Philo Farnsworth

Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children{{cite news | title = Zworykin vs. Farnsworth, Part I: The Strange Story of TV's Troubled Origins | url =https://www.scribd.com/doc/146221929/Zworykin-v-Farnsworth-Part-1-The-Strange-Story-of-TV-s-Troubled-Origin | author-link = Frank Lovece | first= Frank | last= Lovece | work = Video | date = August 1985 | page = 71 | access-date = May 20, 2013}} of Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, a Latter-day Saint couple living in a small log cabin built by Lewis' father in Manderfield, near Beaver, Utah. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Bastian, was a Mormon immigrant from Denmark. In 1918, the family moved to a relative's {{convert|240|acre|km2|1|adj=on}} ranch near Rigby, Idaho,{{cite web | url = http://www.byhigh.org/History/Farnsworth/PhiloT1924.html | title= Philo Taylor Farnsworth: Mathematician, Inventor, Father of Television | publisher = Brigham Young High School Alumni | access-date=April 24, 2015}} Article edited by Kent M. Farnsworth, 2006. where his father supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find that his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick student in mechanical and electrical technology, repairing the troublesome generator. He found a burned-out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants and rewound the armature; he converted his mother's hand-powered washing machine into an electric-powered one.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}} He developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with a distant relative, and he discovered a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of their new home.{{cite book | last = Farnsworth | first = Elma G. | year = 1990 | title = Distant Vision: Romance and Discovery of an Invisible Frontier | location = Salt Lake City | publisher = PemberlyKent Publishers, Inc. | isbn = 978-0-9623276-0-5 | page = #? | url = https://archive.org/details/distantvisionrom00farn }} He won $25 in a pulp-magazine contest for inventing a magnetized car lock. Farnsworth was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.{{cite book|first1=Maxine |last1=Hanks | author-link = Maxine Hanks |first2=Jean Kinney |last2=Williams |year=2015|title= Mormon Faith in America|isbn= 978-1438140377|page=?|publisher=Infobase Learning }}{{cite book|first1=Terryl L.|last1= Givens | author-link = Terryl Givens |first2= Philip L. |last2=Barlow | author2-link = Philip Barlow |year=2015|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism| page= 10|publisher= Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-1904-6350-2 |quote=Philo Farnsworth, one of several inventors of television, was another Latter-day Saint media engineer.}}

Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked science teacher Justin Tolman for advice about an electronic television system that he was contemplating; he provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically, and Tolman encouraged him to develop his ideas.{{cite book|last=Barnouw|first=Erik | author-link = Erik Barnouw|title=Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television|url=https://archive.org/details/tubeofplentyevol00barn|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York}}

One of the drawings that he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and RCA.{{cite web| last = Godfrey| first = Donald| url = http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/farnsworthp/farnsworthp.htm| title = Farnsworth, Philo: U.S. Inventor| publisher = The Museum of Broadcast Communications| access-date = July 5, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070713085015/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/farnsworthp/farnsworthp.htm| archive-date = July 13, 2007| url-status = dead}}

File:Philo Farnsworth 1924.jpg

In 1923, the family moved to Provo, Utah, and Farnsworth attended Brigham Young High School that fall. His father died of pneumonia in January 1924 at age 58, and Farnsworth assumed responsibility for sustaining the family while finishing high school. After graduating BYHS in June 1924, he applied to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he earned the nation's second-highest score on academy recruiting tests. However, he was already thinking ahead to his television projects; he learned that the government would own his patents if he stayed in the military, so he obtained an honorable discharge within months of joining under a provision in which the eldest child in a fatherless family could be excused from military service to provide for his family. He returned to Provo and enrolled at Brigham Young University, but he was not allowed by the faculty to attend their advanced science classes based upon policy considerations. He attended anyway and made use of the university's research labs, and he earned a Junior Radio-Trician certification from the National Radio Institute, and full certification in 1925. While attending college, he met Provo High School student Elma "Pem" Gardner (1908–2006),{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/television/03farnsworth.html | title = Elma Gardner Farnsworth, 98, Who Helped Husband Develop TV, Dies | work = The New York Times | date = May 3, 2006}} whom he eventually married.

Farnsworth worked while his sister Agnes took charge of the family home and the second-floor boarding house, with the help of a cousin living with the family. The Farnsworths later moved into half of a duplex, with family friends the Gardners moving into the other side when it became vacant.{{cite book |last=Schatzkin |first=Paul |year=2023 |title=The Boy Who Invented Television |publisher=Incorrigible Arts |isbn=978-0-9762000-7-9}} He developed a close friendship with Pem's brother Cliff Gardner, who shared his interest in electronics, and the two moved to Salt Lake City to start a radio repair business. The business failed, and Gardner returned to Provo.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

Farnsworth remained in Salt Lake City and became acquainted with Leslie Gorrell and George Everson, a pair of San Francisco philanthropists who were then conducting a Salt Lake City Community Chest fund-raising campaign.{{cite web | last = Schatzkin | first = Paul | url = http://www.farnovision.com/chronicles/tfc-secret.html | title = The Farnsworth Chronicles | publisher = Farnovision.com | access-date = September 8, 2006}}{{harvnb|Farnsworth|1990|page=6}} They agreed to fund his early television research with an initial $6,000 in backing,{{cite news | title = Zworykin vs. Farnsworth, Part II: TV's Founding Fathers Finally Meet – In the Lab | url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/146222148/Zworykin-v-Farnsworth-Part-2-TV-s-Founding-Fathers-Finally-Meet-in-the-Lab | author-link = Frank Lovece | first= Frank | last= Lovece | work = Video | date = September 1985 | page = 97 | access-date = May 20, 2013 | ref=CITEREFLovece1985a}} and set up a laboratory in Los Angeles for Farnsworth to carry out his experiments.{{cite web |url=http://www.earlytelevision.org/philo_farnsworth.html |title=Early Electronic TV |access-date=September 21, 2008 | publisher=Early Television Foundation }}

File:San Francisco, Farnsworth's Green Street Lab plaque.jpg

Farnsworth married Pem on May 27, 1926, and the two traveled to Berkeley, California, in a Pullman coach. They rented a house at 2910 Derby Street, from which he applied for his first television patent, which was granted on August 26, 1930. By that time they had moved across the bay to San Francisco, where Farnsworth set up his new lab at 202 Green Street.

