Philo T.

Philo T. Farnsworth was the man noted for the invention of television, but I would go as far as to say that most people would never know it. People wouldn’t even be able to find this information easily in a books or archives. A documentary, “Big Dream, Small Screen”, tells the tale of man who discovered television. The documentary tells how television was stolen from Farnsworth by a huge corporation- RCA. RCA couldn’t handle the thought of paying royalties to some small town nobody, but instead they were willing to beg, borrow or steal (as the story goes) in order to guarantee their claim to fame with television. With that mentality and drive an RCA official, David Sarnoff and Russian scientist, Vladimir Zworykin raced to build a television before Farnsworth. The battle between RCA and Farnsworth would go on for years. Farnsworth finished and showed viewers his creation, but RCA wouldn’t stop. They wanted to be acknowledged for producing the television.
Through long court battles and appeals, Farnsworth finally won the rights. His health had declined over the many years of fighting and RCA never gave him a break. He was the little man fighting the big corporation. Even though he had a patent RCA still fought for power. Farnsworth would only have victory for a short amount of time because soon after his big win the government put a ban on commercial television. It was a time of war and the television was used for the military. Farnsworth’s patent would soon run out and the rights for television production would become public. There is a memorial for Farnsworth in his home state, Utah.
Throughout the documentary many different people speak or are quoted about this misfortune. Philo T. Farnsworth was robbed of his great creation and would never truly reap the benefits of its success. The documentary does a great job of informing viewers of the ups and downs of the case. It is also very thorough in explaining the details of the steps of the television. Without “Big Dream, Small Screen” people may never about this young farmer who created television. It sounds outlandish that a young farm boy would beat a Russian scientist to the discovery of television, but through the great detail of the story it is evident. Hopefully people will be able to gain insight of the history of television by watching this educational documentary.