BBC - Primary History - Famous People - John Logie Baird John Logie Baird Why is Baird famous? What Baird did John Logie Baird was a pioneer of television. Other people helped to invent television (TV). But Baird was the first to show TV pictures to the world. When did he live? Baird was born in 1888. He was born before there was radio or television. There were few cars on the roads, and no planes in the skies. When Baird died in 1946, there were rockets, jet planes, the first computers - and television. TV changed the world Baird's television showed 'live' pictures in people's homes. TV today works on a different system from Baird's. However, by showing that TV was possible, Baird helped change the world. Today, almost every home has television. Growing up Baird's family John Logie Baird was born in Scotland. He lived in the small fishing town of Helensburgh. His father John was a Christian church minister. His mother, Jessie Inglis, was from Glasgow. John was born on 13 August 1888.

He had an older brother James, and two older sisters, Annie and Jean (known as 'Tottie'). School days John hated school. He was often ill, so he missed lessons. He did not like games lessons, after which the boys had to take cold baths! He saved his pocket money to buy a camera. He was excited by cameras, cars and telephones. The young engineer When John was 12, he made his own telephone. He joined his phone to the homes of four friends, by hanging wires from trees and chimneys. He had to take down his wires after the driver of a horse bus had his hat knocked off! John and his friend Godfrey made a glider . Somehow it flew off the roof with John in it! He was lucky not to be badly hurt when the glider crashed in the garden. Ahead of the times The Bairds' house was the first in the town to have electricity. At 13, John built a generator , to make electric power to light the house. Sometimes he behaved like an absent-minded professor. How his cousins laughed when he scratched his head, holding a sticky porridge spoon! Becoming an inventor Student days Baird liked science. He loved stories about the future.

One day people might send pictures through the air. Radio (then called 'wireless') did this with sounds. Why not pictures? In 1906, aged 18, Baird went to college in Glasgow to study engineering. It took him eight years to finish, because he had time off for illness. Making money World War I began in 1914. Baird tried to join the Army, but was unfit. So he worked in a factory . He did not like it, and felt sorry for factory workers. He went into business on his own, hoping to get rich. Baird in business Baird sold medicines. He invented a shaving razor made of glass (so it would not rust). He sold extra warm socks for soldiers. He was still not well. His doctor told him he needed sunshine. So Baird went to the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. He started a factory making jam and pickles. Mystery experiments People passing Baird's house were puzzled. What were those strange flashing lights? Baird was busy with experiments . He was trying to send pictures through the air. Back to London Back in Britain, Baird started a shop in London.

He sold a soap called 'Baird's Speedy Cleaner'. In 1923, he moved to Hastings, beside the sea. One day he wrote to a friend, 'I have invented a means of seeing by wireless [radio]'. His friend said, 'stick to soap'! Moving pictures By the 1920s people could watch films in cinemas. The films were 'silent' (no sound). At home, people could listen to the 'wireless', but only 1 million people in Britain had radios. No one had yet seen moving pictures at home - television. Baird's first TV picture To make his first TV in 1924, Baird used boxes, biscuit tins, sewing needles, card, and the motor from an electric fan. His first TV picture showed a cross cut out of card. Baird's TV used spinning discs. His idea was to scan an image (the cross) with a spinning disc with tiny holes. Light from the image came through the holes in flashes. Baird then changed the flashes of light into electric signals. He sent the signals to a second spinning disc with tiny light bulbs instead of holes.

The bulbs flashed to make a fuzzy TV picture of the cross. Baird shows the world In 1925, Baird made better TV pictures of a ventriloquist's doll. William Taynton, an office boy , sat in front of Baird's camera. William was the first person to appear on TV! Baird showed his television at the Selfridges store in London. Forty famous scientists packed into his London office to see it. TV across the sea In May 1927, Baird sent pictures from London to Glasgow, through the phone line. In 1928 he sent the first TV pictures under the sea, from Britain to America. Baird's first television pictures were black and white. Soon he was making colour TV, with pictures of flowers, strawberries, and a man in a red and white scarf. The television age Secret work Baird worked with a small team of helpers. Some days he went off to do mysterious tests on hilltops. Some people said he was doing top-secret work on radar. How to watch TV? In 1929, the BBC started to test TV, in broadcasts . Would people buy TV sets to watch at home?

