Tag: 1927

Ninety seven years ago, on this day, September 7th, 1927,

Wikipedia – On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth’s image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, to a receiver in another room of his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco.[23] Pem Farnsworth recalled in 1985 that her husband broke the stunned silence of his lab assistants by saying, “There you are – electronic television!”[23] The source of the image was a glass slide, backlit by an arc lamp. An extremely bright source was required because of the low light sensitivity of the design. By 1928, Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press.[25] His backers had demanded to know when they would see dollars from the invention;[27] so the first image shown was, appropriately, a dollar sign. In 1929, the design was further improved by elimination of a motor-generator; so the television system now had no mechanical parts. That year Farnsworth transmitted the first live human images using his television system, including a three and a half-inch image of his wife Pem.[citation needed]

Television, the drug of a nation

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 307ppm. As of 2024 it is 420ishppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The context was that we had radio and if you could put pictures on that, well, whoop, you’d make some serious money. And of course, you could create the conditions for better education. Yeah, right. 

What we learn is that television as a technology is coming up to its 100th birthday. I didn’t know that,  I thought television was from the 30s. 

What happened next BBC suspended its television broadcasting during the war, and it came back after the war. And then in the US, ownership of televisions went through the roof between 1950 and 1956. And in the UK, the thing that really got people going was the coronation.

And for the TV/environment nexus, well, yes there was some good stuff. And then there was eco-pornography (see below). 

What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.

References

1972 Ecopornography post

Also on this day: 

September 7, 1936 – The Anthropocene does for the Thylacine…

September 7, 1977 – #climate scientist Stephen Schneider on Carson for the last time…

September 7, 2005 – “rule out nuclear” say Aussie green outfits.