File:Farnsworth cvc 500h 1.jpg in the National Statuary Hall Collection, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.]]

A few months after arriving in California, Farnsworth was prepared to show his models and drawings to a patent attorney who was nationally recognized as an authority on electrophysics. Everson and Gorrell agreed that Farnsworth should apply for patents for his designs, a decision that proved crucial in later disputes with RCA.Collier's Magazine, October 3, 1936. Most television systems in use at the time used image scanning devices ("rasterizers") employing rotating "Nipkow disks" comprising a spinning disk with holes arranged in spiral patterns such that they swept across an image in a succession of short arcs while focusing the light they captured on photosensitive elements, thus producing a varying electrical signal corresponding to the variations in light intensity. Farnsworth recognized the limitations of the mechanical systems, and that an all-electronic scanning system could produce a superior image for transmission to a receiving device.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}}

On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth's image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, to a receiver in another room of his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. Pem Farnsworth recalled in 1985 that her husband broke the stunned silence of his lab assistants by saying, "There you are – electronic television!" The source of the image was a glass slide, backlit by an arc lamp. An extremely bright source was required because of the low light sensitivity of the design. By 1928, Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press. His backers had demanded to know when they would see dollars from the invention;Schwartz, Evan I., The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit & the Birth of Television, HarperCollins, 2002. {{ISBN|0-06-621069-0}} so the first image shown was, appropriately, a dollar sign. In 1929, the design was further improved by elimination of a motor-generator, which meant the television system now had no mechanical parts. During the same year, Farnsworth transmitted the first live human images with his system, including a {{convert|3.5|in|abbr=on}} image of his wife Elma ("Pem") with her eyes closed (possibly due to the bright lighting required).[http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Ms0648.xml/complete The Philo T. and Elma G. Farnsworth Papers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422211543/http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Ms0648.xml/complete |date=April 22, 2008 }}

Many inventors had built electromechanical television systems before Farnsworth's seminal contribution, but Farnsworth designed and built the world's first working all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices. He first demonstrated his system to the press on September 3, 1928,{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/philo.html |title=Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906–1971)|publisher=The Museum of the City of San Francisco|access-date= July 15, 2009|archive-date=November 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106124048/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/philo.html|url-status=live}}{{harvnb|Farnsworth|1990|page=108}} and to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934.{{cite book|last =Abramson | first=Albert | year = 1987 | title = The History of Television, 1880 to 1941 | publisher = McFarland & Co. | location = Jefferson, North Carolina | page = 209 | isbn = 978-0-89950-284-7}}

In 1930, RCA recruited Vladimir K. Zworykin—who had tried, unsuccessfully, to develop his own all-electronic television system at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh since 1923{{harvnb|Abramson|1987|pages=79–81}}—to lead its television development department. Before leaving his old employer, Zworykin visited Farnsworth's laboratory, and was sufficiently impressed with the performance of the Image Dissector that he reportedly had his team at Westinghouse make several copies of the device for experimentation.{{harvnb|Abramson|1987|pages=149–151}} Zworykin later abandoned research on the Image Dissector, which at the time required extremely bright illumination of its subjects, and turned his attention to what became the Iconoscope.{{harvnb|Abramson|1987|page=173}} In a 1970s series of videotaped interviews, Zworykin recalled that, "Farnsworth was closer to this thing you're using now [i.e., a video camera] than anybody, because he used the cathode-ray tube for transmission. But, Farnsworth didn't have the mosaic [of discrete light elements], he didn't have storage. Therefore, [picture] definition was very low.... But he was very proud, and he stuck to his method."{{sfn|Lovece|1985a|page=98}} Contrary to Zworykin's statement, Farnsworth's patent number 2,087,683 for the Image Dissector (filed April 26, 1933) features the "charge storage plate" invented by Tihanyi in 1928 and a "low velocity" method of electron scanning, also describes "discrete particles" whose "potential" is manipulated and "saturated" to varying degrees depending on their velocity.[https://farnovision.com/wp/no-iconoscope-in-1923/ Schatzkin], Paul. [https://farnovision.com/wp/no-iconoscope-in-1923/ "Reconciling The Historical Origins of Electronic Video", The Farnsworth Chronicles, excerpt] Farnsworth's patent numbers 2,140,695 and 2,233,888 are for a "charge storage dissector" and "charge storage amplifier," respectively.

In 1931, David Sarnoff of RCA offered to buy Farnsworth's patents for $100,000, with the stipulation that he become an employee of RCA, but Farnsworth refused.{{cite book | last = Everson | first = George | year = 1949 | title = The Story of Television: The Life of Philo T. Farnsworth | url = https://archive.org/details/storyoftelevisio00everrich | location = New York City | publisher = W. W. Norton & Co. | isbn= 978-0-405-06042-7 | page = #?}} In June of that year, Farnsworth joined the Philco company and moved to Philadelphia along with his wife and two children.{{harvnb|Farnsworth|1990|pages=135–138}} RCA later filed an interference suit against Farnsworth, claiming Zworykin's 1923 patent had priority over Farnsworth's design, despite the fact it could present no evidence that Zworykin had actually produced a functioning transmitter tube before 1931. Farnsworth had lost two interference claims to Zworykin in 1928, but this time he prevailed and the U.S. Patent Office rendered a decision in 1934 awarding priority of the invention of the image dissector to Farnsworth. RCA lost a subsequent appeal, but litigation over a variety of issues continued for several years before Sarnoff finally agreed to pay Farnsworth royalties.{{cite news | url = http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/farnsworth.html |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20000531100005/http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/farnsworth.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 31, 2000 | author-link = Neil Postman | last = Postman | first= Neil | title = The Time 100: Scientists & Thinkers: Philo Farnsworth | magazine = Time | date = March 29, 1999 | access-date = July 28, 2009}}{{cite book| title = Television: an international history of the formative years| author = Burns, R. W.| publisher = IET| year = 1998| isbn = 978-0-85296-914-4| page = 366| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gZcwhVyiMqsC&q=Dieckmann%20Hell%20image-dissector-tube%20aperture%20Farnsworth&pg=PA366}}

