The Father of the Modern Day Television

Kenjiro Takayanagi

The Father of the Modern Day Television

Gil Kuno

Although the common misconception is that the Scottish Inventor, John Logie Baird was the inventor of the Television, this is not the case.

The first breakthrough for the Television was in 1884, when Paul Gottlieb Nipkow invents the “Nipkow Disk” which can send images over wires using a rotating metal disk technology. He called it the "electric telescope". The disk had holes arranged in a spiral pattern towards the center, and by spinning the disk, the holes would reveal an image as a succession of vertical lines (18 lines in the first designs.) The electromechanical model for Television was patented by Nipkow, but he never built a prototype to prove the design.

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Naturally, there were a slew of inventors who tried to realize Nipkow’s visions of Television.

Nipkow’s electomechanical model:

In 1926, John Logie Baird demonstrates his working prototype for Nipkow’s system (30 lines of resolution at 4 frames per second.)

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However, the mechanical model proved highly unreliable, mainly because the transmitting and receiving disks had to be rotating at the same speed for a clear picture. This would be detrimental for broadcasting, as all the client Televisions would have to have rotating disksspinning at the same speed as the broadcaster.’s camera’s disks All mechanical Television systems were phased out in the 1930s.

The Electronic Television

The electronic model was researched by Kenjiro Takayanagi in Japan, and by 1926, he had the world’s first working prototype.

Takayanagi’s original and projected image

Source: “Project X” NHK

“Takayanagi transmitted an image electronically in 1926, with a 40-line resolution and running at 14 frames per second. He was ahead of Zworykin, but better publicity gave Zworykin the nickname ‘father of television.’”

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(Vladimir Zworykin (1889-1982) was a Russian inventor who invented a Television cameral in 1923, and a receiver in 1929, which he demonstrated to RCA in 1930. (which he later joined.) There are stories of Zworykin traveling the globe to patent his Television, and become shocked that there already was a patent by Takayanagi in Japan,)

Takayanagi’s prototype projected the image onto a cathode ray tube – though basic, this was the model to be used in future Televisions of the world. This was quite a feat, as Takayanagi was researching alone. He was first at a University with limited funding,, but went solo, after he lost his research status. He had so little of a budget, that he had to create much of his own research equipment by hand.

After demonstrating to the Prime Minister of Japan in 1930, Takayanagi is given enough of a budget to start a team.

Takayanagi’s team (Takayanagi - front center) Source: NHK

By 1935, Takayanagi was able to invent a Television Camera, and in 1937 Takayanagi invents a TV receiver with 441 lines / 30 fps resolution – the highest in the world, at the time, and not far from the current standard.

Takayanagi’s rasterizer and camera (Source: NHK)

In 1936, NHK (Japan’s Public Broadcasting Station) invites Takayanagi to develop their Television broadcasting system, as there was an Olympics planned in Tokyo for 1940, which would be prime material for broadcasting on Television.

However, in 1940, WWII started, and the NHK project was disbanded. Takayanagi was recruited into the Navy, and is ordered to research Radar. The war ends in 1945, but the GHQ ordered Takayanagi to stop research on the Television, as they feared the technology could be used in weapons. Moreover, they claimed he was a criminal of war, as he helped research radar for the Japanese Navy.

Only after the GHQ reversed their decision did Takayanagi return to the Television research scene. He rounded up various electronics corporations in Japan to research jointly, and finally in 1953, Japan’s first broadcast – a Kabuki play turned into a reality. Takayanagi’s standard for Japanese Televisions was 525 lines at 30 fps – the highest resolution worldwide.

Japan’s first Television broadcast (Source: NHK)

Takayanagi and his disciples eventually went on to develop the color TV and the VHS in the years to come. Takayanagi passed away in 1990 at the age of 91.

Bibliography

Takayanagi:

Other Inventors: