Zvorykin Vladimir Kozmich

Biography

Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin was born on July 29, 1888 in Murom in family of the merchant of the first guild Kozma Alekseyevich. The father of future inventor traded in grain, sat at City Council, was the head of the Murom public bank and owned shipping company on Oka. Even during study in real school Vladimir showed love to physics and helped the teacher to make experiments before a class, and with the father traveled around affairs between Murom and Nizhny Novgorod and repaired faults in the power supply network of courts — Zvorykin's thirst for the equipment was shown early.

Work on technologies of image transfer in group of Rozinga in St. Petersburg

After the termination of school Zvorykin entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. There it was noticed by professor Rozing making experiments on "an electronic telescopy" as then called image transfer on distance. Rozing called Zvorykin the assistant, that agreed and too was engaged in new technology.

For the first time the ideas of image transfer using electricity appeared in the 1870th years, and by the time of when Zvorykin entered the institute, necessary technologies were developed by many scientists from the different countries.

The most advanced at that time systems were optical-mechanical, with two made a hole disks. Openings were located on the spiral twirled around the center. The disk turned, through openings there passed light and got on a photo cell, and from a photo cell the signal on wires or radio went on a lamp which brightness changed according to that how many light passed through the first disk. Between a lamp and the viewer there was one more disk, the exact copy of the first which rotated with the same speed and looking at which it was possible to see exactly what was before the first disk, only in low quality.

The technology was primitive — now such system can be collected on a knee — and unpromising. For work of an optical-mechanical system the bright light source was necessary, "television camera" could not be moved, and the size of a disk and quantity of openings were limited.

The Rozing offered absolutely other approach — electronic television in which the picture was read out and transmitted through vacuum lamps and a bunch of electrons both on an input, and at the exit. Such system was arranged much more difficult, than two turning disks with holes, but had a big backlog for development.

In 1911 the group of Rozinga where also Zvorykin entered, for the first time managed to transfer the picture to distance of 200 meters. It were just four black strips on a white background which on radio flew from one faculty of Institute of Technology on another. A small step for television, but an important stage in Zvorykin's life: after work with Rozing it lit up the idea of electronic television and began to open the way of this technology persistently.

Basing in the USA after falling of army of Kolchak. Work in Westinghouse

Soon World War I, then revolution, and behind it — Civil war began. In such conditions it was impossible to be engaged in vacuum lamps and the cathode beams, and Zvorykin decided to go far away from historical shocks and social experiments, to the USA.

The way to America lay through Omsk. There Zvorykin arrived on service to Kolchak's government and went across the ocean as the sales agent twice to agree about deliveries of machines and the equipment. Zvorykin reached the USA through Europe, and there — across Irtysh, Ob and the Arctic Ocean. During the second business trip Kolchak's government fell, and Zvorykin on the bird's rights remained in America. It had no money, and in English he knew only one word — Westinghouse. So the company developing radio electronics was called.

Though Zvorykin even plainly could not speak, he was all the same taken in Westinghouse. However, the administration till a time did not see perspectives at ideas of the Russian engineer.

"Apparently, the guy sensible, and fools about. Find for him useful application" — about Zvorykin's work on the television receiver the vice president of the company so told.

All 1920th years Zvorykin was engaged in photo cells and sound recording, but did not forget about a dream. In the 1923rd he submitted the patent application of completely electrical system of television, and in the 1925th — technology of transfer of the color image.

1930: The head of laboratory in RCA

In 1928 Zvorykin got acquainted with David Sarnov, the vice president of RCA company (Radio Corporation of America). Sarnov was almost an age-mate of the engineer and too the emigrant: was born near Minsk, and in America came to be still the child. He wanted to build national telebroadcasting network and suggested Zvorykin to create the device which would allow to perform this plan.

Sarnov who became in 1930 the president of RCA company appointed Zvorykin the head of laboratory of RCA electronics.

In the 1920th years minuses of optical-mechanical technology were obvious, and all competing in speed tried to create completely electronic television. Electronic kinescopes existed by then and were used in the first television air together with the mechanical transmitter. Case was behind signal transmission without the turning mechanical parts. Hopes were pinned on the cathode ray tube. Engineers, including Zvorykin also struggled with construction of such tube.

