Philo Farnsworth

Philo Farnsworth, seated in the middle, 1939

The television is arguably one of humanity’s favorite inventions. Society certainly changed as a result. And the person who stands at the very foundation, who brought the idea to life, was just a fourteen-year-old boy. His name was Philo Farnsworth. Ironically, he wouldn’t even consider this his most important invention.

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Philo was born on August 19, 1906, in a log cabin in Beaver, Utah. When he was eleven years old, his family moved to a farm in Rigby, Idaho, seeking better opportunities. There, amidst the rolling fields, young Philo found inspiration in an unlikely place: a plowed field. An idea took root as he gazed at the neat, parallel rows of soil stretching toward the horizon. If images could be broken down into lines and transmitted electronically, perhaps a machine could send moving pictures through the air. It was the beginning of what would become television.