Or would they watch large-screen TV in cinemas? Baird wanted to televise 'live' sport in cinemas, and in 1931, he invented a TV camera for 'outside broadcasts'. An electronic rival Baird was not the only inventor working on television. Other engineers were also busy. They had made a rival electronic TV system. It gave better pictures, with a smaller camera. The first TV service The BBC tested both TV systems in 1936. Then disaster! In a fire at the London TV studio , Baird's equipment and important papers were burned. Baird was out of the race. In 1937, the BBC chose the Marconi-EMI electronic TV system. The world's first regular TV service started. The television age had begun. New ideas Baird did not give up. He tried selling large-screen TVs to cinemas. His firm made and sold electronic TVs. He went on trying new ideas. What happened to Baird? World War II Only 20,000 homes in Britain had a television by 1939. That was when World War II began. Television was shut down.

Baird's wife, Margaret, and their two children, were evacuated to the country. Their home in London was blown up by a bomb. Baird had to live in hotels, but went on working. What did Baird hope for? The government asked Baird to help plan television after the war. He hoped to give people colour television, in 3-D . He dreamed of big-screen TVs with high-definition (HD) pictures. Baird dies World War II ended in 1945. Television started again in 1946. Baird was planning to televise a victory parade that summer. Sadly, he fell ill, and died in June 1946. He was 58 years old. He was buried in his home town, in Scotland. Why do we remember Baird? Today TV brings us news, education, sport and entertainment. Events such as the Olympic Games are watched all over the world. John Logie Baird helped make this possible. He was one of Scotland's greatest engineers.

John Logie Baird and Television - History Learning Site John Logie Baird and Television Citation: C N Trueman "John Logie Baird and Television" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. John Logie Baird and Television John Logie Baird and the invention of the television are part of History. But the idea of the television did not start with Logie Baird in the 1920’s. In the late C19th, a number of scientists had made important discoveries that Baird would use in his first version of a television. Henri Becquerel found that light could be changed into electricity and, importantly, Ferdinand Braun had invented the cathode ray tube. By the 1920’s there were 50 serious attempts to invent the television from Russia, America, Germany, Britain and Japan. Many researchers had well resourced and staffed laboratories but the man who invented the television did not. John Logie Baird was born in 1888 near Glasgow. He had made money selling socks and soap.

This business he sold off to follow his dream of inventing a television. It became an obsession and to survive he had to borrow money from friends and use whatever materials he could including scraps. By 1925, he was ready to give the first public display of a working television. The chosen place was Selfridges in Oxford Street, London. Shoppers saw slightly blurred but recognisable images of letters. John Logie Baird with his television In 1927, Baird demonstrated colour television and a video-recording system he called a “Phonovision”. In 1928, Baird made the first transatlantic television transmission and one year later he started regular 30-line mechanical broadcasts. In 1936, the BBC started the world’s first regular high-definition service from Alexandra Palace using the Baird system, though it was abandoned one year later in favour of a system developed by Marconi-EMI. BY 1939, 20,000 television sets were in use in Great Britain, just 14 years after Baird’s first public demonstration of his system at work.

In 1940, Baird gave a demonstration of a high-definition full colour stereo television. The editor of the “Manchester Guardian” said at the beginning of the C20th when the word television was thought of that “the word (television) is half-Greek and half-Latin. No good will come of it.” One of the leading researchers into television in the 1930’s, Issac Shoenberg, told his research team (who had invented the world’s first practical television camera) that they “had invented the world’s biggest time-waster of all time.” Baird Television BAIRD TELEVISION WELCOME This site is about John Logie Baird (1888-1946), the Scotsman who was the first person in the world to demonstrate a working television system. On January 26th, 1926, a viable television system was demonstrated using mechanical picture scanning with electronic amplification at the transmitter and at the receiver. It could be sent by radio or over ordinary telephone lines, leading to the historic trans-Atlantic transmissions of television from London to New York in February, 1928.

This site provides information not only on Baird and his life's work, but also on other pioneers of television and the development of the television industry to the present day. The What's New section is on recent events, anniversaries, publications etc. concerning Baird. The Contents list gives access to a gallery of longer articles, some of which go back to the early 1920s. At the end of Contents are the Links to information about other prominent figures in the history of television and excellent other websites on television history. Updates are made to the site every few months by its creators Iain L. Baird and Malcolm H.I. Baird who are, respectively, the grandson and the son of J.L. Baird. CONTENTS (Last updated 1st January 2017) What's new at Bairdtelevision.com?

The Evolution of Television from Baird to the Digital Age January 27 - 11:30 am - 4:30 pm The IEEE UK and Ireland Section is arranging a full-day event at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, England) to celebrate the first public demonstration of television on 26th January 1926 at 22 Frith Street, London by John Logie Baird. The demonstration is recorded as being attended by some 40 members of the Royal Institution (RIGB). The event will be free to attend but by invitation only (you can request to be invited at the link below), with sponsorship including the IEEE Life Members Affinity Group. It will include presentations about the television inventions of John Logie Baird, setting them into the context of prior and subsequent TV inventions and developments, and other achievements which have led to the present availability of television-related products and systems.

