Zvorykin's invention is the first electronic transmitting television tube. Inventor of television - Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin
Outstanding American engineer of Russian origin, “father of television” Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin(1888-1982) was born in an old and wealthy merchant family. His father, Kozma Alekseevich, was a merchant of the first guild, was engaged in the grain trade, owned a shipping company, and headed the Murom Public Bank. The Zworykin family had seven children (two sons and five daughters); Vladimir was the youngest. Because Kozma Alekseevich was busy, the children saw their father infrequently; Household affairs were managed by my mother, Elena Nikolaevna, who also came from the extensive Zvorykin family.
Vladimir Zvorykin visited primary school, then – real school. He studied easily and with enthusiasm. Already in early years Vladimir Zvorykin had a penchant for technology. In high school, he especially liked physics. Since his older brother Nikolai did not have much interest in entrepreneurship, his father attracted Vladimir from the age of 10 to family business, gave him instructions. After graduating with honors from a real school in 1906, Vladimir Zvorykin studied for some time at the physics department of St. Petersburg University, but was soon transferred to the St. Petersburg Technological Institute. Here he made a fateful acquaintance with the inventor of television, Professor Boris Lvovich Rosing, whose assistant in experiments with “electrical foresight” he was for about two years. Television became Zvorykin’s dream and his life’s work.
In 1912, V.K. Zvorykin graduated with honors from the Technological Institute and received the right to an internship in Europe. The father, of course, wanted his son to continue the family business, and it was decided that this would be the case - only later. The internship began in Paris at the Collège de France with the outstanding physicist Paul Langevin and continued in Berlin at the Charlottenburg Institute, but the First World War came. Through Denmark, Zvorykin came to Russia, where he was drafted into the army. For a year and a half, Private Zvorykin served at a military radio station in Grodno, then received an officer rank and became a teacher at the Officer Electrical Engineering School in, and was a military representative at the Petrograd plant. Russian society wireless telegraphs and telephones" (ROBTiT). Since the fall of 1917, Zvorykin served in an artillery unit, which was stationed near Kyiv before being sent to the front.
The Civil War began, and in April 1918 Zvorykin arrived in Murom, where sad news awaited him - the family house was requisitioned, his father died (a few months later his mother would also die). His reluctance to participate in the Civil War and the need to put his ideas into practice led him to the decision to leave Russia. Zvorykin with great difficulty reached, which was the center of the White movement. In Siberia, he was tasked with restoring trade ties with a number of foreign countries and purchase machinery and equipment, including for the radio station in Omsk. Zvorykin went on a business trip - he got to the North, then on an icebreaker to Arkhangelsk, and from there to New York. In the spring of 1919, Zvorykin, having completed his assignment, through Pacific Ocean, Japan and Vladivostok returned to Omsk, where he received a new assignment and again left for the USA.
During the second business trip, the Kolchak government dismissed Zvorykin from service. From now on, his fate was connected with America. One of the problems was that Vladimir Kozmich practically did not own English language. His strong Russian accent remained with him throughout his life. V.K. Zvorykin first worked as an accountant in New York, then, from 1920, in Pittsburgh at the Westinghouse research laboratory, where he began working on the creation of an electronic television system. He called the electronic transmitting television tube “iconoscope” (from the Greek words “ikon” - picture and “skop” - to see), and the receiving tube - “kinescope” (from the Greek “kineo” - to move).
In 1924 Zvorykin became a US citizen, and in 1926 he was awarded academic degree Ph.D. Meanwhile, the management of the Westinghouse company did not see any prospects for Zvorykin’s work in the field of electronic television. At the beginning of 1929, V.K. Zvorykin met with an emigrant from Russia, David Sarnov, vice president of RCA (Radio Broadcasting Corporation of America), who believed in the success of television. Vladimir Kozmich went to work at RCA as the head of the television laboratory in Camden (from 1934 he became the head of the electronics laboratory, from 1947 - vice president of RCA). In 1933, together with his group of specialists, he completed the development of an electronic television system and spoke in Chicago at the annual conference of the American Society of Radio Engineers with a report on the iconoscope. After this, the name Zvorykin became widely known throughout the world.
In 1936, the first electronic television suitable for practical application, and in 1939 D. Sarnov organized regular television broadcasting in the USA. In 1941-1942, V.K. Zvorykin, together with the RCA laboratory, moved to Princeton (New Jersey). In 1954 he became honorary vice president of RCA and director of the Center for Medical Electronics at the Rockefeller Institute in New York.
For my fruitful activity Zvorykin was awarded many awards and prizes. A significant part of his ideas were implemented. He played an important role in the development of color television, electron microscopy, fax communications, night vision devices, remote control, medical electronics, etc. As a scientist, Vladimir Kozmich was distinguished by a great spirit of creativity, broad imagination and intuition. He always worked with great enthusiasm and perseverance.
V.K. Zvorykin visited the USSR several times (the first time in 1933). Thanks to agreements with RCA, in 1938 the Soviet Union put into operation the first electronic television transmitting station and began production of TK-1 televisions. In 1967, Zvorykin managed to visit his native Murom, which was closed to foreigners.
V.K. Zvorykin was married twice: the first wife was Tatyana Vasilyeva, the second wife was Ekaterina Andreevna Polevitskaya; daughters: Nina and Elena. In his home life, he largely remained a Russian person. He loved receiving guests, skating, and hunting. One of his hobbies was flying an airplane. To his brainchild - television - in last years Zvorykin began to have a somewhat negative attitude towards life, believing that it leads to unified thinking. V.K. Zvorykin died in Princeton. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered over his beloved Taunton Lake, not far from his country home.
The story of a man whose invention turned the entire world civilization upside down.
Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin was born into the family of a merchant of the first guild, Kozma Zvorykin, who traded bread, owned steamships and was the former chairman of the Murom Public Bank. The three-story Zvorykinsky stone house has survived to this day and now serves as the Murom Historical and Art Museum. The future “father of television” was interested in technology since childhood. After graduating from the Murom Real School, in 1906 he entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. Here Zworykin meets Boris Rosing, a pioneer of research on transmitting images over a distance, the “grandfather of television” and even becomes his assistant in laboratory research. Zworykin is also studying at the College de France and the University of Berlin.
In America
Zworykin's scientific activity could not continue in Soviet Russia. And he understood this perfectly. “It became obvious,” wrote Zvorykin, “that there was no hope of returning to normal conditions, particularly for research work, in the near future. The new government issued strict decrees, according to which all former officers were obliged to report to the commissariat for conscription into the Red Army. I "I didn't want to participate in the civil war. Moreover, I dreamed of working in a laboratory to realize the ideas that I had in mind. In the end, I came to the conclusion that for such work I needed to go to another country, and America seemed to me to be such a country." Zvorykin, as a result, left for the United States twice, both times in atypical ways. The first time - by appointment of the Siberian government for scientific research, the results of which he was supposed to bring back. For the second time, the scientist leaves forever, taking on the road a jar of myrrh - a gift from the Russian Orthodox Church to the head of the Russian Church in America. .
Not for the sake of money
In America, Zvorykin was lucky - the Russian Ambassador to the USA B.A. Bakhmetyev took him under his wing. Zworykin is added to the staff of the purchasing commission based in New York. In addition to this work, about which Zvorykin’s autobiography says “he worked as an accountant,” the scientist persistently sends out numerous letters offering his services as a specialist in radio electronics. Zvorykin’s persistence bore fruit: he was hired to work in a Westinghouse laboratory. The scientist’s salary at the new place of work was two times lower than in the purchasing commission, but this could not stop Vladimir Kozmich, he worked hard, and the company’s security even received an order to “take out” the overworked researcher at two o’clock in the morning.
David Sarnov
To implement his plans and carry out effective research work, Zvorykin needed a sponsor. Fate favored him this time too; he met David Sarnov, president of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Zvorykin asked for a “modest” $100,000 for his work. In fact, the design work cost a hundred times that amount, and the company began to receive its first income from television when the total investment exceeded $50 million. After a series of practical tests carried out in Camden, a 2.5 kW television transmission station is installed in the very tall building New York - Empire State Building. RCA factories begin to produce televisions with a picture tube designed by Zvorykin. Residents of New York and surrounding areas within a radius of up to 100 km become the first subscribers to electronic television
Voenprom
In the 1930s, when the threat of an imminent war began to spur technical developments, Zvorykin did not stand aside and became the author of several important inventions. During World War II, night vision devices designed by Zvorykin were used by the US Army to equip tanks and vehicles, and also as sights. The scientist developed the first television-controlled aerial bomb, which had an iconoscope that transmitted a picture to the operator. A little later, it was his laboratory that prepared a night vision device, which was immediately adopted by snipers, tank crews and operators.
Homesickness and espionage
Despite his successful activities, Vladimir Zvorykin was haunted by longing for Russia. His dream was to come to Murom again, to see his sisters and brothers. “Bolsheviks,” writes V.P. Borisov, - they forgave the talented scientist everything: his officer’s shoulder straps, his collaboration with Kolchak, and his flight to the USA...” The first Soviet TV “VK” was created precisely according to Zvorykin’s developments. But in 1945, Zvorykin was essentially prohibited from leaving the United States. Moreover, he is under total surveillance by the FBI. Zworykin's name is included in a special national censorship list for the purpose of sending copies of all his correspondence (both internal and external) to a special bureau. Since December 8, 1944, Zvorykin’s telephone in his Princeton apartment has been wiretapped. The “spy fever” was stopped only with the influence of the most influential people in the United States. Hoover, head of the FBI, wrote a letter stating that Zvorykin had nothing to do with the creation of the atomic bomb.