In 1932, while in England to raise money for his legal battles with RCA, Farnsworth met with John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor who had given the world's first public demonstration of a working television system in London in 1926, using an electro-mechanical imaging system, and who was seeking to develop electronic television receivers. Baird demonstrated his mechanical system for Farnsworth.{{Cite book|last=Godfrey|first=D. G.|year=2001|title=Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television. University of Utah Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/philotfarnsworth00godf/page/69 69]|publisher=University of Utah Press|isbn=978-0-87480-6755|url=https://archive.org/details/philotfarnsworth00godf/page/69}}

In May 1933, Philco severed its relationship with Farnsworth because, said Everson, "it [had] become apparent that Philo's aim at establishing a broad patent structure through research [was] not identical with the production program of Philco."{{harvnb|Abramson|1987|page=195}} In Everson's view the decision was mutual and amicable.{{harvnb|Everson|1949|pages=135–136}} Farnsworth set up shop at 127 East Mermaid Lane in Philadelphia, and in 1934 held the first public exhibition of his device at the Franklin Institute in that city.{{cite web | title = Philo T. Farnsworth (1906–1971) Historical Marker | url = http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3A6 | publisher = ExplorePAHistory.com (WITF-TV) | location = Philadelphia | access-date = January 19, 2016 | archive-date = March 20, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130320044731/http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3A6 | url-status = dead }}

After sailing to Europe in 1934, Farnsworth secured an agreement with Goerz-Bosch-Fernseh in Germany. Some image dissector cameras were used to broadcast the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.{{harvnb|Abramson|1987|pages=232–233}}

Farnsworth returned to his laboratory, and by 1936 his company was regularly transmitting entertainment programs on an experimental basis.{{harvnb|Everson|1949|pages=199–211}} That same year, while working with University of Pennsylvania biologists, Farnsworth developed a process to sterilize milk using radio waves.{{cite web | url = http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Ms0648.xml/complete | title = The Philo T. and Elma G. Farnsworth Papers (1924–1992) | publisher = University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080422211543/http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Ms0648.xml/complete | archive-date= April 22, 2008}} He also invented a fog-penetrating beam for ships and airplanes.

In 1936, he attracted the attention of Collier's Weekly, which described his work in glowing terms. "One of those amazing facts of modern life that just don't seem possible—namely, electrically scanned television that seems destined to reach your home next year, was largely given to the world by a nineteen-year-old boy from Utah ... Today, barely thirty years old he is setting the specialized world of science on its ears."{{fact|date=July 2022}}

In 1938, Farnsworth established the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with E. A. Nicholas as president and himself as director of research. In September 1939, after a more than decade-long legal battle, RCA finally conceded to a multi-year licensing agreement concerning Farnsworth's 1927 patent for television totaling $1 million. RCA was then free, after showcasing electronic television at New York World's Fair on April 20, 1939, to sell electronic television cameras to the public.{{rp|250–254}}

Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation was purchased by International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) in 1951. During his time at ITT, Farnsworth worked in a basement laboratory known as "the cave" on Pontiac Street in Fort Wayne. From there, he introduced a number of breakthrough concepts, including a defense early warning signal, submarine detection devices, radar calibration equipment and an infrared telescope. "Philo was a very deep person—tough to engage in conversation, because he was always thinking about what he could do next", said Art Resler, an ITT photographer who documented Farnsworth's work in pictures. One of Farnsworth's most significant contributions at ITT was the PPI Projector, an enhancement on the iconic "circular sweep" radar display, which allowed safe air traffic control from the ground. This system developed in the 1950s was the forerunner of today's air traffic control systems.

In addition to his electronics research, ITT management agreed to nominally fund Farnsworth's nuclear fusion research. He and staff members invented and refined a series of fusion reaction tubes called "fusors". For scientific reasons unknown to Farnsworth and his staff, the necessary reactions lasted no longer than thirty seconds. In December 1965, ITT came under pressure from its board of directors to terminate the expensive project and sell the Farnsworth subsidiary. It was only due to the urging of president Harold Geneen that the 1966 budget was accepted, extending ITT's fusion research for an additional year. The stress associated with this managerial ultimatum, however, caused Farnsworth to suffer a relapse.{{Clarify|date=January 2025}} A year later he was terminated and eventually allowed medical retirement.{{cite web| url =http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/UU_EAD,2160| archive-url =https://archive.today/20121211111558/http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/UU_EAD,2160| url-status =dead| archive-date =December 11, 2012| title =Biography of Philo Taylor Farnsworth| publisher =University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections| access-date =July 5, 2007}}

In 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at Brigham Young University, which presented him with an honorary doctorate. The university also offered him office space and an underground concrete bunker for the project. Realizing ITT would dismantle its fusion lab, Farnsworth invited staff members to accompany him to Salt Lake City, as team members in Philo T. Farnsworth Associates (PTFA). By late 1968, the associates began holding regular business meetings and PTFA was underway. They promptly secured a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and more possibilities were within reach—but financing stalled for the $24,000 a month required for salaries and equipment rental.

In a 1996 videotaped interview by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Farnsworth's wife recounted his change of heart about the value of television, after seeing Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on the Moon in real time on July 20, 1969, along with millions of others:{{cite video| url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/elma-pem-farnsworth# | publisher=(Part 10 of 12) Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | title= Elma "Pen" Farnsworth | date= June 25, 1996|access-date=May 19, 2015}} "We were watching it, and, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Phil turned to me and said, 'Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.' Before then, he wasn't too sure."

By Christmas 1970, PTFA had failed to secure the necessary financing, and the Farnsworths had sold all their own ITT stock and cashed in Philo's life insurance policy to maintain organizational stability. The underwriter had failed to provide the financial backing that was to have supported the organization during its critical first year. The banks called in all outstanding loans, repossession notices were placed on anything not previously sold, and the Internal Revenue Service put a lock on the laboratory door until delinquent taxes were paid. In January 1971, PTFA disbanded.

