The wife of TV's inventor has signed off

RIP Elma Farnsworth, wife of Philo T. Farnsworth, who was widely credited for inventing television. Philo was a genius and died a penniless alcoholic.

Roll the signoff tape and shut off the transmitter...

PhotonWrangler said:

RIP Elma Farnsworth, wife of Philo T. Farnsworth, who was widely credited for inventing television. Philo was a genius and died a penniless alcoholic.

Roll the signoff tape and shut off the transmitter...

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Absolutely the single worst device ever to plague humanity.

I knew that Farnsworth died without much money, but the alcoholic part surprised me.

No source I can find states that alcohol was what caused his death, but I did find sources that said he died from emphysema, pneumonia, a perforated ulcer, complications of a perforated ulcer, and "undisclosed causes".

One source said he battled with alcohol earlier in his life, but that he was not drinking after his return to Utah.

What I did find interesting was how different the accounts of his life treated his health problems, some acting like they were no big deal, others talking about his constant battles with health problems, mental illness, etc.

At his death in 1971, though, the average TV contained 100 different parts that he had patented!

He was applauded as one of the 50 greatest scientists of the 20th century and the only one on the list who didn't finish college.

Bill

The British claim it was invented in 1926 by a man named Baird but you can find precursors for the idea a lot father back than that.

Weird how this came up; wasn't May 1st of this year also the date originally planned for the phase out of analog TV ?

According to Wikipedia, "Philo Farmsworth died from emphysema in 1971 at the age of 65."

To me, this implies that he died of the long term effects of tobacco smoking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

I've also heard different accounts of his health woes, and I don't believe that he actually died of an alcohol-related illness. From what I've read though, his epic battle with David Sarnoff and RCA led to a long bout of depression and subsequent alcohol use. Still, he had a lot of guts for going up against General Sarnoff.

I have also heard that a Mr. Zworkin (sp?) invented television, so it may well be that several individuals were working on similar ideas concurrently.

Zworkin worked for Sarnoff, if I remember right, and actually visited Farnsworth, staying in his home for 3 days, trying to glean ideas from him.

Farnsworth eventually won a Supreme Court case and a royalty settlement from RCA.

Bill

kill the babysitter.


rip