We took a nice little vacation a few weeks ago and one of our stops was at the Farnsworth TV museum. I used to live near there, but I had never visited it before. I first learned about Philo T. Farnsworth when I went to school over there. I was studying broadcasting and since then I have been fascinated with his story.
It was right there in Rigby, Idaho that he thought up the idea for electronic television. He was only 14 and plowing a potato field when he decided that the same pattern of horozontal lines was what he could base his design on.
He went through a very rough time battling RCA for pattent rights after they claimed to have had the idea first. Even though he eventually won, it wasn't a very glamorous victory. No one really knew who he even was. He had a lot of problems following the whole ordeal.
I think the most intriguing part was that after it all he didn't even let his own kids watch TV. Saying, "There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet." I actually have a very similar view. I mean we watch some TV, but in moderation. There is a lot of time that can be wasted in front of the television.
You can read more about him this article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990620,00.html#ixzz1YRdjTRrM
Wayne Quinton, the inventor of the treadmill and a shunt for kidney dialysis was also from there
I thought this was kind of a funny TV to be used in a television museum :)
