Who Made the First Television?

Philo T. Farnsworth made the first television and transmitted the first image, which was a dollar sign made up of 60 individual lines. Farnsworth filed for a patent on his work in 1927.

Vladimir Zworykin was another significant contributor to the development of television. He invented the iconoscope camera tube and the kinescope picture tube, which eventually became the basis of television cameras and sets. Zworykin filed a patent for color television in 1929, the same year he went to work for RCA. RCA paid Farnsworth $1 million for the rights to his work, and the company manufactured the first television sets for home use.