Philo Farnsworth, the father of television, said he created kind of a monster, a way for people to waste a lot of their lives!

Farnsworth filed Patent #1,773,980 for his camera tube, entitled Television System, on January 7, 1927 and was granted the patent on August 25, 1930, after a long battle with corporate giants.

A second patent was needed to begin the whole television story; Patent #1,773,981 which he obtained for the cathode ray tube (CRT) providing the display tube -- the receiver -- the television screen.

According to his wife, Pem Farnsworth, "Phil saw television as a marvelous teaching tool. There would be no excuse of illiteracy. Parents could learn along with their children. News and sporting events could be seen as they were happening."

She added, "Symphonies would mean more when one could see the musicians as they played, and movies would be seen in our own living rooms. He said there would be a time when we would be able to see and learn about people in other lands. If we understood them better, differences could be settled around conference tables, without going to war."

Later in his life, his attitude was tempered by the reality of commercial television programming. His son Kent was once asked about his father's attitude. Kent reported, "I suppose you could say that he felt he had created kind of a monster, a way for people to waste a lot of their lives. Throughout my childhood his reaction to television was, 'There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet.' "
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