The IEEE Board of Directors has approved an IEEE History Milestone Plaque to recognise the first public demonstration of television on 26th January 1926, to be installed in Frith Street, Soho, with an unveiling ceremony on 26th January 2017. Anyone may come to Frith Street to watch the unveiling which is expected to be at about 1400. A recording of the ceremony will be shown during the event at the Royal Institution on 27th January 2017. To ask to be invited to event on the 27th, please go to this link , and fill out the form at the bottom of the page where it says 'register your interest'. Diana Richardson (nee Baird), 1932-2016 Click here to read the tribute written by Elizabeth Richardson for the Museum of Communication, Burntisland on 10 July 2016, first published in their November 2016 newsletter. The 80th Anniversary of the World's First High Definition Television Service On the 2nd November 1936 the BBC launched its new 'high definition' television service for Greater London.

This was run using the competing television systems from two private companies, Baird Television Ltd. and Marconi-EMI. Malcolm Baird wrote a personal retrospective for the 75th Anniversary which won the Pat Leggatt Award from the British Vintage Wireless Society, and which still very much applies today. Click here to revisit the article . Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers: John Logie Baird Lecture - From Concept to Screen In this year's SMPTE (UK Section) John Logie Baird lecture, held on the evening of 22 June in London, speakers looked at how modern information technology in television has influenced the content chain from concept to screen. Click here for further details. On August 26 2014 the SMPTE first announced that John Logie Baird was inducted to their Honor Roll (scroll down to see the original news item below). The SMPTE still have the Certificate marking his entry onto its roll of honor. Iain Logie Baird was in attendance at the lecture to receive it on behalf of his late grandfather and the Baird family.

Jan Forman (1913-1987): One of Baird's Bright Boys A new article by Malcolm Baird has just been added to the site entitled, "Jan Forman (1913-1987): One of Baird's Bright Boys". Forman was one of the engineers to work at Baird Television Limited following the takeover by Gaumont British Film Corporation. He had previously worked for Philo T Farnsworth in the United States, and his career spanned several other fascinating developments. Click here to read the full article . Iain Logie Baird Leaves National Media Museum Following a major downsizing of the curatorial team at the National Media Museum, Iain's final day at the Museum was 13th May. He has worked as a curator at the Museum since 2007, and in the past two years, has worked on making major acquisitions to the Museum's collection, including the AGD West Archive, the 1923 HJ Round electro-dynamic microphone, and the 1950s BBC 'Little Ben' In-Vision clock.

An academic article on the first outside broadcast from a natural location was written and published in the Science Museum Group Journal with two more to be published shortly. The next question ... what does the future hold? Papers of Benjamin Clapp Purchased by University of Glasgow In September 2015 the University of Glasgow Library, with generous financial assistance from an anonymous donor, purchased the papers of Benjamin Clapp, a very important part of the story of John Logie Baird and the first trans-Atlantic television transmission. The collection, which includes Clapp's radio log book, papers, ephemera, and the earliest surviving Phonovision disc had been purchased by a foreign collector. The granting of the export license was delayed when the Science Museum Group raised an objection that these materials were of national historical importance. A six-month export bar was imposed. In his role as a curator at the National Media Museum, Iain Logie Baird presented the case for an export bar at the Arts Council hearing, and subsequently acted to champion efforts to find a domestic buyer - until the anonymous donor stepped forward. Click here for more information.

Television is 90 Malcolm Baird looks back on 90 years of UK television since the first public demonstration by his father on 26 January 1926. Click here to read Malcolm Baird's article Television is 90 published on this website. Capturing the Song of the Nightingale Iain Baird's article " Capturing the Song of the Nightingale " has been published in the Science Museum Group Journal. The first outside broadcast ever made by the British Broadcasting Company from a natural location was the Nightingale broadcast of 19 May 1924, in which cellist Beatrice Harrison performed a 'duet' with nightingales in her garden. The broadcast was made possible by an improved microphone developed by the Marconi Company for the early BBC. The event involved a name familiar to students of television history, Captain A G D West, who was the BBC engineer in charge of the broadcasts - one of his first jobs for the BBC. A few weeks later, West would pay his first visit to Hastings to report on Baird's experiments.

"Stookie Bill" part of Helensburgh's new Outdoor Museum On June 20 2015 an Outdoor Museum was unveiled in the town of Helensburgh, John Logie Baird's birthplace. This was part of the CHORD project sponsored by the Argyll and Bute Council, consisting of a number of statues and inscribed plinths erected around Helensburgh's Colquhoun Square. To mark the television achievements of J.L. Baird, it was decided to feature the dummy known as "Stookie Bill" that Baird used in his early experiments in the 1920s. The sculpture was created from a laser scanned image, using 3D printing. A quote from J.L. Baird's memoirs is included in the inscription on the south side of the plinth. Television on the West End Stage - an Anniversary Malcolm Baird recalls that it is almost exactly 80 years since television was featured in a smash hit musical play in London's West End. "Glamorous Night", a creation of Ivor Novello with lyrics by Christopher Hassall, opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on May 2nd 1935.

The hero, played by Novello himself (shown here), is Anthony Allen, an Englishman who has invented a new television system. The opening scene is set in a quiet suburb, where Anthony complains that no one in Britain will support his invention financially. Then he departs on a pleasure cruise and ends up in the somewhat Ruritanian land of Krasnia. Here he meets Militza, a prima donna with whom King Stefan of Krasnia is infatuated. The plot then moves into the usual mixture of adventure and romance which went over well on the stage 80 years ago. Anthony of course falls in love with the glamorous Militza but eventually she must marry King Stefan in order to save her country from anarchy. On the plus side for Antony, the King has adopted his invention, so he travels back to England where, in the final scene, he sadly watches the Krasnian royal wedding broadcast on his own television system. The production played to packed houses.

The critics were grudgingly favourable and one comment was "if it is nonsense, it is glamorous nonsense, and for those who are ready to be entertained, it is the best show of its kind Drury Lane has had for years." A few weeks after the opening, King George V and Queen Mary attended a performance. Afterwards, the King remarked to Ivor Novello, "We enjoyed ourselves tremendously, with one reservation -- we could have wished a different ending. We found it a little sad, the Queen and I; in fact you made the Queen cry. Make the next one with a happy ending please." In the final scene of "Glamorous Night", Anthony is dwarfed by a huge television image of Militza's wedding. This is rather at odds with the real world of television, as the B.B.C. was still broadcasting on the 30-line Baird system which gave an image a few inches in size. However my father had demonstrated large screen black and white television in a London cinema as early as 1930 and in 1935 he was working on large screen colour television. It is not on record that anyone in our family ever went to see the show.

My mother might have been interested but she was expecting a baby (me!). At this time, my father's company was working to upgrade its television systems for the competition for the first high definition television on the B.B.C. But in January 1937 the all-electronic Marconi-EMI 405 line system was adopted. The success of "Glamorous Night" is an indication of the grip that television had on the public imagination. A few years later it was made into a film, but the television connection was quietly written out of the script, with Anthony Allen's occupation being changed from inventor to newspaper reporter. The film industry was getting nervous about television and this was fully justified by the disastrous impact of television on cinema attendance after World War II. John Logie Baird honored by SMPTE On August 26 2014 the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) announced that John Logie Baird has been inducted to their Honor Roll. This is welcomed by the Baird family because it marks a significant US recognition of Baird, who has been briefly dismissed by some American television historians.

The SMPTE citation reads as follows: The Honor Roll posthumously recognizes individuals who were not awarded Honorary Membership during their lifetimes but whose contributions would have been sufficient to warrant such an honor. John Logie Baird (1888-1946) is inducted into the SMPTE Honor Roll in recognition of his lifelong contributions as a pioneer in television technology. His accomplishments include the first live television demonstration (in 1926), the first publicly shown color television system (1928), and the first fully electronic color television picture tube. The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) began regular transmissions with the Baird 30-line system in 1929. Baird continued to develop new technology including a mechanical color system in 1939 (later adopted by CBS in America); a 500-line 3-D system in 1941; and demonstrated a fully electronic 600-line color display in 1944. Baird lobbied for post-war adoption of his 1,000-line electronic color television system.

Photo Credit - The LIFE Picture Collection, Getty Images Other pioneers who were Honorary Members or on the Honor Role of SMPTE include the following: Walter Bruch (1989) Elmer W. Engstrom (1966) Professor Malcolm Baird receives Pat Leggatt Award Malcolm Baird has received a splendid inlaid glass plaque from the Britsh Vintage Wireless Society (BVWS) -- the Pat Leggatt award for their best article in 2012. This article appeared in the BVWS quarterly bulletin, reflecting on the 75th anniversary of the BBC's Alexandra Palace television studios. Print versus Television: from Baird to McLuhan On 26 September 2012, Professor Malcolm Baird spoke at the first public meeting of the Helensburgh Heritage Trust winter season, held at the Helensburgh Tennis Club. The Trust's president, he gave a talk entitled 'Print versus Television: from Baird to McLuhan', but because he had a very sore throat his presentation was read by Trust chairman Stewart Noble. Has television taken the place of print? To read the full text of the presentation, click here .