Love
Happens in 1951 significant event V personal life Zvorykina. After many years of bachelorhood, he marries Ekaterina Polevitskaya, an emigrant from Russia. The history of their union is significant - they met twenty years before the wedding. Zvorykin was fascinated by the beauty and charm of Polevitskaya, who was married. The marriage proposal followed when Zvorykin learned that Ekaterina Polevitskaya had become a widow. And although both newlyweds had crossed the sixty-year mark by that time, they lived in love and harmony for more than thirty years. His energetic and erudite wife, a doctor by profession, greatly influenced the determination of Zvorykin’s future professional interests. After retiring as director of the RCA Electronics Laboratory in 1954 at the age of 65, his scientific and inventive interests shifted primarily to the field of medical electronics. In 1967, the Zvorykin couple formalized an Intourist visit to Vladimir. The two of us went to admire the cathedrals. Then, having caught a taxi, we drove to the closed city of Murom. Vladimir Zvorykin was probably happy, 50 years later - he was again in his hometown near the house where he spent his childhood and adolescence.
Today, hardly anyone can imagine life without television. We learn from TV programs last news, we have fun watching numerous games and shows, cartoons, documentaries and feature films. You can even study using educational programs. However, few people know that all this became possible thanks to the only person in the world - Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin - the true inventor of television as such. Let's figure out who this man was and how his fate turned out, based on objective historical facts.
Zvorykin Vladimir Kozmich: a short biography of a descendant of the Murom merchant
If you look at the Academic Encyclopedia of the United States, or better yet, at Grolier ( electronic version), then you can find that in America the inventor Vladimir Zvorykin is called the “father of television.” This statement is completely true. It is difficult to overestimate his merits, because thanks to them, today there is a TV in almost every home.
Since the seventeenth century, humanity began to think about transmitting images over a distance. Already by the nineteenth century, more than seven different systems of a similar plan were known in the world, which, unfortunately, turned out to be either difficult to implement or inoperative. Only in nineteen hundred and seven, Boris Lvovich Rosing was able to develop a cathode ray tube and a receiver for it. It was this man who became the teacher of the inventor of television, Zvorykin.
Brief description of the activities of the creator of the TV
In early childhood, little Volodya Zvorykin could not even imagine what awaited him in the future. From an early age he was interested in “wires,” as his father used to say. The guy studied hard, showing extraordinary abilities, and at the university he met his inspiration, Rosing. The young man was greatly impressed by his research and trip to various enterprises in other countries, where he was sent by the International Chamber of Commerce. After studying abroad, Vladimir Kozmich returned home, where the February Revolution found him.
As a result, all of his father’s inheritance ended up in the hands of the proletariat, and Zvorykin himself decided to emigrate. The choice fell on the United States, where, after much effort, he finally ended up. Having no funds and virtually no command of the English language, Vladimir Zvorykin got a job at the research laboratory of the Westinghouse Corporation. There he worked on the development of the latest photocells for engineering and construction, which made him famous, but he never left developments in television tubes. When understanding what Zworykin invented, we must not forget about this.
When he started working at RCA, he finally managed to make his dreams come true. He patented new equipment, and the company's factories began to produce the world's first televisions equipped with picture tubes. The first Soviet television, called “VK,” was also created according to Zvorykin’s design. However, he did not stop there: the great scientist has more than a hundred different patents and research articles.
The Birth of the Future Pride of the USA
The father of the future inventor of television, Zvorykin, was a wealthy man, a merchant of the first guild, a grain merchant and a shipowner. Kozma Alekseevich owned the Zvorykin Oka Shipping Company and was the head of the board of a public bank. On June seventeenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, Kozma’s youngest (seventh) child, named Volodya, was born at the family’s estate in Murom.
Kozma Alekseevich had enormous hopes for this screaming baby in swaddling clothes. His eldest son, Nikolai, was never interested in the family business at all. He was only interested in science. Another son, Kostya, later became a metallurgist. Daughters did not count, since they were only expected to have a profitable marriage.
Childhood and youth of the inventor
The elder Zworykin made every effort to train and develop his son, intending to transfer management of affairs to him in his old age. The boy turned out to be smart and efficient. Already at the Murom Real School it became clear that he would be an excellent technician. He studied excellently, and in his spare time he repaired wiring on his father's ships. At the age of sixteen, Vladimir entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with honors.
In that educational institution a promising student Volodya met his first inspiration, physics professor Boris Lvovich Rosing. Even then he had several patents (privileges) on “methods of electrically transmitting pictures at a distance.” By the twelfth year of the twentieth century, Volodya short leg I got along with the teacher, who immediately appreciated the enthusiastic young man. He disappeared for days in the laboratory, where he could be found at any time.
