Television is something that everybody knows at least a little bit about, but you might not know that much about the history of television. You sit down for a little bit each day and watch some of your favorite shows to unwind. In the old days, television was such a revolutionary thing, but it might be taken for granted a bit now. Read on to get a brief history of television so that you can come to appreciate it just a bit more.
The Invention of the Cathode Ray Tube
Many people do not know this, but the technology that is necessary for televisions to come into being was conceptualized all the way back in 1897. A man named Ferdinand Braun invented the cathode ray tube, and the first images were produced using it in 1907. This was the first big step toward allowing television to become a thing. Once Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin’s image disconnector and iconoscope were developed, the pieces were in place for televisions to start being produced.
The Early Days of TV
By the time the late 1920s came around, there were 15 experimental television states in the United States. It would take decades for anything to really come of this, though. The technology was being fine-tuned and developed when World War II happened. Germany and England were both developing television technology at the time as well, but the war halted that significantly.
The United States would also have television production and development halted during the war, and few channels were on-air during this period. Advances in technology made during the war actually helped televisions to become better for consumers after the war. In the post-war period, television ownership numbers started to go through the roof. During the first five years of the 1950s, the growth of the television industry was monumental, and people started to come to appreciate television shows for the first time.
Cable TV and Modern Days
Eventually, the concept of cable TV came into being where people would pay money for access to channels with different content. The 1970s and 1980s changed TV substantially, and it can be said that these decades helped to shape the modern era of television. Today, televisions are a common centerpiece of the living room, and many couldn’t fathom not owning one. For millions of people, it’s still their primary source of news and entertainment despite the internet’s rising popularity.