born Aug. 19, 1906, Beaver, Utah, U.S.
died March 11, 1971, Salt Lake City, Utah
U.S. engineer and inventor of electronic television.
While still in high school he began developing the early technology required for television , and in 1927 he successfully transmitted the first image using electronic means. He formed Farnsworth Television (later Farnsworth Radio and Television Corp.) in 1929 and invented numerous devices related to television, including equipment for converting an optical image into an electrical signal; amplifier, cathode-ray, and vacuum tubes; and electrical scanners and photoelectric materials. He held some 165 patents.