Interesting
While serving in the army and studying at the officer's radio school, Vladimir Kozmich was almost put on trial. One of the soldiers wrote a denunciation against him, allegedly he forced juniors to speak into a “box with a hole.” Fortunately, the members of the commission knew a little about radio technology, so he managed to avoid a tribunal.
After receiving his diploma, Zworykin found himself at a crossroads: his dad insistently demanded that he return to the family business, but Rosing predicted a great future and recommended going to Paris. The College de France and physicist Paul Langevin welcomed him with open arms. Things could have gone well, but war broke out. and had to go home. He had already rushed to the front line near Grodno with a radio transmitter he had personally designed and assembled. Six months later he was sent to Petrograd, where there was a radio school for officers.
The Making of a Television Pioneer
The war raged, he first went to Kyiv, and then, leaving military service, moved to Moscow. But there was no peace there either. As a former tsarist officer, they tried to draft him into the Red Army, but Zvorykin was no longer going to fight. At his own peril and risk, he rushed to Omsk, the White Guard capital. There he was received cordially and even helped to prepare papers to travel to the United States to purchase parts of the radio station. Since all the normal routes were already blocked by the Bolsheviks by that time, we had to get there in a roundabout way, through the island of Veygach and Arkhangelsk.
First work and justification in the United States of America
In 1919 he came back to Omsk, where Kolchak was stationed by that time. But he was returning through Japan, circumnavigating the Earth. It turned out that Volodya was wandering overseas in vain, since the radio station was available locally, but careless officials did not even know about its existence. Soon he was again given the documentation and sent on a new business trip to America, but they promised to send money in return, and upon arrival he suddenly discovered that in Omsk they had already fired him with the wording “for idleness.”
Vladimir Kozmich was indignant, began to demand a trial, and curse. He achieved success, but Kolchak’s government soon crumbled into dust, and his career public service sank into oblivion. Vladimir Zvorykin was left in the United States without work and livelihood. Nobody knows how everything could have turned out if not for the ambassador Tsarist Russia in America - Boris Aleksandrovich Bakhmetyev. He helped financially and also got him a job at a large Westinghouse Electric laboratory in Pittsburgh. There he settled and returned to his favorite job, because he was an engineer, and the laboratory with all the necessary equipment provided simply unlimited possibilities.
The invention of electronic television and other discoveries
Already by the twenty-third year, Vladimir managed to create a transmitting tube, which he decided to call an iconoscope. He decided that it was not worth amplifying the output signal if it could accumulate charge. Things got better when he used capacitors. The quality of the picture was ridiculously low, and the author of the project himself openly skeptically called it “television.” Not impressed by the works of the Russian inventor, the authorities ordered him to get down to business - work on sound film projects. However, in the same year he received a patent for an iconoscope, and a year later - for a receiving kinescope.
In nineteen twenty-four, Vladimir Kozmich achieved citizenship and entered the University of Pittsburgh. They accepted people up to thirty-five, so I had to carefully knock off a year for myself. Two years later he was already a Doctor of Science in physics in the field of photocells. There he managed to develop and launch the first electronic high-speed fax. But that’s not what he wanted at all - he needed money for television. They appeared unexpectedly, along with millionaire David Sarnov in the twenty-eighth. He was also a Russian emigrant, but left his homeland at the age of eight. Zvorykin requested one hundred thousand dollars for development. In reality, it took about fifty million, but Sarnov never regretted the invested funds - they returned to him a hundredfold.
I had to leave Pittsburgh, there were not enough opportunities there, and David called to join his corporation. The Zvorykin family moved to Camden, located in New Jersey. There, Vladimir got a job at the Radio Corporation of America, where he made his main discoveries, designed the long-awaited televisions, and was even able to put them on the production line. In the mid-summer of '33, he gave a lecture at a meeting of the American Society of Radio Engineers. It has become turning point, he began to be invited to perform all over the world. At the same time, he was invited to the Soviet Union, promising to “forget” about his counter-revolutionary past, as well as his “shameful” flight abroad.
At home he was greeted like a real king: Lavrentiy Beria himself shook hands, allocated a plane for the trip to Crimea, offered to instantly organize all the documentation, equip the laboratory and create ideal conditions for work. The Union even released a “Zvorykin TV” called “VK”. However, Vladimir Kozmich did not dare to change his American passport to a Soviet one. He returned to the States and continued his work, and already in the forties, almost by accident, he split the light beam into red, green and blue. This was the starting point new job– color television as we know it clearly loomed ahead. At the same time, together with researcher James Hillier, he developed a sensitive electron microscope, and during World War II he even worked on creating an aerial bomb equipped with a “television guidance” system and night vision systems. He subsequently helped John von Neumann connect his computing machine and his television, creating the first computer.
