USA: 21-year old Filo T Farnsworth demonstrates the first working transmission of a televised image.
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Philo T Farnsworth, adjusting a television camera during a demonstration of his television system at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 28 Aug 34
At age 14, farm boy Philo dreamed of trapping light in an empty jar, from which it could be transmitted. More accurately, he dreamed of using a lens to direct light into a glass camera tube, where it could be analyzed in a magnetically deflected beam of electrons, dissected and transmitted one line at a time in a continuous stream.
It is said that his inspiration came to him on the farm, looking at rows of plowed earth and envisioning that electron beams could do the same thing with images, leaving a trail of data line-by-line.
In his first working transmission of a television image, he took a glass slide, smoked it with carbon and scratched a single line on it. This was placed in a carbon arc projector and shined onto the photocathode of the first camera tube. which used a phosphor on the photocathode that was not very sensitive to light, as were the phosphors that would be later developed.
At this time, the lights used to illuminate objects to be televised were extremely bright and very hot; too much for human subjects to endure. But by 1930, many improvements had been made and Philo's wife, Pem, became the first human subject to be transmitted on television, though only for a few moments.
Philo T Farnsworth in 1935 with a working television set
In the summer of 1934, Philo T Farnsworth staged the first public display of his pioneering television system at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute. Over the next three weeks, Farnsworth treated his audience to musical performances, vaudeville acts, speeches by dignitaries, and trained animal acts.
Elma "Pem" Gardner Farnsworth, Philo's wife and history's first televised human
According to his wife, Pem, "Phil saw television as a marvelous teaching tool. There would be no excuse of illiteracy. Parents could learn along with their children. News and sporting events could be seen as they were happening."
She added, "Symphonies would mean more when one could see the musicians as they played, and movies would be seen in our own living rooms. He said there would be a time when we would be able to see and learn about people in other lands. If we understood them better, differences could be settled around conference tables, without going to war."
Later in his life, Philo's attitude was tempered by the reality of commercial television programming. His son Kent was once asked about his father's attitude. Kent reported, "I suppose you could say that he felt he had created kind of a monster, a way for people to waste a lot of their lives. Throughout my childhood his reaction to television was, 'There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet.' "
A moving picture of Joan Crawford on a cathode tube at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 28 Aug 34
Unlike other experimental television systems that projected light rays, Philo T Farnsworth's used a cathode ray tube to create the picture by a bombardment of electrons on the inside of a specially treated surface of the tube.
Filo Farnsworth's 1957 TV game show appearance
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While broadcast television was still in its infancy, Farnsworth appeared on "I've Got A Secret" as "Doctor X" and stumped the panel with his secret "I invented electronic television" and won a modest amount of cash (and a carton of cigarettes).
Related dates...
07 Sep 27: Philo Farnsworth demos first televised image
CBI - China: Day 63 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 26 of 106 of the 2nd Battle of Shanghai.
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1938 — , September 7
Spain: Day 783 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 428 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 89 of 139 of the Battle of Wuhan, China.
1939 — , September 7
ETO: Nine divisions of the French Army penetrate in to the Saarland, but their advance is very slow and no effort is made to attack the Westwall itself.
Poland: Day 7 of 36 of Germany's Invasion of Poland. Polish forces try to hold the line at the Narew River, but it starts to collapse. Krakow surrenders to German troops.
CBI - China: Day 793 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
CBI - Mongolia: Day 120 of 129 of the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
1940 — , September 7
ETO - UK: Day 2 of 258 of the Blitz. The German air blitz against England steps up and the British prepare for an invasion by German troops. The codeword "Cromwell" is passed nation-wide, through which all church bells are to ring out a warning when the German invasion begins.
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London ablaze during the Blitz, 07 Sep 40
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East Africa: Day 90 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,159 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 298 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
Day 19 of 42 of the Hundred Regiments Offensive.
1941 — , September 7
Russian Front - Finland: Day 78 of 164 of the Battle of Hanko. The Soviets will be forced off their leased naval base.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 4 of 28 of Finland's reconquest of East Karelia in southern Finland. The Soviets continue withdrawing from the Karelian Isthmus back to Leningrad.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 71 of 142 of Operation SILVER FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign to capture the Russian port of Murmansk in the Arctic. The offensive of the German 20th Mountain Army in northern Finland to capture the vital Allied Lend-Lease port of Murmansk, Russia, comes to a halt.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 69 of 140 of Operation ARCTIC FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign against Soviet Northern Front defenses at Salla, Finland.
Russian Front: Day 78 of 167 of Germany's Operation BARBAROSSA, the overall invasion of the USSR.
