Who and when invented the first television and what it was called. When did television appear in the USSR? Announcement of the invention of the television

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was invented how to show an image, and then how to transmit a television program using radio waves. They started producing televisions, we will look at how designers and engineers have improved television receivers from the moment the television was created to the present day. Let's see how the evolution of television took place. We’ll also tell you the history of televisions briefly.

First TVs

In the USA, the production of televisions began in 1928 with the production model of a mechanical television from General Electric called “Octagon”; this receiver did not go into large production and acted as a prototype.

In the UK, a mechanical television was also developed in 1928 and was called the "Baird Model "C".

Similar televisions were released in France in 1929 and the USSR in 1934.

When did televisions appear?

In the mid-30s of the 20th century, electronic televisions were developed; they had a small screen. Such TVs were produced by the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and the USSR.

Televisions in 1940-1945

1940-1945 During the Second World War, industry switched to the development of military equipment, and the development of television receivers was suspended.

After the war, Europe was busy rebuilding, so televisions were produced only by the USA, Great Britain, and one model was also produced by France. Televisions have become smaller in size.

TVs 1950-1960

1950-1960 televisions began to be produced with screens with a diagonal of 7-10 inches, the principle of transmitting a color television signal was developed, color televisions began to be produced in the USA, televisions began to be equipped with remote control (the television was connected to the remote control by cable). Other countries began to produce televisions: Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan also released its first television from Sharp.

TVs 1960-1970

1960-1970 TVs have improved; if initially TVs were produced using electronic vacuum tubes, after the invention of semiconductors, TVs began to be produced using transistors. The screens became large 25 inches.

TVs 1970-1980

1970-1980 During this period, there was a gradual curtailment of the production of black and white televisions; the attention of manufacturers was paid not only to the technical side, but also to the design of the television.

TVs 1980-1990

1980-1990 TVs didn’t change much, manufacturers experimented with design, produced portable TVs, and on the technical side there was a transition from semiconductors to microcircuits. TV cases are starting to be made of plastic.

TVs 1990-2000

1990-2000 The number of TV manufacturers is decreasing, this is affected by a decrease in consumer demand and market saturation with TVs. TV cases are starting to be made entirely of plastic. Full control only with the help of remote control, thanks to improved technologies (Slim), cathode ray tubes become shorter, and flat picture tubes have also been developed. The first flat-panel TVs made using plasma technology appeared. In 1992, the Japanese company Fujitsu developed the first 21-inch (53 cm) color plasma panel. Mass production of plasma TVs began in 1995. Development of LCD TVs has begun. The beginning of the production of LCD TVs was hampered by the quality of the panels, namely the long response time, which made them not competitive with plasma.

TVs 2000-2010

2000-2010 At the beginning of the 21st century, flat LCD TVs began to be produced in addition to flat-panel TVs made using plasma technology. By the end of the decade, the production of picture tube televisions (CRT) was curtailed. Televisions from leading manufacturers are produced either LCD or plasma.

TVs 2010-2020

2010-2020 The production of plasma TVs has practically ceased. The last significant manufacturer, Panasonic, stopped producing plasma in 2014. Chinese manufacturers a little later. Only LCD TVs are produced; the screen is backlit not with lamps but with LEDs. Televisions have become computers that have the ability to connect to the Internet and are integrated into the home computer network. In the middle of the decade, the production of LCD TVs ceased, and LED backlighting replaced lamp backlighting. The production of OLED TVs that do not require external lighting has been mastered. New materials began to be used in the manufacture of screens, and LED TVs based on quantum dots appeared.

Screen resolution If in 2010 TVs with HD and Full HD screens were mainly produced, in 2015 more than half of TVs have UHD resolution, by 2019 about 90% of produced TVs have UHD resolution. TVs are produced with huge curved screens up to 100 inches.

Experimenting with 3D 2012-2016 years, TVs with support for three-dimensional images were mass-produced. But this technology was not in demand; by 2017, the production of 3D TVs was discontinued.

The end of the decade saw the release of 8K TVs. Improvement of technical capabilities continues, support for HDR has been implemented (the ability to control image quality down to a specific frame), but content with HDR metadata is required.

At the end of the last century, the UN finally proclaimed World Television Day. Now every year on November 21, media workers, journalists and everyone who has anything to do with this field of activity celebrate their professional holiday. Television Day is a holiday not only for journalists, but also for ordinary television viewers.