Public recognition in the USA and the world
In the fifties, after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Zvorykin dreamed of visiting his homeland, but his passport was revoked. American intelligence agencies considered him an agent Soviet intelligence, and in the Union they were firmly convinced that he was an “American henchman”, filled to the brim with imperialist ideology. Therefore, next time he was not able to visit the “house” and see his relatives soon.
In fifty-four he retired and took up medical development for his own pleasure. Moreover, he managed to develop a lot of useful equipment: from endoscopes to super-powerful microscopes and even radiosondes. It’s impossible to say that he was underestimated, different time he received many state awards in America.
- In 1934, Vladimir Zvorykin was awarded an award from the Institute of Radio Engineers called the Morris Liebmann Award.
- The American Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded him the Rumford Prize in 1941.
- The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia awarded Zworykin the Howard Potts Medal in 1947.
- A year later, he was awarded the Lamme Medal, which was awarded by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers for outstanding achievements.
But it was recognized not only in the States, but also far beyond its borders. In 1980, the private German foundation Eduard-Rhein-Stiftung presented a new award for achievements in science and culture. The first winner of the Eduard Rein Ring of Honor was Vladimir Zvorykin. After him, only nine people in the world received the same award, including German electrical engineer Walter Bruch, Japanese engineer Ibuka Masaru and even the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
Personal life and death of the father of television: perpetuation of memory
WITH early childhood Vladimir Kozmich's life was eventful and difficult. He traveled a lot around the world, visited many countries, and in his declining years he even managed to become disillusioned with his invention - television. In an interview, he frankly said that he had released “a monster capable of brainwashing all of humanity.” It was no longer possible to stop the running flywheel; the inventor had no control over it.
Wives and children
In his personal life, Zvorykin was no less “lucky” than in his work. He first married in nineteen sixteen, even before the October Revolution. His heart was captivated by a dental school graduate, Tanechka Vasilyeva, about whom little is known. Despite the fact that the marriage lasted fourteen years, it is difficult to call it happy. In the seventeenth, Tanya went to Berlin, from where Volodya took her to America only in the twentieth, and then he was constantly on the road. In 1930, he filed for divorce so that “a demanding family would not interfere with his research.” Tatyana gave birth to her wife two lovely daughters.
- Nina (1920).
- Elena (1927).
Vladimir was not destined to remain alone for the rest of his life, and the second love story in his life turned out to be much more romantic than the pragmatic first marriage. He met his second wife around the same time he divorced his first. Ekaterina Andreevna Polevitskaya was a professor of microbiology, and above all, she was “deeply” married. The husband resisted and did not give the woman a divorce for two decades, but he died in 1950, after which Vladimir Kozmich decided to get married without delay. It is clear that at that age the couple never had children.
Death and memory of the creator of television
Having lived a long and eventful life, Vladimir Zvorykin, the inventor of television, the electron microscope and many other devices, died on July twenty-ninth, nineteen eighty-two. He was fully ninety-two years old, but before last moment he remained of sound mind and strong memory, wrote scientific works, articles in magazines and simply memoirs. It is believed that his ashes were scattered over the American lake Taunton lake, not far from his country house. How true this is is not known for certain, but there is no reason not to believe this version.
There are five known books written by Vladimir Kozmich, published during the period from thirty-six to fifty-eight. In two thousand and thirteen, a monument was erected to him on the Ostankino pond in Moscow, and a little later another monument was erected in the inventor’s homeland in Murom. There is a memorial plaque on the building of the real school from which he graduated, and a street in the town of Gusev is named after him. In two thousand and ten it was released documentary about this great man called “Zvorykin-Muromets”, directed by Russian researcher, actor, TV presenter and journalist Leonid Gennadievich Parfenov.
Vladimir Zvorykin. The man who invented television
“A GIFT to the American continent” - this is what his colleague in the field of electronics said about Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin. There were certainly reasons to assign such a pompous definition to an emigrant from Russia. Zworykin invented the “miracle of the 20th century” - electronic television. His innovative ideas were also used in the creation of electron microscopes, photomultipliers and electron-optical converters, and various medical electronics devices - from miniature “radio pills” to a television reading device for the blind. Under what circumstances did America receive this generous gift from Russia?
"Like in the glorious city and in Murom"
Vladimir Kozmich was born on July 30, 1889 in ancient city Murome. The three-story stone house in which he spent his childhood and teenage years, has survived to this day and now serves as the Murom Historical and Art Museum. Father - Kozma Alekseevich - was a merchant of the first guild, a grain merchant and steamship operator, and headed the Murom Public Bank.