Anniversaries in 2017 90th - 27 May 1927 - Television images are sent from London to Glasgow by telephone line 85th - 22 August 1932 - The BBC launches an "experimental" low-definition television service using Baird equipment. 80th - 6 February 1937 - The BBC discontinues its use of the Baird 240-line television systems of high definition television, adopting the 405-line television systems of Marconi-EMI 80th - 5 December 1937 - Large screen colour television is shown at the Dominion Cinema, London 60th - 28 October 1957 - Baird is the posthumous subject of the BBC programme "This is Your Life" Books about J.L. Baird (1) An important book appeared in 2009 under the title Images Across Space. The electronic imaging of Baird television. The author, Dr. Douglas Brown, is Director of the Science and Technology Forum at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The book is mostly based on his master's and Ph.D.

theses (1996, 2000). A detailed review by Malcolm Baird is available on this website. [this picture of Dr. Brown by courtesy of Helensburgh Heritage Trust] (2) In 1932, Baird Television Ltd. was rescued from financial difficulties when it was taken over by a major UK film company, the Gaumont British Picture Co. Its leader, Isidore Ostrer, believed that television was an opportunity for the film industry, rather than a threat. He foresaw that large-screen television of a news or sporting event could be shown to cinema audiences as well as conventional feature films. A new book entitled The Ostrers and Gaumont British has been written by Isidore's nephew Nigel Ostrer and it is reviewed by Malcolm Baird in the Gallery above... (3) The Master Switch is a detailed economic history of major electronic media (including television) by Prof. Tim Wu of Columbia University. A review by Malcolm Baird appears in the Gallery. (4) A 340-page television history has appeared from Lulu Publications (2011) under the title Spinning Discs, Mirrors and Electrons.

It is by Australian authors Robert Forster and Douglas Grant, who give a broad technical coverage from the early scientific observations in the 19th century up to the arrival of video recording in about 1960. The book contains a chapter on J.L.Baird, as well as details on the work of less well-known pioneers such as Tihanyi (Hungary), Von Ardenne (Germany) and Walton (England). This book was favourably reviewed in the March 2012 issue of the AWA Journal which circulates to the members of the Antique Wireless Association of the USA. (5) On May 15 2012, Dr. Douglas Brown's new book entitled "The Three Dimensions of John Logie Baird" was published by the Radio Society of Great Britain. John Logie Baird is remembered as the inventor of television with the qualification that his first system was mechanical. Dr. Brown's book sets out Baird's later work in electronic colour, 3D and holographic television and his significant contributions to other information sciences and their resulting technologies. It goes into detail about how the systems worked and their later development after John Logie Baird's death.

Further details and ordering information can be obtained at the following link: . Malcolm Baird has recently reviewed the book on this website to read this review click here . (6) In May 1927 John Logie Baird made an historic television transmission from his company office in London, to the Central Hotel in Glasgow. The hotel has recently been refurbished and renamed as the Grand Central Hotel. Baird's part in the hotel's history is described in a recent book: Glasgow's Grand Central Hotel: Glasgow's most loved hotel, by Bill Hicks and Jill Scott, published in January 2012 by Waverley Books. 60-line television pictures in colour from France It is easy for modern critics to scoff at the quality of low-definition television pictures as produced by mechanical means in the 1920s. Readers will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the 60-line colour pictures recently produced by the replica mechanical system of Roger Dupouy who lives in Clermont Ferrand, in France. The scanning lines are much less obvious in a colour picture than in black and white. Roger has also held exhibitions of early mechanical equipment, see poster on right.

Please refer to the website Large Screen 3D TV from Sky and the BBC after 64 years In March 2008 a Scotland vs. England rugby match was shown on large-screen 3D television at the old Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, West London. As reported in the sports section of The Times of March 11 2008, the viewing audience wore special glasses to get the 3D effect. More recently, The Daily Mail of December 19 2008 reported that Sky Television will soon be introducing 3D programmes. Since then there has been a gradual campaign to build up consumer interest in 3D television. This technology was first developed and patented by John Logie Baird in World War II at his private laboratory in London, while the German bombs were falling. A full-page description of Baird's 3D television appeared in the Illustrated London News on May 9th 1942. In his 1944 testimony to Lord Hankey's commission on postwar television development, Baird had recommended the early use of 3D technology in broadcast programmes.

