John logie baird

‘A potential social menace of the first magnitude!’ proclaimed Sir John Reith, first Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation, describing John Logie Baird’s 1926 invention: television. Reith also compared the new medium’s social impact to’smallpox, bubonic plague and the Black Death.’ Millions of viewers today would disagree with his description. John Trenouth, Senior Curator of Television at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford, North Yorkshire, explains that ‘the reason we have this and much more of Baird’s equipment is that we not only acquired the Kodak Museum collection and the Royal Photographic Society collection, but also all the television technology from the last three-quarters of a century, including Baird’s. And now we have the largest collection of television technology in the world!’ The Museum, which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this year, has a massive array of essential artistic and the technological elements associated with the photography, film, and television media, ‘I’ve got less than .1% of it on display,’ he notes. More Information National Museum of Photography, Film and Television Bradford, North Yorkshire, BD1 1NQ Open Tuesday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For special events, tours and exhibitions see NMPFT website: Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace Way Wood Green London N22 7AY Tours: Sunday: 11:30 and 2 p.m. Wednesday: 11:30 Must be booked in advance: 020-8361-2121 Additional information: Although...

On January 26, 1926, John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, gives the first public demonstration of a true television system in London, launching a revolution in communication and entertainment. Baird’s invention, a pictorial-transmission machine he called a “televisor,” used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses. This information was then transmitted by cable to a screen where it showed up as a low-resolution pattern of light and dark. Baird’s first television program showed the heads of two ventriloquist dummies, which he operated in front of the camera apparatus out of view of the audience. Baird based his television on the work of Paul Nipkow, a German scientist who patented his ideas for a complete television system in 1884. Nipkow likewise used a rotating disk with holes in it to scan images, but he never achieved more than the crudest of shadowy pictures. Various inventors worked to develop this idea, and Baird was the first to achieve easily discernible images. In 1928, Baird made the first overseas broadcast from London to New York over phone lines and in the same year demonstrated the first color television. The first home television receiver was demonstrated in Schenectady, New York, in January 1928, and by May a station began occasional broadcasts to the handful of homes in the area that were given the General Electric-built machines. In 1932, the Radio Corporation of America demonstrated an all-electronic television using a c...

John Logie Baird was born on August 13th, 1888, in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland and died on June 14th, 1946, in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England. John Baird received a diploma course in electrical engineering at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (now called Strathclyde University) and studied towards his Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Glasgow, interrupted by the outbreak of W.W.1. Bellis, Mary. "Mechanical Television History and John Baird." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325. Bellis, Mary. (2021, February 16). Mechanical Television History and John Baird. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325 Bellis, Mary. "Mechanical Television History and John Baird." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325 (accessed June 17, 2023). When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting

(1888-1946) Who Was John Logie Baird? John Logie Baird produced televised objects in outline in 1924, transmitted recognizable human faces in 1925 and demonstrated the televising of moving objects in 1926 at the Royal Institution in London. The BBC used his televising technique to broadcast from 1929 to 1937. By that time, however, electronic television had surpassed Baird’s method and became more widely used. Early Life John Logie Baird was born on August 13, 1888 in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland. The fourth and youngest child of Rev. John and Jesse Baird, by his early teens he had developed a fascination with electronics and was already beginning to conduct experiments and build inventions. After completing his primary schooling, Baird studied electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. However, his studies were interrupted with the outbreak of World War I, though he was rejected for service because of health issues. Left to pursue his interests in England, he worked for a utilities company and started a manufacturing business before moving to Trinidad and Tobago where he briefly operated a jam factory. Inventions Returning to the United Kingdom in 1920, Baird began to explore how to transmit moving images along with sounds. He lacked corporate sponsors, however, so he worked with whatever materials that he was able to scrounge. Cardboard, a bicycle lamp, glue, string and wax were all part of his first “televisor.” In 1924, Baird transmitted a fl...