House in Murom, where V.K. spent his childhood years. Zvorykin
Kozma Alekseevich Zvorykin, father Elena Nikolaevna Zvorykina, mother
Even before the youngest of his seven children, Vladimir, was born, family tradition Zvorykins - to follow the trade line - has been violated more than once. Two of Kozma Alekseevich's brothers became scientists. Nikolai Alekseevich Zvorykin (1854 - 1884), a student of A.G. Stoletov, who died early, was a master of mathematics and physics. The name of Konstantin Alekseevich Zvorykin (1861 - 1928), professor at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, author of fundamental works on the theory of metal cutting and mechanical engineering technology, became widely known.
Zvorykin family: Vladimir (standing on the left); sitting: in the center - Elena Nikolaevna and Kozma Alekseevich, on the left - Maria, Nikolai with his wife Asanna (in the first row), on the right - Antonina, Anna and niece Katya (in the first row). Murom, 1910
Vladimir Kozmich’s childhood spent in Murom was preserved in Vladimir Kozmich’s memory as a picture of a serene patriarchal life, full of joys.
“In February, it is customary for Russians to celebrate Shrovetide,” he recalled. “It was always bright and fun days. At the table laden with food were priests, relatives, and friends. We ate pancakes with sour cream, and also served salty snacks such as caviar, herring and the like. After that we went to the city skating rink, where the local orchestra played waltzes. In the afternoon, a party was held on the main streets of the city, sleighs loaded with excellent trotters were passing by, people were in festive attire and expensive furs. The youth were sledding and skating, playing games, pushing each other into the snowdrifts."
From the age of twelve, Zworykin begins to carry out simple instructions from his father: check at the pier the accuracy of the arrival of the ships of the Zworykin company, attend individual negotiations with merchants in the office, etc.
After graduating from a real school, he goes to St. Petersburg and enters the university, but at the insistence of his father he soon transfers to the Technological Institute. The year is 1906, the unrest of the first Russian revolution has not yet subsided. Freshman Zvorykin takes part in noisy rallies, and then in a multi-day student strike.
As classes begin, revolution games lose their appeal. Going to lectures is much more interesting, and Zvorykin is ready to spend whole days in the physics classroom.
Vladimir Zvorykin is a student at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. 1906
Professor of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology B. L. Rosing
The image reproduction method, patented by Rosing in Russia, Germany and England, is based on the brightness modulation of the electron beam of a Brown tube by a photocell signal. Since 1910, Zworykin has been Rosing's constant assistant in experimental work. Together with him, he is engaged in the manufacture of photocells, the assembly of Lee de Forest audions (triodes) and their subsequent pumping using Geissler pumps, etc.
Rosing tube
In 1912, Zvorykin graduated from the Technological Institute, receiving a diploma with honors, which gave him the right to go on a scientific internship in one of the European laboratories. The father insists on returning his son to Murom in the hope of joining his business. But Vladimir Kozmich is no longer satisfied with this prospect - he is attracted by science.
In the laboratory of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. Around 1910
On the advice of Rosing, it was decided to undergo an internship in Paris with the outstanding physicist P. Langevin. For a year, Vladimir Kozmich has been studying diffraction at the Collège de France x-rays, then travels to Germany to take a course in theoretical physics at the Charlottenburg Institute.
Paul Langevin
Vladimir Zvorykin during his service in the tsarist army
In his homeland, a graduate of the Technological Institute is drafted into the active army. For a year and a half, Zvorykin served at a military radio station in Grodno, after which he received the opportunity to return to Petrograd to work as a teacher at an officer radio school.
The bridge across the Neman in Grodno destroyed by retreating Russian troops, 1914-1915
In Petrograd, Vladimir Kozmich meets February revolution. The customs of that time often threatened officers of the tsarist army with reprisals: revolutionary tribunals could, based on complaints from soldiers, bring any officer or general to justice for mistreatment of lower ranks. Zvorykin was also summoned to such a tribunal. Fortunately, the court released him, realizing the absurdity of the charges: one of the soldiers complained that Zvorykin mocked him, forcing him to repeat numbers into a hole (microphone) for a long time, while he himself was rummaging around in some kind of apparatus in the next room.
It becomes impossible to work in Petrograd. Zvorykin decides to return to the active army; he is sent to the town of Brovary near Kiev. Soon the following situation develops: in a significant part of Ukraine there are Germans, in Kyiv there is a hetman in power, there is virtually no front line, the army is full of agitators of all kinds - from Bolsheviks to anarchists. As a delegate from his unit, Zvorykin goes to a front-line meeting.
Dmitry Alexandrovich Shmarin
Returning back on the train, he sees officers being arrested and disarmed in neighboring carriages. Without waiting for the soldier's patrol to approach him, Zvorykin jumps out of the window as he walks and safely slides down a slope into dense bushes. Shots in pursuit do not harm him.
Dmitry Alexandrovich Shmarin
Further service loses all meaning. Having replaced military uniform for civilian clothes, Zvorykin leaves for Moscow. There he receives the sad news of his father's death. Vladimir Kozmich hurries to Murom. This trip to hometown in 1918 finally dispels hopes of a return to the previous established life.