Farnsworth began abusing alcohol in his later years,Michael Largo (2006). Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die. New York: HarperCollins, {{ISBN|978-0-06-081741-1}}, p. 29.

He became seriously ill with pneumonia, and died on March 11, 1971, at his home in Holladay, Utah.{{Cite web|title=The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia|url=https://www.broadcastpioneers.com/philofarnsworth.html|access-date=2022-02-19|website=www.broadcastpioneers.com}}

Farnsworth's wife Elma Gardner "Pem" Farnsworth fought for decades after his death to assure his place in history. Farnsworth always gave her equal credit for creating television, saying, "my wife and I started this TV." She died on April 27, 2006, at age 98.{{cite news|url= http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/177009/ |last=Hummel|first= Debbie|title=Elma Farnsworth, widow of TV pioneer, dies at 98|agency=Associated Press|via=Daily Herald|location=Provo, Utah|date= April 28, 2006|page= D5|archive-date=May 15, 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060515161238/http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/177009/|url-status=dead}}

He was survived by his wife and their two sons.

In 1999, Time magazine included Farnsworth in the "Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century".

Farnsworth worked out the principle of the image dissector in the summer of 1921, not long before his 15th birthday, and demonstrated the first working version on September 7, 1927, having turned 21 the previous August. A farm boy, his inspiration for scanning an image as a series of lines came from the back-and-forth motion used to plow a field.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}} In the course of a patent interference suit brought by the Radio Corporation of America in 1934 and decided in February 1935, his high school chemistry teacher, Justin Tolman, produced a sketch he had made of a blackboard drawing Farnsworth had shown him in spring 1922. Farnsworth won the suit; RCA appealed the decision in 1936 and lost.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}} Farnsworth received royalties from RCA, but he never became wealthy.{{Cite book |title=Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Incorporated. |year=2006 |isbn=9781593392932 |pages=658}} The video camera tube that evolved from the combined work of Farnsworth, Zworykin, and many others was used in all television cameras until the late 20th century, when alternate technologies such as charge-coupled devices began to appear.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}

Farnsworth also developed the "image oscillite", a cathode ray tube that displayed the images captured by the image dissector.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}}

Farnsworth called his device an image dissector because it converted individual elements of the image into electricity one at a time. He replaced the spinning disks with cesium, an element that emits electrons when exposed to light.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

In 1984, Farnsworth was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

The Farnsworth fusor is an apparatus designed by Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects high-temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

When the Farnsworth fusor was first introduced to the fusion research world in the late 1960s, the fusor was the first device that could clearly demonstrate it was producing fusion reactions at all. Hopes at the time were high that it could be quickly developed into a practical power source. However, as with other fusion experiments, development into a power source has proven difficult. Nevertheless, the fusor has since become a practical neutron source and is produced commercially for this role.{{cite journal | url = http://physicsworldarchive.iop.org/index.cfm?action=summary&doc=20/3/phwv20i3a18@pwa-xml&qt=the%20secret%20world%20of%20amateur%20fusion

|title = The Secret World of Amateur Fusion| journal = Physics World| publisher= IOP Publishing

|issn= 0953-8585| last=Cartilage |first=Edwin| date = March 2007| volume = 20| issue = 3| pages= 10–11

|doi = 10.1088/2058-7058/20/3/18| url-access = subscription}},***

At the time he died, Farnsworth held 300 U.S. and foreign patents. His inventions contributed to the development of radar, infra-red night vision devices, the electron microscope, the baby incubator, the gastroscope, and the astronomical telescope.[http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/farnsworth.cfm "Philo T. Farnsworth"], The Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved April 8, 2008.

Although he was the man responsible for its technology, Farnsworth appeared only once on a television program. On July 3, 1957, he was a mystery guest ("Doctor X") on the CBS quiz show I've Got A Secret. He fielded questions from the panel as they unsuccessfully tried to guess his secret ("I invented electronic television."). For stumping the panel, he received $80 and a carton of Winston cigarettes. Host Garry Moore then spent a few minutes discussing with Farnsworth his research on such projects as an early analog high-definition television system, flat-screen receivers, and fusion power.{{youTube|pKM4MNrB25o|Philo Farnsworth on I've Got A Secret}} Farnsworth said, "There had been attempts to devise a television system using mechanical disks and rotating mirrors and vibrating mirrors—all mechanical. My contribution was to take out the moving parts and make the thing entirely electronic, and that was the concept that I had when I was just a freshman in high school in the Spring of 1921 at age 14."{{harvnb|Farnsworth|1990|page=37}}

A letter to the editor of the Idaho Falls Post Register disputed that Farnsworth had made only one television appearance. Roy Southwick claimed "... I interviewed Mr. [Philo] Farnsworth back in 1953—the first day KID-TV went on the air."Idaho Falls Post Register, December 10, 2007, p. A4 (digital version requires subscription) KID-TV, which later became KIDK-TV, was then located near the Rigby area where Farnsworth grew up.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

• In 1967, Farnsworth was issued an honorary degree by Brigham Young University, which he had briefly attended after graduating from Brigham Young High School.
• In 2006, Farnsworth was posthumously presented the Eagle Scout award when it was discovered he had earned it but had never been presented with it. The award was presented to his wife, Pem, who died four months later.{{cite journal |date=Fall 2006 |title=TV Pioneer Recognized as Eagle Scout |url=https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/06/08/philo-farnsworth-inventor-of-modern-tv-was-an-eagle-scout/ |url-status=dead |journal=Eagletter |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608173609/https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/06/08/philo-farnsworth-inventor-of-modern-tv-was-an-eagle-scout/ |archive-date=June 8, 2017 |access-date=June 8, 2017}}
• Farnsworth was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2006.{{Cite web |title=Philo Farnsworth |url=http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/philofarnsworth.html |access-date=September 5, 2018 |website=Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia}}
• He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2013.{{Cite web |title=Honorees |url=http://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame-honorees |access-date=September 5, 2018 |website=Television Academy Hall of Fame |language=en}}
• He is recognized in the Hall of Fame of the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers—which notes that, in addition to his inventive accomplishments, his company owned and operated WGL radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana.{{cite web |title=Indiana Broadcast Pioneers – We're archiving Indiana media history |url=http://www.indianabroadcastpioneers.org/?q=hall-of-fame/philo-t-farnsworth |access-date=March 31, 2017 |publisher=Indiana Broadcast Pioneers}}

