As history has it, just one person did not invent the television. For almost two centuries, scientists and inventors from around the world have made various breakthroughs indifferent areas that together make the television.

The leap forward began in 1831 when Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction.

Joseph Henry also worked with electromagnetism. This was the beginning of electronic communication.

Almost thirty years later, thanks to the work of Abbe Giovanna Castelli, the first unmoving image was transmitted.

In 1873, scientists were able to transform still images into electronic signals through many experiments with a substance called selenium and light.

The idea of a television belonged to George Carey. His early drawing showed what he called a ‘selenium camera’, which was a device that would allow people to see things by electricity.

In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell invented a device called the ‘photophone’ which used light to transmit sound and he wanted to improve it so that it could send images too.

Four years later, a German inventor, Paul Nipkow made a device that had rotating disks that could send pictures over wire. It was called the Nipkow Disk.

The term “television” was first used at the World’s Fair in Paris, at a conference of electricity. The Russian Constantin Perskyi gave the name “television”.

In 1920, more work in light technology led John Baird to show how the television can be operated by reflected light. His idea was based on Nipkow’s scanning disks and developments in electricity.

June 14th 1923 is a very important date because Charles Jenkins transmitted moving images through a mechanical television (the radiovision) for the first time.

The 1900s was a huge shift in the development of the television. Although scientists and inventors were building television related devices before that, it was during this time that mechanical television systems were replaced by the electronic ones.

In 1907, the first electronic television system was built using ‘cathode ray tubes’.

At the same time, Philo Farnsworth began experimenting with the electronic television.

In 1924 the Russian Vladimir Zworykin got the licence for the first colour television system.

A year later, television was finally able to transmit the first moving image. This was 25 years after the mechanical television was able to transmit the moving image.

In 1927 Philo Farnsworth was given the licence for his invention of the Image Dissector. This device is considered the first complete electronic television system. A year later the television was officially introduced to America.

It was around this time that Charles Jenkins was responsible for introducing the first ever television commercial, and getting the television licence (in America).

The television was becoming very popular, and by 1931, there were more than 40,000 television sets in America. By this time, even France and Russia had begun using the TV.

In 1936, about 150,000 people in Berlin saw the Olympic Games in Berlin.

A few years later, the V shaped ‘rabbit ears’ antennae was invented by Marvin Middlemark which allowed the television picture to be controlled through a connection to radio signals.

The revolution of colour television (even though it had been there since 1904, by a German inventor, and then later in 1925 by Zworykin) was introduced and in 1953 the first television commercial in colour was broadcast.

The American Broadcasting Company showed the very first children’s TV programme on the 19th of August 1950.

The next few years, until now, the continuous inventions and improvements have given us the remote control, satellite TV, giant screen projections, the videocassette recorder, surround sound, and high definition images and many more.

Today we cannot imagine a life without the television. Almost every home in America has at least one or two television sets and the improvements on the technology just keep growing.