His electronic system lacked some of the finesse of Farnsworth's model, but his genius, combined with RCA's backing, would prove unstoppable. There were others. Ernst Alexanderson , the scientist who lost out to Zworykin at RCA . And of course, David Sarnoff , the RCA executive who ruthlessly molded TV into the commercially viable household commodity we know today. In the end, none of them could claim the title 'inventor of television,' for it came into being gradually, through all of their efforts combined.
Tube concludes with a look at the future of television in the digital age.
Over the next ten to fifteen years, the American public will increasingly receive television programs as digital signals, collapsing the separation between television and the Internet. With this great metamorphosis approaching, it is a particularly good time to look back at television's past. Tube will tell the MTV generation, if anything can, the story behind the device that has shaped them. It will explain to the nonscientist how television actually works, and it will tell us all about the men who devoted their lives to inventing it and who deserve greater fame. David E. Fisher , an author celebrated for his ability to make science understandable, and his son Marshall Jon Fisher , have created a book that is more than the history of an invention.