Russian Front - Center: Day 22 of 23 of the Battle of Dukhovshina, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 9 of 10 of the Battle of Yelnia, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 9 of 14 of the Battle of Roslavl-Novozybkov, Russia.
Russian Front - South: Day 31 of 70 of the Siege of Odessa, Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 16 of 35 of the 1st Battle of Kiev, Ukraine. The German 6th Army achieves a breakthrough at Konotop.
MTO - Libya: Day 151 of 256 of the Siege of Tobruk.
Middle East: Day 14 of 24 of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
East Africa: Day 455 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,524 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 2 of 33 of the 2nd Battle of Changsha.
1942 — , September 7
ETO: 8th Air Force bombers attack the shipyards at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Russian Front - North: Day 365 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 126 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - Center: Day 40 of 64 of the 1st Battle of Rzhev-Sychevka, Russia. Though it will end in a stalemate, it will keep German troops from going to Stalingrad.
Russian Front - South: Day 72 of 150 of Germany's CASE BLUE, the failed offensive to take the Caucasus oil fields.
Russian Front - South: Day 16 of 165 of the Battle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle in human history. The German 6th Army begin a four-mile advance through Stalingrad to the Volga.
MTO - Greece: US B-24s bomb convoys at sea, the Maleme Airfield in Crete and shipping in Suda Bay.
MTO - Egypt: British 8th Army stabilizes its line at Alam el Haifa after Montgomery suspends the battle.
East Africa: Day 126 of 186 of the Battle of Madagascar.
CBI - China: Day 1,889 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 116 of 124 of Japan's Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, launched to punish anyone suspected of aiding the Doolittle raiders in China. Roughly 250,000 Chinese will be killed.
PTO - Alaska: Day 93 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. The US and Canada will defeat the Japanese invaders.
PTO - Malaya: Day 201 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island, a long guerrilla war ending in Japanese victory.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 49 of 119 of the Battle of the Kokoda Track. The Japanese continue driving over the Owen Stanley Range toward Port Moresby. This will become an Allied victory.
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PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 32 of 187 of the Battle of Guadalcanal. US Marines launch a surprise raid on the Japanese base at Talou.
1943 — , September 7
ETO: US 8th Air Force: B-17s attack targets in Belgium and France. B-24s bomb an airfield in Netherlands and an Axis convoy in the Channel.
ETO: The RAF bombs a few V-1 rocket launch sites along the northern coastline of France.
Russian Front - North: Day 730 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 491 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - Center: Day 32 of 57 of the 2nd Battle of Smolensk, Russia. Becomes a Soviet victory as the Axis are pushed completely away from the Moscow region.
Russian Front - Center: Day 22 of 48 of the Battle of Bryansk, Russia. German troops began retreating.
Russian Front - South: Day 15 of 122 of the Battle of the Lower Dnieper River, USSR.
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MTO - Italy: 12th Air Force bombs targets at Foggia, Saptri, Trebisacce, Lauria and Catanzaro. Their P-40s attack targets in Sardinia while their A-20s support British landing near Pizzo.
CBI - China: Day 2,254 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Ellice Island: Japanese aircraft bomb Nanumea.
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1944 — , September 7
ETO - France: Day 38 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
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ETO - France: Refueled, Patton's US 3rd Army crosses the Moselle River en route to Nancy.
ETO: US 9th Air Force fighters support elements of the US 7th Army as they drive into the Rhone Valley in France. They destroy 500 armored vehicles leaving German Army Group B with 100 tanks.
Russian Front - South: Romania declares war on Hungary.
CBI - Burma: Day 160 of 302 of the Chinese Salween Offensive in Burma.
CBI - China: Day 2,620 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 144 of 259 of Japan's Operation ICHI-GO.
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1945 — , September 7
PTO: Surrendered Japanese troops on Wake Island formally surrender in an American flag raising ceremony.
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Formal surrender of Japanese on Wake Island
Japanese Rear Admiral and garrison commander on Wake Island, Shigematsu Sakaibara, is the officer to the right saluting the American flag as it is raised.
Admiral Sakaibara had ordered the 07 Oct 43 execution of the 98 captured American civilian workers on Wake Island who had initially been kept there to perform forced labor. They were taken to the northern end of the island, blindfolded and machine-gunned. One prisoner (whose name has never been discovered) escaped, but was recaptured and personally beheaded by Sakaibara.
He was later taken into custody by American occupation authorities and extradited to Guam to face a military tribunal for war crimes in connection with his actions in the "Wake Island Massacre." He was found guilt, sentenced to death and hanged on 18 Jun 47.
Until the end, Sakaibara maintained "I think my trial was entirely unfair and the proceeding unfair, and the sentence too harsh, but I obey with pleasure."
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