Baird's recommendation has been followed after nearly 70 years, which seems like quite a long time to wait. Recent books on people in J.L. Baird's circle John Logie Baird was a public figure during the second half of his life and his circle included many interesting people who were also public figures. Several of these are mentioned in recently published books which are noted below. Kew Edwin Shelley (1894-1964) Mr. Shelley was a London barrister who helped Baird to form a new television company in 1944 and later became co-executor of his estate. Shelley was a paternal grandson of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (1844-1906) who had been the first president of the Indian National Congress. In 1921 Shelley had changed his surname from Bonnerjee by deed poll. His background is detailed in Family History, by Janaki Agnes Penelope Majumdar (edited by Antoinette Burton, published 2003, Oxford University Press).

In her memoir, written in 1935, Mrs.Majumdar provides a personal account of two distinguished anglophile Indian families. William Le Queux (1869-1927) Le Queux was a phenomenally successful spy story writer of the early 20th century and his writings are said to have led to the formation of MI5. He was living in Hastings while Baird was doing his early television experiments and he gave moral (but not financial) encouragement. A detailed biography, William Le Queux, Master of Mystery, has been written by Chris Patrick and Stephen Baister and privately published by them in 2007. John C.W. Reith, (1889-1971) Sir John Reith was Director General of the BBC while Baird and his company were trying to convince the BBC to broadcast television. In a new memoir entitled My father, Reith of the BBC,(2006, St.Andrew Press, Edinburgh), Marista Leishman provides a unique view of her father's prickly and eccentric personality, against the backdrop of his public achievements and eventual elevation to the peerage.

This book confirms that Reith did not like television, though his personal relationship with Baird was not as bad as has sometimes been alleged. Leonard Frank Plugge (1889-1981) Mr. Plugge was a pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting to the UK in the 1920s and 1930s, when such programmes were transmitted from continental Europe for legal reasons. He first met Baird in the Hastings days and they met frequently in London during World War II, when Plugge was an M.P. and chairman of the Parliamentary Scientific Committee. A biography of Plugge entitled: And the World Listened -- Leonard Frank Plugge, by Keith Wallis, (Kelly Books, UK) appeared in March 2008 and a review is given on this website. (see above) Isidore Ostrer (1889-1975) This book, published in 2010, is the subject of a news item (above) and it has been reviewed by Malcolm Baird in the Gallery. A Wee Poem Many books and articles have been written about John Logie Baird, but few poems have appeared.

A recent Scottish poem "An Engineer Sae Bricht", shown in the Gallery, is by Andrew Roxburgh McGhie, Associate Director of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter at the University of Pennsylvania. John Logie Baird: a life hardback * c. 450 pages * 70 b/w illustrations ...a meticulously researched story based on first hand interviews and quoting many new documentary sources, some of which have only recently become available. At long last we have a book that sounds and feels like the truth about the man who was the first in the world to demonstrate working television (Michael Bennett-Levy, 2002)... click here for the rest of the review "Kamm and Baird, the latter the inventor's son, paint a strikingly clear portrait of the inventor who started it all." (Russell A Potter, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (US) 2004) Available in the U.K. (incl. international orders) from Amazon.co.uk Available in the U.S.A.

from Amazon.com Available in Canada from Chapters.Indigo Research materials The National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh has recently acquired a large collection of research information used in the writing of the above book by Antony Kamm and Malcolm Baird. The Accession Number is 17274. Television and Me: The Memoirs of John Logie Baird paperback * c. 160 pages * heavily illustrated The autobiography of John Logie Baird. A new version of his memoirs, only published previously as a specialist monograph, are written with blunt candour and caustic wit. His memoirs cover the wild escapades of his early business career and the dramatic pioneering days of his scientific work. "Television and Me" was named Critic's choice, Scottish book of the year 2004. Excerpt: Baird's Story is Pick of the Best (Scottish Daily Mail, Jan. 7th, 2005) by Tom Kyle It is rare indeed to find a book of real literary, scientific and historical importance. So the appearance in the spring of the little-known and almost unpublished, autobiography of the most influential Scot who ever lived was the most significant publishing event of the year.

Television and Me: The Memoirs of John Logie Baird ... was living proof that the best books need not always be the most lavish or expensive. Baird tells his own story - from his Helensburgh boyhood to the great and precarious days when the first television pictures were transmitted, to his ultimate betrayal by the BBC - with a caustic turn of phrase and a self-deprecating wit. His memoir is a fabulous distillation of all the joy and bitterness, hurt and humour of an extraordinary man. I said at the time I doubted there would be a better written, more interesting or more important book published in 2004. I see no reason to revise that opinion now. The Scots Magazine, September 2004 "...Baird was not given the recognition which was his by right during his lifetime." Copyright Bairdtelevision.com, 1998-2016. All rights reserved.

