The television

An important thing can have a small beginning. The first television picture that was ever seen was not exciting

It was only a picture of a face, and the picture only tra­veled a few meters. But to the inventor, John Logie Baird, it was wonderful.

Baird had always been interested in science, but not all of his experiments had been successful. In 1900, when he was twelve years old, he and some friends built a private telephone system. It worked well, but one night a storm pulled down the wires that the boys had stretches across the street. A man who was standing in the street was hurt by the falling wires, and the boys' telephone system had to be closed down.

A few years later, Baird and a classmate built a plane, which they launched (with John in it) from a roof. Luckily, when the plane crashed, it fell on some grass, so John wasn't badly hurt.

After studying electrical engineering at the Royal Tech­nical College in Glasgow, Scotland, John Baird went to the University of Glasgow. When he finished school, he got a job in a power station that supplied electricity to the Clyde Valley in Scotland. When he used the power supply at the station for one of his experiments, all of the electri­city in the Clyde Valley was cut off! That was the end of his job.

At this time, one of Baird's friends lived in Trini­dad. Godfrey Harris had often written to Baird about the wonderful climate there. Now John decided to go to live in Trinidad.

When he returned to England in 1922, he had no job and very little money. Since he hadn't completely recovered from his illness, his doctor said he had to leave London and go to the seashore. Baird went to Hastings. He thought about some inventions that he was interested in. One of his ideas was transmitting pictures by wireless. He worked with an old motor that he had found in the junk behind an electrician's shop, a metal cookie container, an old wireless telegraph, some needles flashlight batteries, and pieces of wood. He almost killed himself several times by touching the wrong wires. For three years, he worked alone.

Finally, on October 2, 1925, Baird transmitted a picture of a human face - the face of a fifteen-year-old boy. In January 1926, members of the Royal Institution came to see his invention. Baird's demonstration was a success.

By 1929, the public had become interested in television. In September of that year, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation;, which controlled all broadcasting in England, started experimental transmission with Baird^’s equipment. However, other companies and inventors in England and the United States had discovered better transmission methods. In 1937, when the BBC examined all of the existing televi­sion systems, Baird's was not chosen. John Baird was not discouraged, however, and continued to work on other inven­tions.