Philo T. Farnsworth

What is it to be a hero? It is to be someone who is looked up to by another. Also, it’s when someone you know helps another person who is in need. A hero is there for his or her friends no matter what it takes to be there for them. This also translates into doing something others can’t do themselves. Finally, a hero will go into the worst situations to help another in need.

The man I am going to talk about is a hero to me, because he has given me hope through his life to be who I was born to be - an inventor. For I am like my fore-family who invented many things that we take for granted today, such as the television, cell phone, and the laptop computer. My family has supported each other through all the trials and failures of their inventions. The reason I chose the one I did is because of the integrity and love he had for his work.

I am talking about my grandfather’s first cousin on my mother’s side who is the one and only inventor of the television, Philo T. Farnsworth. Philo Taylor Farnsworth is an American inventor of electronic devices. At the age of 16, he developed the idea of the image dissector. This is one of the pioneer inventions that led to the breakthrough of the television which he received the patent to six years later. Many years passed before his inventions were good enough for commercial use in television.

“Farnsworth’s later inventions helped the military by improving radar rocket guidance systems. Also, he helped improve incubators for newborns. But he never received the fortune he deserved from his invention of the television,” (Latter-day Heroes, by Chad S. Hawkins). He licensed his important inventions to Radio Corporation of America, as well as American Telephone and Telegraph Company. He began the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1938.

I have shared what I consider to be the most important information about Philo T. Farnsworth. The last things I wish to share with you are, first, his favorite saying, “The difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a little longer.” Second, there is no one more honored than him and his inventions. Third I respect him more anyone may know. Finally, he is my inspiration to do the best I can in school.