In 1931 Zvorykin created the iconoscope, the cathode ray tube for transformation of the picture into an electric signal and further transfer. Inside were the photosensitive target covered with millions of microscopic drops of silver, the electronic gun and the cathode accepting electrons.

The image was projected on the target irradiated with the gun, and light beat out electrons from silver. As the picture somewhere is lighter, and somewhere is more dark, from some drops more electrons took off, from others — it is less. It allowed to create an electrical analog of the image, repeatedly irradiating a target and to transfer him to other devices. But one successful construction was not enough.

Zvorykin and RCA had competitors, the most dangerous — Filo Farnsvort (professor Hubert Farnsvort from "Futurama" is called in his honor) and Hungarian Kalman Tikhanyi. Farnsvort created the first electronic sending device which he called the dissector. The dissector was the cathode ray tube, but without electronic gun: electrons were beaten out under the influence of incident light and just got on the detector. Farnsvort's device was insufficiently sensitive and approached unless for demonstration of movies — outdoor shootings with it were difficult to be conducted.

Tikhanya's device reminded Zvorykin's iconoscope. Both tried to patent the inventions, but the American department where requests arrived, refused to both that, and another. Tikhanya returned to Hungary, but there it was not succeeded to realize device potential. In 1938 RCA redeemed its technology. By then the company was already a fashion-maker in the new market.

In the 1932nd broadcasting began with the RCA transmitter installed on the Empire State Building in New York. The same year RCA agreed with the British from EMI: those received documentation on the iconoscope and soon created the analog, an emitron.

Rockefeller Center and building of RCA, New York, December, 1933.

In 1934 under the agreement with the RCA iconoscope appeared in Germany. The German company Telefunken used it for broadcastings from the Berlin Olympic Games.

In 1937 the RCA company actually constructed the first television center in the USSR which broadcast from antennas on the Shukhovsky tower. The USSR arranged production of TK-1 TVs according to the schemes provided to RCA.

In Zvorykin's device the best ideas of that time connected, it was the most progressive transmitter. Delivered on a flow, the iconoscope became a basis for the first completely electronic television systems.

Creation of the first electron microscope

During World War II Zvorykin developed the systems of TV and radio guidance of rockets, devices of night vision, infrared sights and infrared illumination for machines to go at night without headlights. The engineer served to a colonelcy.

Still Zvorykin long was engaged in medical technologies. He created the first scanning electron microscope that not only to consider an object on a gleam, but also to learn that at it on a surface. And in the 1950th Zvorykin created the system of endoradio sounding: the patient swallows of a radio pill, and the doctor can understand what occurs in a digestive tract.

Vladimir Zvorykin near an electron microscope, New York, 1944

Zvorykin was not the only person trying to create TV and not always he was the first who managed to collect or patent the device for telecasting. But he managed to create the working receiver and the transmitter which became a basis of the first system of electronic television in the world. Zvorykin was incredibly persistent: achieved the goal, overcoming war, a taiga, the state, language borders and stagnancy of the administration.

Vladimir Zvorykin, 1954

Since the 1960s Zvorykin generally accepted honors. On an old age of years the engineer spent days off on the dacha (so he also called the country house), sometimes performed with lectures and abused television for the "sex, horrors, fights and murders" which captivated air. Its invention changed the world and as happens in such cases, became not subject^[1].

Vladimir Zvorykin possesses more than 120 patents for different inventions. He received a large number of different awards. In particular, in 1967 by the U.S. President Lyndon Johnson he was handed the National scientific medal of the USA for scientific merits for 1966. In 1977 it is chosen in National gallery of glory of inventors (engl. National Inventors Hall of Fame).

Died on July 29, 1982; it is buried at the Princeton cemetery. According to the documentary by L. Parfyonov "Zvorykin-muromets", ashes of "the father of television" are dispelled over the lake Taunton (engl. Taunton lake) near its giving.

Private life

He was twice married.

• 1916 — 1930 — Tatyana Vasilyeva,
• 1951 — 1982 — Ekaterina Andreevna Polevitskaya.

Kids:

• 1920 — the daughter Nina,
• 1927 — the daughter Elena.

Notes