The family house above the Oka, in which he was born and raised, became the property of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In the cemetery next to my father’s grave there are many new white crosses. Aunt Maria is killed by a robber who has coveted her collection of icons. Uncle Ivan, to whom Vladimir once went to watch elite handsome horses, is no longer alive. When the horses were requisitioned for the needs of the revolution, Ivan Alekseevich committed suicide. Zvorykin returns to Moscow with a painful sense of loss of the world that his family was for him.
Dmitry Alexandrovich Shmarin
“It became obvious,” wrote Zvorykin, “that there was no hope of returning to normal conditions, particularly for research work, in the near future. The new government issued strict decrees, according to which all former officers were obliged to report to the commissariat for conscription into the Red Army. I "I didn't want to participate in the civil war. Moreover, I dreamed of working in a laboratory to realize the ideas that I had in mind. In the end, I came to the conclusion that for such work I needed to go to another country, and America seemed to me to be such a country."
Trip around the world
Having made the decision to leave Russia, Zvorykin begins to implement it. The path that he had to take turned out to be so unusual that the story about it caused many emigrants to smile incredulously. Leaving Moscow in 1918 was like an escape - a familiar employee of the commissariat confidentially reported that an arrest warrant had already been issued for the former radio service officer. That same day, without even going home after work, Zvorykin leaves by train for Nizhny Novgorod. The goal is to get to Omsk, where he was offered a job equipping a powerful radio station with a business trip to the USA.
The next part of the journey - by steamship along the Volga and Kama to Perm - passed relatively calmly. However, further the path became more complicated: the railway was blocked by rebel Czechoslovak troops. Zvorykin reached Yekaterinburg with great difficulty.
View of Yekaterinburg from the embankment of the city pond
But here he was immediately arrested and put in prison to determine his identity. One can guess what feelings the prisoners experienced when they learned about the execution of the royal family in the nearby Ipatiev House. It is unknown how the fate of those arrested would have been decided if Czechoslovak units had not entered the city, after which the prison guards considered it best to flee. The Russian engineer did not arouse suspicion among the Czechs, and Zvorykin was allowed to travel to Omsk.
Omsk at the station
A warm welcome awaited the young radio specialist in the capital of independent Siberia. As agreed, he was given the necessary papers for a business trip to the United States, but getting there turned out to be almost impossible. There was a civil war, all roads from Omsk, except to the north, were cut off. In this situation, Zvorykin decides on a very risky undertaking - to get out of Omsk by the northern route. Having found a few more fellow travelers, the future “father of television” sets off by steamer along the Irtysh and Ob rivers through the Kara Sea to Vaigach Island.
It takes more than a month to sail. At the end of it, Zvorykin finds himself on a small island in the Kara Gate Strait. The only way to get out of here is by icebreaker. There is no turning back either. Fortunately, an icebreaker arrives, and after a few weeks Zvorykin reaches Arkhangelsk, occupied by Entente troops.
Further difficulties are associated mainly with obtaining visas. After spending a few more weeks on this, Zworykin again sets off across the seas and oceans. Having made stops along the way in Norway, Denmark and England, he reached the United States on the eve of 1919.
This, however, is not the end of the road, since he feels bound by obligations to the Siberian government. In January 1919, Zvorykin seemed to bring up the rear trip around the world, returning to Omsk, this time via the Pacific Ocean, Japan, Vladivostok and Harbin.
The civil war continues in Russia. The Siberian government was replaced by Admiral Kolchak. Having nevertheless reported on previous instructions and received a lot of new ones, Zvorykin again goes to America. This time for good.
A guy from Russia at Westinghouse
Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin
It would be naive to believe that America was waiting with open arms for an emigrant from Russia who showed nothing special, had no recommendations and, moreover, practically did not speak English. At first, the Russian Ambassador to the USA B.A. Bakhmetyev helped us settle down. The provisional government in Russia has long been liquidated, but the United States is in no hurry to recognize the Bolshevik government. Still a former professor at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, Bakhmetyev manages the activities of the Russian Embassy in the United States, the information bureau and the Purchasing Commission.
Boris Aleksandrovich Bakhmetyev
Zworykin is included in the staff of the Purchasing Commission, located in New York. The functions of a newly minted emigrant are reduced mainly to performing accounting calculations. Zworykin sends dozens of letters to different companies offering his services as a radio electronics specialist. After a tedious wait, one of the letters finally receives a positive response. Westinghouse is offering work at its research laboratory in Pittsburgh. Inspired by hopes, Vladimir Kozmich moves to a new place. The desire to work in his specialty is so great that he is not embarrassed even by the size of the salary, which is half what Zworykin received at the Russian Purchasing Commission.