‘A potential social menace of the first magnitude!’ proclaimed Sir John Reith, first Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation, describing John Logie Baird’s 1926 invention: television. Reith also compared the new medium’s social impact to’smallpox, bubonic plague and the Black Death.’ Millions of viewers today would disagree with his description. John Trenouth, Senior Curator of Television at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford, North Yorkshire, explains that ‘the reason we have this and much more of Baird’s equipment is that we not only acquired the Kodak Museum collection and the Royal Photographic Society collection, but also all the television technology from the last three-quarters of a century, including Baird’s. And now we have the largest collection of television technology in the world!’ The Museum, which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this year, has a massive array of essential artistic and the technological elements associated with the photography, film, and television media, ‘I’ve got less than .1% of it on display,’ he notes. More Information National Museum of Photography, Film and Television Bradford, North Yorkshire, BD1 1NQ Open Tuesday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For special events, tours and exhibitions see NMPFT website: Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace Way Wood Green London N22 7AY Tours: Sunday: 11:30 and 2 p.m. Wednesday: 11:30 Must be booked in advance: 020-8361-2121 Additional information: Although...

(1888-1946) Who Was John Logie Baird? John Logie Baird produced televised objects in outline in 1924, transmitted recognizable human faces in 1925 and demonstrated the televising of moving objects in 1926 at the Royal Institution in London. The BBC used his televising technique to broadcast from 1929 to 1937. By that time, however, electronic television had surpassed Baird’s method and became more widely used. Early Life John Logie Baird was born on August 13, 1888 in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland. The fourth and youngest child of Rev. John and Jesse Baird, by his early teens he had developed a fascination with electronics and was already beginning to conduct experiments and build inventions. After completing his primary schooling, Baird studied electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. However, his studies were interrupted with the outbreak of World War I, though he was rejected for service because of health issues. Left to pursue his interests in England, he worked for a utilities company and started a manufacturing business before moving to Trinidad and Tobago where he briefly operated a jam factory. Inventions Returning to the United Kingdom in 1920, Baird began to explore how to transmit moving images along with sounds. He lacked corporate sponsors, however, so he worked with whatever materials that he was able to scrounge. Cardboard, a bicycle lamp, glue, string and wax were all part of his first “televisor.” In 1924, Baird transmitted a fl...

John Logie Baird was born on August 13th, 1888, in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland and died on June 14th, 1946, in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England. John Baird received a diploma course in electrical engineering at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (now called Strathclyde University) and studied towards his Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Glasgow, interrupted by the outbreak of W.W.1. Bellis, Mary. "Mechanical Television History and John Baird." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325. Bellis, Mary. (2021, February 16). Mechanical Television History and John Baird. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325 Bellis, Mary. "Mechanical Television History and John Baird." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/television-history-john-baird-1991325 (accessed June 17, 2023). When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting

On January 26, 1926, John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, gives the first public demonstration of a true television system in London, launching a revolution in communication and entertainment. Baird’s invention, a pictorial-transmission machine he called a “televisor,” used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses. This information was then transmitted by cable to a screen where it showed up as a low-resolution pattern of light and dark. Baird’s first television program showed the heads of two ventriloquist dummies, which he operated in front of the camera apparatus out of view of the audience. Baird based his television on the work of Paul Nipkow, a German scientist who patented his ideas for a complete television system in 1884. Nipkow likewise used a rotating disk with holes in it to scan images, but he never achieved more than the crudest of shadowy pictures. Various inventors worked to develop this idea, and Baird was the first to achieve easily discernible images. In 1928, Baird made the first overseas broadcast from London to New York over phone lines and in the same year demonstrated the first color television. The first home television receiver was demonstrated in Schenectady, New York, in January 1928, and by May a station began occasional broadcasts to the handful of homes in the area that were given the General Electric-built machines. In 1932, the Radio Corporation of America demonstrated an all-electronic television using a c...