File:Farnsworth ldac.jpg

File:Flickr - USCapitol - Philo T. Farnsworth Statue.jpg

• A bronze statue of Philo T. Farnsworth represented the U.S. state of Utah formerly in the National Statuary Hall, located inside of the U.S. Capitol, since 1990. On the January 28, 2018, despite there being an extended debate and also a over sizable public opposition against the decision, the Utah State Legislature still voted to replace it with a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon. As of December 11, 2024, the Martha Hughes Cannon statue was gifted by the state of Utah and officially unveiled in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall at the Emancipation Hall of the United States Capitol Visitor Center, Standing along in addition with the statue of Brigham young, with the two statues representing the state of Utah.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-12 |title=Martha Hughes Cannon statue installed in U.S. Capitol's Emancipation Hall |url=https://www.deseret.com/politics/2024/12/11/martha-hughes-cannon-statue-installed-in-capitol/ |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Deseret News |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Weaver |first=Jennifer |date=April 4, 2018 |title=Statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon heads to U.S. Capitol |url=https://kutv.com/news/local/statue-of-dr-martha-hughes-cannon-heads-to-us-capitol |access-date=September 5, 2018 |publisher=KUTV |language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=Senate approves replacing Utah's D.C. statue of TV inventor Philo T. Farnsworth with Martha Hughes Cannon |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/01/29/bill-to-replace-utah-statue-of-tv-inventor-philo-farnsworth-with-martha-hughes-cannon-passes-senate |access-date=July 6, 2019 |publisher=Salt Lake Tribune}}{{cite web |title=Return Farnsworth statue to Capitol, urges former Ridgecrest principal |url=https://www.cottonwoodheightsjournal.com/2018/05/08/172882/return-farnsworth-statue-to-capitol-urges-former-ridgecrest-principal |access-date=July 6, 2019 |publisher=Cottonwood Heights Journal}}{{cite web |date=May 4, 2018 |title=Family of Television Inventor Criticizes Decision to Remove Statue in Washington D.C |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Family-of-TV-Inventor-Criticizes-Decision-to-Remove-Statue-in-Washington-DC-481698061.html |access-date=July 6, 2019 |publisher=NBC Universal Television}}{{Cite web |title=Philo T. Farnsworth |url=https://www.aoc.gov/art/national-statuary-hall-collection/philo-t-farnsworth |access-date=September 5, 2018 |website=Architect of the Capitol |language=en}}
• Another statue sits inside the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.{{cite web|url=http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/13177 |title=Visitor Tips and News About Statue of Philo Farnsworth, Inventor of TV |publisher=Roadsideamerica.com |access-date=July 5, 2012 }}
• A Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker located at 1260 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, commemorates Farnsworth's television work there in the 1930s. The Plaque reads "Inventor of electronic television, he led some of the first experiments in live local TV broadcasting in the late 1930s from his station W3XPF located on this site. A pioneer in electronics, Farnsworth held many patents and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame."{{Cite web |url=http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3A6 |title=Philo T. Farnsworth (1906–1971) Historical Marker |website=Explore PA History |publisher=WITF-TV |access-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-date=March 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320044731/http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3A6 |url-status=dead }}
• On September 15, 1981, a plaque honoring Farnsworth as The Genius of Green Street was placed on the 202 Green Street location ({{coord|37.80037|-122.40251|display=inline}}) of his research laboratory in San Francisco by the California State Department of Parks and recreation.
• In October 2008, the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco installed a statue of Farnsworth sculpted by Lawrence Noble in front of its D building.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/us/08bcintel.html |title=Philo T. Farnsworth Statue |last=Wright |first=Andy |date=May 8, 2011 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 5, 2018 |language=en }}
• A plaque honoring Farnsworth is located next to his former home at 734 E. State Blvd, in a historical district on the southwest corner of E. State and St. Joseph Blvds in Fort Wayne, Indiana.{{cite news |author=Rosa Salter Rodriguez |url=http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090712/FEAT/307129939/1162 |title=Dwelling on accomplishments |newspaper=The Journal Gazette |date=July 12, 2009 |access-date=July 5, 2012 |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905215016/http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090712/FEAT/307129939/1162 |url-status=dead }}
• Farnsworth is one of the inventors honored with a plaque in the Walt Disney World's "Inventor's Circle" in Future World West in EPCOT.{{cite web|url=http://www.mainstgazette.com/2009/07/shoulders-of-giants.html |title= The shoulders of giants |newspaper=Main Street Gazette |date=July 16, 2009 |access-date=July 5, 2012 }}
• A 1983 United States postage stamp honored Farnsworth.{{Cite web |url=http://usstampgallery.com/view.php?id=07bc689729c9e87200f5721e132f48b9d6f02e6b |title=Philo T. Farnsworth |website=US Stamp Gallery |access-date=September 5, 2018 }}
• On January 10, 2011, Farnsworth was inducted by Mayor Gavin Newsom into the newly established San Francisco Hall of Fame, in the science and technology category.{{Cite news |url=https://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2011/01/11/newsom-establishes-a-sf-hall-of-fame/ |title=Newsom establishes a SF Hall of Fame |last=Nolte |first=Carl |date=January 11, 2011 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=September 5, 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905215046/https://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2011/01/11/newsom-establishes-a-sf-hall-of-fame/ |url-status=dead }}
• Farnsworth's television-related work, including an original TV tube he developed, are on display at the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum in Rigby, Idaho.{{Cite news |url=https://www.eastidahonews.com/2017/12/farnsworth-tv-pioneer-museum-brings-visitors-near-far/ |title=Farnsworth TV and Pioneer Museum brings visitors near and far |last=Snider |first=Carrie |date=December 10, 2017 |work=East Idaho News |access-date=September 5, 2018 |language=en-US }}