2016 was the twentieth Television Day. It was widely celebrated all over the world, because today it is almost impossible to find any state that does not have television broadcasting on its territory. It has already become one of the most effective means of influencing a person in modern society. Today there are more than one generation of people living in the world who simply cannot imagine their life without TV.

Who invented television

More and more often, TV viewers are wondering who and when invented the first television. The question of what year this happened is also of interest, because the invention of the television completely changed the habitual way of life of millions of people around the world.

It is definitely not so easy to answer this question, because many people made invaluable contributions to the invention of TV. Without their achievements, other scientists would not have been able to obtain patents for their inventions.

History of the invention of television

Previously, one could only dream of transmitting images over long distances. There have been many attempts to create something similar to TV in the past, but only the German physicist Heinrich Hertz managed to make a truly valuable contribution to the creation of television. Then the Russian scientist Stoletov substantiated the possibility of obtaining an image through a cathode ray tube. This tube, in turn, was developed by another scientist. We are talking about the physicist from Germany K. Braun.

So who invented television? The very first television system was the invention of Paul Nipkow. This German engineer managed to develop such an unusual device back in 1884. It was his invention that laid the foundation for the creation of the device that today is called a television. Nipkov managed to create a disk that made it possible to convert images into electrical impulses. Disputes about who invented television and when are related to the complex technical design of televisions. In addition, many elements of modern television were invented by different people.

Chronology of events

Already in 1895, Nipkow’s compatriot named Karl Brown invented the very first kinescope. Then Brown's student managed to obtain a patent for a special tube, after which he used his mentor's invention to transmit images. Brown's student's name was Max Dickman. It was he who first introduced a television receiver with a small screen to the general public. Then British scientist John Brad managed to invent a television receiver that operated without sound. This was enough to declare the beginning of a new scientific and technological revolution.

Somewhat later, Russian engineer Vladimir Zvorykin, who emigrated to the United States after the October Revolution, patented his unique invention, which was called television. Zvorykin’s development was based on the work of many other scientists, physicists and engineers, but it was he who managed to connect all the inventions together.

The first TV models were specific and had a lot of shortcomings, but over time, scientists and engineers managed to solve a lot of problems and make these devices more advanced.

Principles of television operation in the 20th century

In the Soviet Union, full-fledged TV appeared already in 1939. The very first television receiver in the USSR worked on a Nipkov disk. It boasted a screen with a diagonal of 3 by 4 cm. The television receiver was produced in Leningrad and looked like an ordinary set-top box. In order to use the device, it was necessary to connect this set-top box to a radio channel.

Moreover, the then famous Soviet magazine about technology and science “Radifront” published a unique instruction that allowed anyone to make a TV on their own. Getting components for a new TV was not so easy, but many were ready to do anything to become the proud owner of a TV.

Who invented color television

There were many attempts to convey a color image, but only Hovhannes Adamyan achieved success. Several decades of persistent research were not in vain. In 1908, he managed to obtain a patent for his invention.

Despite this, John Brad became the recognized creator of color television. He was also the inventor of the mechanical receiver. In 1928, he managed to assemble a device that could transmit images in red, blue and green.

The biggest breakthrough in the development of TV occurred after the end of World War II in the United States. It was during these years that television production appeared throughout the country. After American industry switched from civilian to military production, it made invaluable contributions to the development of the television industry. Already in 1940, a system called Triniscope was introduced.

History of television in Russia

In the Soviet Union, a lot of time and attention was devoted to the development of television, because TV was one of the key mouthpieces of propaganda for the Communist Party. Color television appeared in the USSR somewhat later than in the USA. In the USSR, a similar device was created only in 1951, so it was only in 1952 that Soviet viewers saw the very first test color television broadcast.

The history of domestic TV goes back many decades. From the very beginning of its appearance, it gained truly popular popularity. Whole families gathered behind the screen of the miracle device.

In 1951, the Central Television Studio was organized. After this, the first thematic programs began to appear:

Musical.
Children's.
Literary and dramatic.

During these years, the programs were broadcast only live. Then a new broadcast format appeared. Films, socio-political programs, reports, and concerts began to appear on television more and more often. Then young and talented journalists and announcers came to the Central Studio, whose names are inscribed in the history of national television in golden letters: Nina Kondratova, Igor Kirillov, Nonna Bodrova, Yuri Fokin, Damir Belov.

Announcers have made television a full-fledged means of communication. Many viewers even responded to their greetings before the news broadcast. In 1968, the “Time” program appeared, which is still the main information program of the country. Soon television became color.

