was talking about."

(Farnsworth died in 1971; Pem outlived him by 35 years and dedicated herself to promoting his legacy.)

Despite inventing television, Farnsworth appeared on the small screen only once -- a 1957 episode of the game show, I've Got a Secret. (Embedded below; enable images or you won't see anything!)

​

It's funny to hear the host, the guests, the audience, and even Farnsworth himself, all talking about television as a mixed blessing. Some reports say Farnsworth worried he'd created a monster.

But we're all about optimism here. So, as I looked for a "quote of the day" from Farnsworth, I landed (ironically) on what he said as he and Pem watched the Apollo 11 moon landing on television in 1969.

The fact that the world could see the broadcast, and that it was based on an idea he'd originally come up with while plowing a field as a teenager, helped him make peace with what he'd built.

"This,” he told his wife as they watched TV together, “has made it all worthwhile.”

Thanks for all the feedback on yesterday's alternative format. It was about 95% positive. Here's what I'm thinking, at least for now:

• On days when I have one big, interesting, optimism-inducing story that carry the day (like today), and if I think I can tell it well enough, I'll do it.
• On other days, we'll try a "here's a bunch" approach.

This should make the whole thing much more manageable for me, while also giving me a chance to have creative fun. Let's be honest, I sometimes like to show off the obscure details I find in my research, especially when they ultimately lead to something big.

Speaking of those kinds of details, we have a few coming during May—for example, from the lives of people like Robert Frost, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Joan Didion. (Fun fact: That's the first time in history that those three people have been listed in a single sentence.) Keep reading!

Also, Understandably returns later today. What to expect: Basically what you expected before at Understandably, only with more breathing space for me, and back on Substack.

(It's a separate list now, so sign up here for either the free or premium edition if you aren't already on it!)

Speaking of signing up ... Know someone who might like Big Optimism? Please tell them to sign up here!

And speaking of "speaking of" ... Want to help me keep this going? Check out our advertisers! (Honestly, we've seen this dip a bit, and I'm wondering if I need to move its placement.)

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

Yes, and ...

• Mediators expressed hope Monday, once again, that Israel and Hamas were inching toward an agreement to halt fighting in Gaza and release dozens of Israeli hostages still held captive there. The signs of optimism came after Israel presented terms to negotiators last week that “broke new ground,” according to an Israeli official familiar with the deliberations. “There is hope,” a Hamas official in Turkey told The Washington Post, but he cautioned that there were key points that required clarification. (The Washington Post)
• China will send a robotic spacecraft in coming days on a round trip to the moon's far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole. (Reuters)
• I know a lot of my readers do not support the idea of student loan cancelation. That said, if it's going to happen, and if you're carrying loans, today (today!) is the deadline to apply to consolidate them so that they might qualify. Here are some details. (NBC New York)
• Hertz is ditching more of its fleet of electric vehicles -- 30,000 Teslas and other brands -- which it says are unreliable and more expensive than gas-guzzlers. Want one cheap? (Quartz, Hertz Car Sales)
• Taylor Swift‘s “The Tortured Poets Department” has lived up to its blockbuster potential and then some. Billboard reported Sunday that, per data provided by Luminate, the new release racked up 2.61 million album-equivalent units in its first week out — the best one-week figure for any album in nine years. (Variety)
• A Virginia woman who bought a Powerball ticket by mistake (she intended to buy a ticket for the bigger Mega Millions), and who "accidentally" pushed the wrong button, won a $1 million prize. “It’s the best mistake of my life!” she said. (NBC Washington)
• A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic on Saturday sold for a record price of £1.175 million. The 14-carat gold Waltham watch, which belonged to business magnate John Jacob Astor, beat the £1.1 million paid in 2013 for the violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic. (The Telegraph)