• The Philo T. Farnsworth Award is one of the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards given to honor companies and organizations that have significantly affected the state of television and broadcast engineering over a long period of time.{{Cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/emmys/engineering-emmys |title=Engineering Emmy Awards |website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |language=en |access-date=September 5, 2018 }}
• The Philo Awards (officially Philo T. Farnsworth Awards, not to be confused with the one above) is an annual public-access television cable TV competition within the Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan region, where the winners receive notice for their efforts in various categories in producing community media.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mvcc.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:mvcc-producers-win-big&catid=10&Itemid=292 |title=MVCC Producers Win Big |website=Miami Valley Communications Council |language=en |access-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905215301/http://www.mvcc.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:mvcc-producers-win-big&catid=10&Itemid=292 |url-status=dead }}
• Philo, a streaming television provider based in San Francisco, California where his lab was located, is named for Farnsworth.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865692802/This-new-TV-streaming-service-is-named-after-a-legendary-Utahn.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115210942/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865692802/This-new-TV-streaming-service-is-named-after-a-legendary-Utahn.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 15, 2017|title=This New TV Streaming Service is Named After a Legendary Utahn|date=November 15, 2017|website=Deseret News|access-date=March 16, 2019}}
• Farnsworth Peak on the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountains, approximately 18 miles (29 km) south west of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the location of many of the area's television and FM radio transmitters.{{cite web |url=http://www.utaharc.org/utah_atv/farnswth.html |title=A bit about Farnsworth Peak |access-date=April 30, 2008 |publisher=Utah Amateur Radio Club (UARC)}}
• The scenic "Farnsworth Steps" in San Francisco lead from Willard Street (just above Parnassus) up to Edgewood Avenue.{{cite web|last=Weekes|first= G.|title= San Francisco's Hidden Stairways

|website= AAA TravelViews|publisher= AAA|date= September 9, 2010|url= http://www.aaatravelviews.com/post/2010/09/09/San-Franciscoe28099s-Hidden-Stairways.aspx|access-date= September 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918053407/http://www.aaatravelviews.com/post/2010/09/09/San-Franciscoe28099s-Hidden-Stairways.aspx|archive-date = September 18, 2011|url-status= dead

|df= mdy-all}}{{Cite book| last = Bakalinsky | first = A.| title = Stairway Walks in San Francisco| publisher = Wilderness Press| edition = 7th | year= 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9NxFDweuFtkC&pg=PT29| isbn = 978-0-89997-637-2 | oclc = 617591964 }}

• Several buildings and streets around rural Brownfield, Maine are named for Farnsworth as he lived there for some time.
• The Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School of the Jefferson Joint School District in Rigby, Idaho (later becoming a middle school) is named in his honor.{{Cite web |url=https://jeffersonsd251.org/our-schools/elementary-schools/farnsworth-elementary/ |title=Farnsworth Elementary – Jefferson Joint School District #251 |access-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127203136/https://jeffersonsd251.org/our-schools/elementary-schools/farnsworth-elementary/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://farnsworth.jeffersonsd251.org/ |title=Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary}}
• While Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary School in the Granite School District in West Valley City, Utah is named after his cousin by the same name who was a former school district administrator.{{Cite web |url=https://www.graniteschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/GSD_History.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.graniteschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/GSD_History.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Granite School District}}

• In "Cliff Gardner", the October 19, 1999 second episode of Aaron Sorkin's television comedy Sports Night, William H. Macy's character, Sam, delivers an extended monologue recounting Farnsworth's invention of television and the assistance provided to him by Cliff Gardner.{{fact|date=July 2022}}
• The eccentric broadcast engineer in the 1989 film UHF is named Philo in tribute to Farnsworth.{{Cite web |url=http://weirdal.com/archives/miscellaneous/ask-al/ |title=Ask Al |last=Yankovic |first=Weird Al | author-link = Weird Al Yankovic|website="Weird Al" Yankovic Official Web Site |language=en |access-date=September 5, 2018 }}
• In "Levers, Beakmania, & Television", the November 14, 1992 season 1 episode of Beakman's World, Paul Zaloom appears as the "guest scientist" Philo T. Farnsworth explaining his most notable invention.{{Cite web |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lungs-beakmania-telephone/dp/B00LF9D86I |title=Beakman's World, Season 1 |website=Amazon.co.uk |access-date=September 5, 2018 }}
• A fictionalized representation of Farnsworth appears in Canadian writer Wayne Johnston's 1994 novel, Human Amusements. The main character in the novel appears as the protagonist in a television show that features Farnsworth as the main character. In the show, an adolescent Farnsworth invents many different devices (television among them) while being challenged at every turn by a rival inventor.{{cite book|last=Johnston|first=Wayne|title=Human Amusements|date=July 1994|publisher=McClelland and Stewart}}
• The Futurama character Professor Farnsworth, who first appeared in 1999, is named after and partially inspired by Philo Farnsworth,{{cite book|last=Booker|first=M. Keith|url=https://archive.org/details/drawntotelevisio0000book|title=Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from the Flintstones to Family Guy|date=2005|publisher=Praeger|isbn=0-275-99019-2|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=[https://archive.org/details/drawntotelevisio0000book/page/115 115–124]|url-access=registration}} and in the episode "All the Presidents' Heads" was revealed to have descended from him.
• Farnsworth and the introduction of television are significant plot elements in Carter Beats the Devil, a novel by Glen David Gold published in 2001 by Hyperion.{{fact|date=July 2022}}
• The Farnsworth Invention, a stage play by Aaron Sorkin that debuted in 2007 after Sorkin adapted it from his unproduced screenplay, dramatized the conflict arising from Farnsworth's invention of TV and the alleged stealing of the design by David Sarnoff of RCA.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/109037.html |title=Aaron Sorkin's Farnsworth Invention to Open on Broadway in November |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626121651/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/109037.html |archive-date=June 26, 2007 |website=Playbill |date=June 21, 2007 }}
• The 2009 SyFy television series Warehouse 13 features a video communicator called "The Farnsworth." In the show's universe, this was designed by Philo Farnsworth.{{cite book |last=Cox| first=Greg |author-link=Greg Cox (writer) |title=Warehouse 13: A Touch of Fever |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxDKo_0P1DQC&pg=PA13 |access-date=September 5, 2018 |year=2011 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781451636574|page=13 }}
• In the video game Trenched, renamed as Iron Brigade, the main antagonist is a character named Vladimir Farnsworth, who created mechanical enemies known as "Tubes" that spread a deadly broadcast. This character name alludes to Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir K. Zworykin, who invented the iconoscope.{{Cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-north/vladimir-zworykin_b_2852863.html |title=Channeling the Father of Television |last=North |first=Steve |date=March 11, 2013 |work=The Huffington Post |access-date=September 5, 2018 |language=en-US }}
• The 2009 animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs features an amateur inventor named Flint Lockwood, who idolizes notable inventors. On his bedroom walls are the images of Thomas Edison and Philo Farnsworth, among others.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