New technologies of Soviet television

Television continued its rapid development and already in 1959 satellite television appeared in the country. The picture quality has constantly improved. In recent years, many countries have switched to digital broadcasting. It allows you to watch TV shows in the highest quality possible.

How old is television?

So how old is television? To answer the question of how old television is, you need to study history. The first transmission of a moving image was made in 1923. This was done in the USA. It is from this time that the history of television can be counted. It turns out that today television is already 95 years old.

Television Workers Day is celebrated on November 21st both in Russia and in other countries of the world. November 21st is considered International Television Day.

Interesting Facts

The creation of television was accompanied by a lot of interesting events. This applies not only to the history of world television, but also to domestic television. For example, the project for the famous Ostankino TV tower was invented just overnight.

The very first 24-hour broadcasting channel is the American CNN. The company broadcasts not only in English, but also in other languages (German, Spanish and Turkish).
The tallest television tower is located in Japan. Its height is 634 meters.
Today, television advertising has become commonplace, but in the past it was something completely unique. Paid advertising appeared back in 1941. In those years, a ten-second video cost the customer $9. It was an advertisement for a watch manufacturing company.
The most famous TV commercial is about the Macintosh computer. The author of the video is famous Hollywood director Ridley Scott. The customer for the video was Apple. This video cost $900,000, which was a record at the time.
When television was black and white, presenters wore green lipstick. The fact is that it stood out more during the transition of the image through various camera filters. The red lipstick looked too faded on TV viewers' screens.

First public displays

On May 9, 1907, the first television broadcast was shown. At the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, one of the scientists (Boris Rozgin) managed to display an image of four white lines on a black screen.

Already in the 30s, television became electronic. In 1938, the very first television center appeared in the country. Then there was a break in the history of domestic TV. The Great Patriotic War is to blame. The first television program was released only on the eve of Germany's surrender. This significant event took place on May 7, 1945. Already on December 15th, the television center began regular broadcasting. This was a great achievement for post-war Europe. The USSR was even ahead of France and Great Britain.

You will be surprised, but the history of plasma TVs begins exactly half a century ago. The invention of a new television can be considered the merit of professors at the American University of Illinois, Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, who created the first prototype of a plasma television.

This happened in July 1964. Later, Robert Wilson, a graduate student at the same university, joined the work of the two inventors. But plasma TVs did not begin to develop successfully immediately, but only after digital technologies had already appeared in the world.

Research on plasma properties is what the inventors of the new TV were working on at that time. An alternative replacement for cathode-ray television, the construction principle of which was based on a ray tube, was plasma television. The constantly flickering image conveyed video frames well, but much worse conveyed computer graphics.

It was Donald Bitzer who became the founder of the new project, and Robert Wilson and Gene Slottow helped him. As a result of their work, they managed to create the first ever model of a plasma TV with a single cell. Analogues of this invention in our time have millions of such cells. Television companies after 1964 decided to use plasma televisions as a possible replacement for cathode ray tube televisions.

The invention of 1999 is a plasma TV, which had a 60-inch diagonal screen. Designed for Panasonic and Matsushita. It combined the resolution and size required for HDTV, making TVs thinner. “Plasma” did not gain its popularity immediately; quite a lot of time was spent on their implementation. Today, plasma TVs account for no more than 7% of the market. The advent of liquid crystal monitors gave a new direction for the creation of televisions, which for “plasma” excluded any subsequent commercial development.

The ideas of creating a matrix TV screen wandered in the minds of Russian inventors a quarter of a century ago.

We are already accustomed to plasma and LCD TVs and computer monitors. We are so used to it that the previous bulky “boxes” based on a cathode ray tube (which were “classics” 10-15 years ago) are already perceived as an anachronism, as something curious and awkward. Moreover, today there is already a lot of talk about flexible screens that can be rolled up or hung on the wall like a carpet.

Science and life // Illustrations

The path traveled by inventors, engineers and technologists from the bulky vacuum tube to flexible screens, of course, was not easy. Television screens (as, indeed, most other things familiar to us) have their own long and interesting history, some stages of which can be traced back to old publications in magazines.

How designers fought for literally millimeters of thickness of the TV housing is described in the article by Rudolf Svorenya “Leaves of the TV Screen”, published in the March 1987 issue of the magazine “Science and Life”.

Even then, in the late 1980s, the first reports about the creation of flat screens (and even flexible ones, which can be cut from a roll to the desired size) began to appear in the press, and at exhibitions Japanese micro-TVs in wristwatches, pocket TVs of small thickness, etc. .

In his article, R. Svoren talks about two directions of design thought aimed at creating flat-panel TVs. The first of these is the improvement of the cathode ray tube (CRT). The illustration to the article (see Fig. 2) shows how this can be achieved by increasing the deflection angle of the electron beam. Drawing a TV picture line by line, the beam (the flow of electrons, the impacts of which make the phosphor on the front glass of the CRT glow) under the influence of a deflection system of electromagnetic coils is deflected left and right, and the “wider” these movements are, the shorter the kinescope can be made when the same screen width. Accordingly, the TV body can be made flatter. R. Svoren gave the following example: the Rubin-268 TV, manufactured in the USSR, used a picture tube with a deflection angle of 110 degrees and a screen size of 67 cm, while the depth of the TV was approximately 45 cm. And if it had a picture tube with a deflection angle of 90 degrees or 50 degrees (it was with fifty-degree picture tubes that post-war mass television began), then the TV would have a depth of approximately 55 or 80 cm (instead of 45). However, as R. Svoren noted, a deflection angle of 110 degrees could be considered the limit of the possible at that time, so the designers were forced to look for new ideas. One of them is the rotation of the electron beam by 90 degrees by an electromagnetic collimator combined with a deflection system (Fig. 2e). The neck of the CRT is bent to the side and due to this, a fairly significant reduction in thickness can be achieved. True, in such a kinescope it is quite difficult to ensure that the beam hits the desired point of the phosphor, so such electronic tubes were produced only with small-sized screens.

Another design, which R. Svoren mentioned in his article, was implemented in pocket TVs from the Japanese company Matsushita. It was based on a fairly obvious idea: the smaller the screen, the shorter the kinescope. Therefore, the designers simply combined in one vacuum cylinder many small picture tubes adjacent to each other and working in concert, each of which draws its own part of the picture on the phosphor. Such a cellular flat screen consisted of 3000 microkinescopes and had a total size of 25 cm with a TV thickness of 10 cm.

Today, of course, such a bulky design may seem like a kind of “technical joke”. But this principle itself - the division of one large “emitter” into many small ones - essentially became the forerunner of a new direction in the flight of scientific and design thought. R. Svoren actually found and recorded in his article (see Fig. 3) the moment of the birth of the first matrix television screens: LED (where each point - pixel is formed by its own, separate light emitter), phosphor (in which electron beams were created using mutually intersecting electrodes in in the form of strips) and the actual liquid crystal matrix screens, which today stand on the table of almost all of us.

By the way, it is not without interest that the idea of a matrix phosphor TV screen was proposed in 1978 by one of the readers of the magazine “Young Technician”, Sergei Afanasyev from Klin (see “UT” No. 12, 1978, p. 56 –57). This idea was noted by the author’s certificate of the magazine “Young Technician”, and in the commentary of a member of the expert council of “UT”, engineer S. Valyansky, published in No. 12 of 1978, an approximate diagram of such a television screen was given (Fig. 4).

And in the article “What instead of a kinescope?” engineer I. Zverev, which was published in the magazine “Young Technician” in 1985 (No. 3, 1985, pp. 10–13), the design of a thin-film electroluminescent matrix screen (Fig. 5), developed by scientists from the Institute of Semiconductors, was already described in detail Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (for the current younger generation of readers, let’s explain what the Ukrainian SSR is: that’s what the Republic of Ukraine was called in those days).

Thus, not only Japan, the USA and other foreign countries, but also our country (then the USSR) stood at the “origins” of the technologies for creating modern matrix screens. We can only hope that the engineers and designers of modern Russia will be able to at least partially regain the position of one of the world leaders in the development of electronic devices lost during the notorious “perestroika” and finally realize the flexible TV screens “promised” in the distant 1980s, which can be rolled up...

On May 10, 1932, the first batch of Soviet televisions was produced at the Comintern plant in Leningrad - 20 test copies of a device called B-2.
This gave rise to the domestic production of television receivers, which had periods of ups and downs, successes and failures. And today we will tell you about the 10 most famous, legendary TVs of the Soviet era, some of which still work for their intended purpose...
TV set-top box B-2
1. The B-2 TV was released even before regular television broadcasting began in the Soviet Union. It was developed in 1931 by Anton Breitbart, a test batch was released in 1932, mass production began in 1933 and lasted until 1936.