Who invented television, Inventor, Invention, Pioneer, Inventor of Television was, John Logie Baird, Inventor of color television, Inventor of colour television, Inventor of HDTV, 1000 lines, 600 lines, Malcolm Baird, Iain Baird, television, TV, antique, vintage, history, history of television, historic, historical, radio with pictures, radio-vision, tele-vision, seeing by wireless, radiovisor, radiovision, facsimilie, TV, television limited, cinema television, cintel, rank, Scophony, cinema, canadian television, practical television, televisor, radiovisor, Baird, John, Logie, Malcolm, Iain, Farnsworth, Charles Francis Jenkins, Vladimir Zworykin, David Sarnoff, Ives, D'Albe, Manfred Von Ardenne, Lee DeForest, Paul Nipkow, Isaac Schoenberg, Kalman Tihanyi, Francois C. P.

Henrouteau, Kenjiro Takayanagi, Boris Rosing, Denes Von Mihaly, McLuhan, neon tube, scanning, mechanical, telechrome, Noctovision, Phonovision, Noctovisor, Phonovisor, John, Logie, Malcolm, Iain, Baird broadcasting, Baird transmitter, Baird receiver, Television, Televisor, Telechrome, Television lens disc, mirror drum, flying spot, Emitron John Baird - Mechanical Television System By Mary Bellis Updated August 10, 2016. John Logie Baird was born on August 13th, 1888, in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland and died on June 14th, 1946, in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England. John Baird received a diploma course in electrical engineering at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (now called Strathclyde University), and studied towards his Bachelor of Science Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Glasgow, interrupted by the outbreak of W.W.I. John Baird - Mechanical Television System Baird is best remembered for inventing a mechanical television system .

During the 1920's, John Baird and American Clarence W. Hansell patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television and facsimiles respectively. Baird's 30 line images were the first demonstrations of television by reflected light rather than back-lit silhouettes. John Baird based his technology on Paul Nipkow's scanning disk idea and later developments in electronics. continue reading below our video Profile of John Baird John Baird Milestones The television pioneer created the first televised pictures of objects in motion (1924), the first televised human face (1925) and a year later he televised the first moving object image at the Royal Institution in London. His 1928 trans-atlantic transmission of the image of a human face was a broadcasting milestone. Color television (1928), stereoscopic television and television by infra-red light were all demonstrated by Baird before 1930. He successfully lobbied for broadcast time with the British Broadcasting Company, the BBC started broadcasting television on the Baird 30-line system in 1929. The first simultaneous sound and vision telecast was broadcast in 1930.

In July 1930, the first British Television Play was transmitted, "The Man with the Flower in his Mouth." In 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation adopted television service using the electronic television technology of Marconi-EMI (the world's first regular high resolution service - 405 lines per picture), it was that technology that won out over Baird's system. John Baird Father of Television | brought to you by EntertainmentCenterSpot Powered By VerisignTM John Logie Baird and the Invention of Television A Scottish engineer, John Logie Baird was the inventor of the first publicly demonstrated and public television in the whole world. He was also the inventor of the first color, electronic television tube. His significant place in the invention of the television is secured by way of his achievements in displaying working television broadcasts. Baird’ television system was in the end displaced by a purely electronic television system, his having been an electromechanical one. Baird was a Scotsman, born in Helensburgh on August 13, 1888. He went on to be educated at Larchfield Academy, which was also in Helensburgh.

His studies at institutes of higher learning took place at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College and then later on at the University of Glasgow. Interestingly, he never returned to his university to finish his course work after World War I interrupted his studies. Early Influence Arthur Korn was a German-born, Jewish inventor, and he both invented and crafted the first circuits for signal conditioning that were for image transmission. Korn’s circuits permitted him to send pictures either by wireless or by telephone between oceans and countries. His circuit worked even without the advantage of electronic amplification. Baird was a direct beneficiary of this technology of Korn’s. The First Television Baird’s success was founded upon being able to create the first moving, live, grayscale television image that came from reflected light. He was successful since he bettered the signal conditioning from both the video amplifier and the photocell. On the back of this success, the Scotsman, in the early 1920s, began to rent a workshop in Hastings, which he would use for his experimentations. After getting a massive electric shock and consequently being evicted by his landlord, Baird took his experiments to a workshop in London’s Soho neighborhood.