File:Philo T. Farnsworth House in Fort Wayne.jpg

In 2010, the former Farnsworth factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was razed,{{cite web |url=http://www.21alive.com/news/local/86971107.html |title=Farnsworth Building Being Demolished | 21Alive: News, Sports, Weather, Fort Wayne WPTA-TV, WISE-TV, and CW | Local |access-date=June 9, 2015 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610065910/http://www.21alive.com/news/local/86971107.html |archive-date=June 10, 2015 }} eliminating the "cave," where many of Farnsworth's inventions were first created, and where its radio and television receivers and transmitters, television tubes, and radio-phonographs were mass-produced under the Farnsworth, Capehart, and Panamuse trade names.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=2118|title=Capehart Corp.; Fort Wayne, IN – see also manufacturer in US|access-date=March 31, 2017}} The facility was located at 3702 E. Pontiac St.

Also that year, additional Farnsworth factory artifacts were added to the Fort Wayne History Center's collection, including a radio-phonograph and three table-top radios from the 1940s, as well as advertising and product materials from the 1930s to the 1950s.{{cite web|url=http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2010/07/history-center-rescues-farnsworth.html|title=History Center Notes & Queries: History Center Rescues Farnsworth Artifacts|first=Todd Maxwell|last=Pelfrey|date=July 20, 2010|access-date=March 31, 2017}}

Farnsworth's Fort Wayne residence from 1948 to 1967, then the former Philo T. Farnsworth Television Museum, stands at 734 E. State Blvd, on the southwest corner of E. State and St. Joseph Blvds. The residence is recognized by an Indiana state historical marker and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/history/markers/38.htm|title=Home of Philo T. Farnsworth|access-date=March 31, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2013-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=March 29, 2013|website=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 3/18/13 through 3/22/13 |publisher=National Park Service}}

In addition to Fort Wayne, Farnsworth operated a factory in Marion, Indiana, that made shortwave radios used by American combat soldiers in World War II.{{cite web|url=http://wikimarion.org/The_Farnsworth_Building#The_Farnsworth_Building_Today|title=The Farnsworth Building – WikiMarion|access-date=March 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228025653/http://wikimarion.org/The_Farnsworth_Building#The_Farnsworth_Building_Today|archive-date=December 28, 2016|url-status=dead}} Acquired by

RCA after the war, the facility was located at 3301 S. Adams St.{{cite web|url=http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=70&ArticleID=70939|title=Abandoned Marion properties are experiencing different fates|publisher=Indiana Economic Digest|access-date=March 31, 2017|archive-date=October 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020041037/http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=70&ArticleID=70939|url-status=dead}}

