Who Was the First Person to Transmit Moving Pictures?

Who Was the First Person to Transmit Moving Pictures? John Logie Baird (1888-1946), was an engineer and inventor, he is most famous for being the first person to demonstrate a working television. John Logie Baird was born in Scotland and studied electronic engineering at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, then worked as an engineer, but had to stop because of illness.

In September 1920, and after a brief spell in business in London, he started to experiment with television. In Hastings in 1924 he transmitted the image of a Maltese cross over the distance of 10 feet.

Baird’s first public demonstration of television was in 1925, in Selfridge’s shop in London. The breakthrough came in October 1925 when Baird achieved television pictures with light and shade (half-tones), making them much clearer.

On January 26, 1926, the Scottish inventor gave the first public demonstration of a live television system using spinning mechanical disks to transmit moving images. He demonstrated these to invited members of the Royal Institution. The pictures measured only 3.5 x 2 inches.

In 1928 Baird sent television pictures from London to New York by short-wave radio. He also demonstrated television in colour, and developed a video recording system which he called ‘phonovision’.

In 1929 he invented the first television system; this could transmit pictures from one place to another. The pictures were scanned on a screen made up of 240 horizontal lines, and the system was first used by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1929 the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) sent out experimental television transmissions. At first Baird had to pay the BBC to transmit his images. In 1930 the Baird company brought out the world’s first mass produced television set, called ‘The Televisor’.

In Britain, it was replaced in 1936 by a system which scanned across 405 lines. Now, a 625- line system is usually used. He also experimented with stereophonic sound, color television and three-dimensional images.

The BBC began using his system for the first public television service in 1932, before switching in 1937 to the Marconi-EMI version. In July 1937 the Royal Society of Edinburgh awarded Baird an Honorary Fellowship. At the age of 43, John Logie Baird married South African pianist Margaret Albu in New York. The couple had two children – Diana and Malcolm.

During the Second World War, Baird continued to fund his own research. His achievements included high-definition colour and 3D television, and a system for sending messages very rapidly as television images. Baird died at home in Bexhill-on-Sea on 14 June 1946, and was buried in Helensburgh.

Content for this question contributed by Jill Hatch, resident of Monson, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA