Inspiro Robustas: made in his image

On this day, back in 1927, Philo Farnsworth succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means via the "image dissector", which lead to his invention of the electronic television.

He first worked out the principle of the "image dissector" in 1921, just before his 15th birthday, and just after his 21st he demonstrated the first working version. He was a farmboy, and it is said that the idea for scanning an image as a series of lines came from the back-and-forth motion used to plow a field. He also helped developed the "image oscillite", which helped to display the images captured by the image dissector.

Farnsworth's image dissector tube

In 2011, there are an estimated 1.6 billion television sets in use globally, in about 1.42 billion households. The TV viewing audience is estimated to be about 4.2 billion people, all effected relatively regularly by the legacy of Farnsworth.

Farnsworth also invented or developed other inventions, including the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor which created nuclear fusion. That device later turned out to not be very effective for fusion, however the process of the device did prove to be a great source of neutrons. When he died, Farnsworth held 300 US and foreign patents for inventions that lead to the development of radar, infra-red night vision devices, the electron microscope, the baby incubator, the gastroscope and the astronomical telescope. 

All this very inspiring and impactful work from a guy who grew up in Rigby, ID!