{{div col|small=yes}}

• [https://www.google.com/patents/about?id=HRd5AAAAEBAJ&dq= U.S. Patent 1,773,980] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021170629/http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=HRd5AAAAEBAJ&dq= |date=October 21, 2013 }}: Television system (filed January 7, 1927, issued August 26, 1930)
• {{US patent|1773981}}: Television receiving system (filed January 7, 1927, issued August 26, 1930)
• {{US patent|1758359}}: Electric oscillator system (filed January 7, 1927, issued May 13, 1930)
• {{US patent|1806935}}: Light valve (filed January 7, 1927, issued May 26, 1931)
• {{US patent|2168768}}: Television method (filed January 9, 1928, issued August 8, 1939)
• {{US patent|1970036}}: Photoelectric apparatus (filed January 9, 1928, issued August 14, 1934)
• {{US patent|2246625}}: Television scanning and synchronization system (filed May 5, 1930, issued June 24, 1941)
• {{US patent|1941344}}: Dissector target (filed July 7, 1930, issued December 26, 1933)
• {{US patent|2140284}}: Projecting oscillight (filed July 14, 1931, issued December 13, 1938)
• {{US patent|2059683}}: Scanning oscillator (filed April 3, 1933, issued November 3, 1936)
• {{US patent|2087683}}: Image dissector (filed April 26, 1933, issued July 20, 1937)
• {{US patent|2071516}}: Oscillation generator (filed July 5, 1934, issued February 23, 1937)
• {{US patent|2143145}}: Projection means (filed November 6, 1934, issued January 10, 1939)
• {{US patent|2233887}}: Image projector (filed February 6, 1935, issued March 4, 1941)
• {{US patent|2143262}}: Means of electron multipaction (filed March 12, 1935, issued January 10, 1939)
• {{US patent|2174488}}: Oscillator (filed March 12, 1935, issued September 26, 1939)
• {{US patent|2221473}}: Amplifier (filed March 12, 1935, issued November 12, 1940)
• {{US patent|2155478}}: Means for producing incandescent images (filed May 7, 1935, issued April 25, 1939)
• {{US patent|2140695}}: Charge storage dissector (filed July 6, 1935, issued December 20, 1938)
• {{US patent|2228388}}: Cathode ray amplifier (filed July 6, 1935, issued January 14, 1941)
• {{US patent|2233888}}: Charge storage amplifier (filed July 6, 1935, issued March 4, 1941)
• {{US patent|2251124}}: Cathode ray amplifying tube (filed August 10, 1935, issued July 29, 1941)
• {{US patent|2100842}}: Charge storage tube (filed September 14, 1935, issued November 30, 1937)
• {{US patent|2137528}}: Multipactor oscillator (filed January 27, 1936, issued November 22, 1938)
• {{US patent|2214077}}: Scanning current generator (filed February 10, 1936, issued September 10, 1940)
• [https://www.google.com/patents/about?id=AzNMAAAAEBAJ&dq= U.S. Patent 2,089,054] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021172002/http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=AzNMAAAAEBAJ&dq= |date=October 21, 2013 }}: Incandescent light source (filed March 9, 1936, issued August 3, 1937)
• {{US patent|2159521}}: Absorption oscillator (filed March 9, 1936, issued May 23, 1939)
• {{US patent|2139813}}: Secondary emission electrode (filed March 24, 1936, issued December 13, 1938)
• {{US patent|2204479}}: Means and method for producing electronic multiplication (filed May 16, 1936, issued June 11, 1940)
• {{US patent|2140832}}: Means and method of controlling electron multipliers (filed May 16, 1936, issued December 20, 1938)
• {{US patent|2260613}}: Electron multiplier (filed May 18, 1936, issued October 28, 1941)
• [https://www.google.com/patents/about?id=v-YBAAAAEBAJ&dq= U.S. Patent 2,141,837] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021172323/http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=v-YBAAAAEBAJ&dq= |date=October 21, 2013 }}: Multistage multipactor (filed June 1, 1936, issued December 27, 1938)
• {{US patent|2216265}}: Image dissector (filed August 18, 1936, issued October 1, 1940)
• {{US patent|2128580}}: Means and method of operating electron multipliers (filed August 18, 1936, issued August 30, 1938)
• {{US patent|2143146}}: Repeater (filed October 31, 1936, issued January 10, 1939)
• {{US patent|2139814}}: Cathode ray tube (filed November 2, 1936, issued December 13, 1938)
• {{US patent|2109289}}: High power projection oscillograph (filed November 2, 1936, issued February 22, 1938)
• {{US patent|2184910}}: Cold cathode electron discharge tube (filed November 4, 1936, issued December 26, 1939)
• {{US patent|2179996}}: Electron multiplier (filed November 9, 1936, issued November 14, 1939)
• {{US patent|2221374}}: X-ray projection device
• {{US patent|2263032}}: Cold cathode electron discharge tube
• {{US patent|3258402}}: Electric discharge device for producing interaction between nuclei
• {{US patent|3386883}}: Method and apparatus for producing nuclear fusion reactions
• {{US patent|3664920}}: Electrostatic containment in fusion reactors

{{div col end}}

• History of television

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?170335-1/boy-genius-mogul Booknotes interview with Daniel Stashower on The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television, July 21, 2002], C-SPAN}}

• Schatzkin, Paul (2023), [https://a.co/d/hKCxKWN The Boy Who Invented Television. Incorrigible Arts]. {{ISBN|978-0-9762000-7-9}}

{{refbegin}}

• Abramson, Albert. The History of Television, 1942 to 2000. (2003). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. {{ISBN|978-0-9762000-7-9|978-0-9762000-9-3}}.
• Farnsworth, Russell. (2002). Philo T. Farnsworth: The Life of Television's Forgotten Inventor. Hockessin, Delaware: Mitchell Lane Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-58415-176-0}} (cloth)
• Fisher, David E. and Marshall J., 1996. Tube, the Invention of Television. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint. {{ISBN|1-887178-17-1}}
• Godfrey, D. G., 2001. Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television. University of Utah Press. {{ISBN|0-87480-675-5}}
• Schwartz, Evan I., 2002. The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit & the Birth of Television. New York: HarperCollins. {{ISBN|0-06-093559-6}}
• Stashower, Daniel, 2002. The Boy Genius and the Mogul: The Untold Story of Television. New York: Broadway Books. {{ISBN|0-7679-0759-0}}

{{refend}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{commons category|Philo Taylor Farnsworth}}

• [https://farnovision.com Farnovision – A Must Read for Anybody Who Watches Television]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20020311141033/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_6_detail.asp?vInventorID=56 National Inventors Hall of Fame profile]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20020612110854/http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/p437/p437.html Philo Farnsworth photo archive]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204233313/http://rigby.govoffice.com/ Rigby, Idaho: Birthplace of Television (Jefferson County Historical Society and Museum)]
• [https://a.co/d/hKCxKWN The Boy Who Invented Television; by Paul Schatzkin]
• [http://www.earlytelevision.org/farnsworth_1939_article.html 1939 Farnsworth Article] (from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)
• {{Find a Grave|3661}}
• [http://www.farnsworthonbroadway.com The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway]
• [https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/people/philo-t-farnsworth Archive of American Television oral history interviews about Farnsworth including ones with his widow Elma "Pem" Farnsworth]
• {{YouTube|pKM4MNrB25o|Video of Farnsworth on Television's "I've Got a Secret"}}
• [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/bigdreamts.html Transcript, Big Dreams Small Screen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022101744/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/bigdreamts.html |date=October 22, 2016 }}, American Experience (PBS) 1997
• [http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/ Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia website]
• [http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/search/results.aspx?q=philo+t.+farnsworth&t=k Philo T. Farnsworth papers and audio], Archives West, Orbis Cascade Alliance. [https://web.archive.org/web/20161022101746/http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/search/results.aspx?q=philo+t.+farnsworth&t=k Archived] from the original on February 4, 2016.
• {{imdb name|0267905}}

{{Telecommunications}}

{{2013 Television Hall of Fame}}

{{Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnsworth, Philo}}

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Category:20th-century American inventors

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Category:American people of Danish descent

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Category:Brigham Young University alumni

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Category:Discovery and invention controversies

Category:Inventors from Utah

Category:Latter Day Saints from California

Category:Latter Day Saints from Idaho

Category:Latter Day Saints from Indiana

Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah

Category:People from Beaver, Utah

Category:People from Brownfield, Maine

Category:Scientists from Utah

Category:Television pioneers