2. The B-2 had a 16 by 12 mm screen with a scan of 30 lines and a frame rate of 12.5 frames per second. Now such dimensions and indicators seem ridiculous, but then the device was considered incredibly modern from a technological point of view.
However, the B-2 was not a television receiver, like the televisions we are used to, but only a set-top box that needed to be connected to a medium-wave radio.
KVN-49

3. In the late thirties and early forties, several models of electronic televisions were produced in the Soviet Union, partly under an American license, partly of their own design, but they never became a mass product - the Great Patriotic War interfered. And the first truly “people's” device was the KVN-49.

4. The television, which has become legendary, was developed at the Leningrad Research Institute of Television by engineers Kenigson, Varshavsky and Nikolaevsky, in whose honor it received its name. This device was one of the first in the world designed for the 625/50 decomposition standard.
The KVN-49 was produced in various modifications until 1967, but it is still known to the general public thanks to its unusual appearance (a mounted lens with water or glycerin to enlarge the image) and the popular humorous game named in its honor.
Rubin-102

5. In 1957, the era of Soviet televisions began under the legendary Rubin brand. This year, serial production of the Rubin-102 television receiver began, which lasted for 10 years. During this time, more than 1 million 328 thousand copies of it were created.

6. Rubin-102 could receive 12 TV channels (in reality there were much fewer) and switch to radio waves. It also had jacks for a tape recorder and a pickup.
Rubin-714

7. But still, we associate the name “Rubin”, first of all, with the Rubin-714 television receiver. It was not the first Soviet color TV, but it became one of the most popular in the country - over nine years in 1976-1985, 1 million 443 thousand copies were produced, of which 172 thousand were exported.

8.
Rassvet-307

9. But even these huge figures pale when compared with the number of Rassvet-307 TVs produced. Indeed, over the entire history of this model and the 307-1, which is very close to it, 8 (!) million pieces were produced.

10. This black-and-white television set began production in 1975, when color televisions had already appeared, and, nevertheless, still gained enormous all-Union popularity. This happened, first of all, due to the high reliability of the device, as well as its low price compared to non-ferrous competitors.
Record B-312

11. Another super popular black and white TV, which was mass produced and sold in an era when color receivers were already being produced. Record B-312 could be purchased in two design options: in a wood finish with a glossy surface and coated with textured paper.

12. TV Record B-312 was produced from 1975 to the mid-eighties. People remember it because it was very difficult to turn the toggle switch to change channels, especially if the handle was lost, and you often had to use pliers or pliers for this.
Horizon Ts-355

13. And the Horizon Ts-355 TV, produced at the Minsk Radio Plant since 1986, was considered the ultimate dream of a Soviet person. This television receiver was an incredibly scarce device - people were willing to overpay significant sums for the right to buy such a device for their home.

14. The fact is that, unlike other Soviet televisions, Horizon Ts-355 was equipped with a Japanese Toshiba kinescope with a beam deflection angle of 90 degrees. Therefore, the TV did not require additional image adjustment, and was also much more reliable than receivers with domestic components.
Spring-346

15. The Vesna concert from Dnepropetrovsk was considered one of the best Ukrainian factories that produced televisions. The first television receiver was released there in 1960, but the heyday of the enterprise occurred in the seventies and eighties. The most famous and widespread product of this manufacturer was the Vesna-346 TV (aka Yantar-346).

16. The Spring-346 TV was produced since 1983 and became the last successful model of the Dnepropetrovsk plant - subsequent ones did not gain much popularity, and in the nineties the enterprise, like many others, could not withstand competition from foreign technology and suspended production.
Electron Ts-382

17. Another legendary manufacturer of televisions in the Ukrainian SSR was the Lviv Electron plant. In the eighties, he released several models of color televisions that were popular throughout the Soviet Union, the most popular of which is considered to be the Electron Ts-382.

18. Electron Ts-382 stood out among other Soviet televisions of that era with its good image quality, high reliability, stylish design and low electricity consumption. Including, thanks to the success of this model, every fourth television in the USSR in the eighties was produced by the Electron concert.
The Electron plant still produces televisions under its own brand. True, their popularity is much less than in Soviet times.
Peer

19. Coeval - the smallest TV produced in the Soviet Union. This is a portable portable television receiver, which could be bought assembled, or in the form of a construction set to fold the device yourself according to the instructions. The last option cost 20 rubles cheaper - 100 rubles.

20. TV The same age had a screen with a diagonal of 8 centimeters and weighed only 1.4 kilograms without a battery.