On October 2, 1925, Baird made a breakthrough by succeeding at transmitting the very first grayscale, television image. After this success, Baird looked for publicity by paying a visit to the offices of the Daily Express newspaper, yet the editor at the time thought him to be mad and warned his staff to be wary of him. A few months later in January of 1926, Baird demonstrated his transmission success to both a reporter from the Times newspaper as well as members of the Royal Institution. More demonstrations followed thereafter: In July of 1928, he demonstrated the very first color transmission in the world, and in 1932, he demonstrated the first ultra-short wave transmissions in Britain. Above - An illustration from Radio News of April, 1928. A larger version of this illustration can be found here . Other Innovations In 1927, the Scotsman had already transmitted a long-distance television signal between Glasgow and London. This was the precursor to him establishing his own company, the Baird Television Development Company Ltd., which holds the distinction of producing the first transmission across the Atlantic from London to New York in 1928.

It also made the first television program for the BBC. Baird’s television systems were used by the BBC until 1937, when they decided to switch to an electronic television system that was created by EMI-Marconi. Even though mechanical television systems had been relegated due to the more popular electronic systems, Baird still contributed to the newer medium. He both demonstrated and patented a system of 3-D television that had a definition of 500 lines in 1941, and he also performed the world’s first demonstration of a television display that was completely electronic in 1944. Though the Scotsman’s contributions were primarily to the television industry, he dabbled elsewhere. In his 20s, he attempted to make diamonds by heating up graphite, yet that resulted in the shorting out of Glasgow’s supply of electricity. Baird finally died on June 14, 1946, the casualty of a stroke that he endured a few months earlier. Today, Baird is buried in Helensburgh Cemetery along with his wife and parents. Further Resources John Logie Baird and the invention of television.

John Logie Baird: a life new facts * new background information * new assessments The authors draw on unpublished and, in some cases, hitherto unknown material to present a comprehensive new account of the life of this enigmatic and controversial Scottish genius. In January 1926 Baird was the first publicly to demonstrate real television. Other pioneering achievements followed, including the first transatlantic transmission, the first demonstrations of colour television and stereoscopic television, and the first video recordings. In the 1930s he twice televised the Derby, and was the first to demonstrate cinema television, in black-and-white and colour. During World War II he developed high-definition and stereoscopic television in colour, and invented the first all-electronic colour television tube. He also made significant advances in radio imaging, secret signalling, fibre optics, infra-red scanning, and fast facsimilie transmission. Throughout his life he struggled with ill health and lack of funding, to the extent that he paid for his initial research efforts and his final, heroic, and perhaps most startling, developments out of his own pocket. This balanced, thoroughly documented and splendidly readable account throws new light not only on Baird himself, but on many of those associated with him.

Truth is separated from legend, and the facts are uncovered behind Baird's auto-biographical memoir, published in 1988 as Sermons, Soap and Television, the text of which can now be compared with a recently discovered manuscript containing his own corrections. Fresh information is revealed about the 'lost' years in London and Hastings in the early 1920s, which includes for the first time details of the company Baird established to sell soap, his unconventional romance, and the Falkirk connection. Special treatment is given to Baird's troubled relationship with the BBC, and in particular to the role played by the corporation's director general, Sir John Reith. There is a full account of Baird's brave efforts to establish a presence in the USA. Also disclosed is the background to the boardroom coup which resulted in Baird being relieved of his duties as managing director of the company which he had founded. In the light of their review of existing sources and examination of fresh evidence, the authors reach several conclusions which modify or challenge received opinion.

Much of the documentation of from family and other archives, including Baird's wartime letters to his friend Sydney Moseley, extracts from the private diaries of Eustace Robb (the BBC's first television producer), company memos and reports of the early 1930s, and many of the sixty photographs, has never before been published. Technical details are described in non-technical language, supported by diagrams. ISBN 1 901663 76 0 * hardback * c. 450 pages * 70 b/w illustrations ANTONY KAMM is a former lecturer in publishing studies at the University of Stirling. His books include Collins Biographical Dictionary of English Literature (HarperCollins 1993), The Romans: an introduction (Routledge 1995), Julius Caesar: a beginner's guide (Hodder and Stoughton 2002). DR MALCOLM BAIRD, son of John Logie Baird, is a former chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department, McMaster University, Ontario. He has written numerous articles for academic and specialist journals.

NMS Publishing Limited Tel: + (0) 131 247 4026 Fax: + (0) 131 247 4012 Email: publishing@nms.ac.uk "a meticulously researched story based on first hand interviews and quoting many new documentary sources, some of which have only recently become available. At long last we have a book that sounds and feels like the truth about the man who was the first in the world to demonstrate working television." (Michael Bennett-Levy, 2002)... click here for the rest of the review "Kamm and Baird, the latter the inventor's son, paint a strikingly clear portrait of the inventor who started it all." (Russell A Potter, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (US) 2004) Available in the U.K. (including international orders) Amazon.co.uk Available in the U.S.A. from Amazon.com Available in Canada from Chapters.Indigo

Question: In which John Logie Baird invent television?
Answer: 1920s