The new employee was not immediately allowed to work on television at the Westinghouse laboratory. For a year he worked on improving the technology for making receiving and amplifying tubes. Then he “slammed the door” and moved to a rather modest company with a higher salary. Only in 1923, having returned to Westinghouse, did Zvorykin get the opportunity to begin implementing the ideas of electronic television that had long been nurtured.
Westinghouse Electric Company
After several months of hard work, he managed to produce a complete sample electronic system television. The main source of pride is the transmitting tube with a mosaic photocathode he designed (US Patent 2141059 of 12/20/1938). For the first time, the principle of accumulation of charges received by point photocells was applied in it, which significantly increased its photosensitivity. The inventor gave his brainchild the sonorous name “iconoscope” (from the Greek words meaning “image” and “see”). The quality of the image left much to be desired, but this was only the first sample, indicating the fundamental possibility of a new method of television, free from the previous limitations associated with the mechanical scanning method.
In the Westinghouse laboratory. 1920s
For complete success it was necessary to carry out great job to improve the iconoscope and kinescope (receiving tube), the system for converting and transmitting electrical signals, solving technological problems associated with obtaining the required photosensitive structure, etc. Zworykin presented all these arguments when demonstrating his system to the management of Westinghouse. On general director Davis's company, however, was not impressed by the demonstration of the installation. It was decided that it would be better for the “guy from Russia” to do something “more useful for the company.”
Zvorykin receives the task of developing photocells for sound film equipment and other purposes. He considered this work not interesting enough for himself, however, it made his name known in Pittsburgh and the state of New Jersey. Local newspapers wrote about the rapidly expanding use of photovoltaic cells in retail establishments, offices, etc. One of the newspapers even published a portrait of a promising Westinghouse specialist.
Meanwhile, while working on various photoelectric devices, the inventor did not stop improving the electron tube. “By that time,” Zvorykin recalled, “I realized that work on an idea that could lead to commercial success needed to be camouflaged until the possibility of making a profit became obvious to business people. Step by step, he solved numerous radio engineering and technological problems, getting closer and closer to their goal - the creation of an electronic television system suitable for practical use.From experiments it was possible to move on to pilot production, but this required capital investments, a representative of large business was needed who could believe in the future of the new development.
Meeting with RCA President David Sarnov
Another emigrant from Russia, David Sarnov, turned out to be such a businessman and at the same time a specialist in the field of radio electronics, who has no doubt about the future of electronic television.
David Sarnov (1922)
By the time he met his compatriot, David Sarnov (his parents took him to the United States at the age of nine) had worked his way up in the American radio industry from a simple operator to the president of the largest company, Radio Corporation of America (RCA). The business acumen of the RCA president, his extensive connections in the American market of radio-electronic products, great financial opportunities became a kind of locomotive that ensured the advancement of Zvorykin’s brainchild to industrial and commercial success.
In 1929, Zvorykin began working at the RCA branch located in Camden. “What will it take to turn your development into a television broadcast medium for a mass audience?” - Sarnov asked Zvorykin this question at their first meeting. “One hundred thousand dollars and two years of work,” was the answer. In fact, the subsequent work turned out to be significantly more ambitious. Subsequently, Sarnov noted that the actual costs of organizing a television system in the United States were at least thirty times greater than the figure named by the author of the iconoscope. This curiosity with the assessment of financial costs confirms that Zvorykin was not destined to become a businessman. Work on the creation of electronic television showed that the son of a Murom merchant had exceptional abilities to find technical solutions to problems classified as “dead-end” by his colleagues.
V. K. Zvorykin demonstrates the first electronic television receiver. 1929
In 1931, Zvorykin created the final design of the transmitting tube - the iconoscope, which became the basis of the future electronic television system. After practical tests new system, carried out in Camden, a 2.5 kW television transmission station is installed on the tallest building in New York - the Empire State Building. Experimental television broadcasting using this station began in 1932.
Les Flory and Vladimir Zvorykin
RCA factories are mastering the production of televisions with a picture tube designed by Zvorykin. Residents of New York and surrounding areas within a radius of up to 100 km are becoming the first subscribers to electronic television.
Zworykin's iconoscope conquers the world
The inventor receives a lot of invitations to speak to scientists in different countries. IN previous years he had already visited many laboratories in Germany, Hungary, France, Belgium, England and other countries. Back then these were mostly study tours; Zworykin was particularly pleased to visit the laboratories of such recognized luminaries as P. Langevin and M. Curie.
Now Zworykin himself is playing the role of a triumphant. His experience, advice, ideas are of great interest to anyone interested further development television. Of the many proposals, Zvorykin chooses first of all to visit the USSR, and already in August 1933 he spoke to scientists and engineers in Leningrad and Moscow.
Return to your homeland?
A few months before the trip, RCA was visited by envoys Soviet Union- specialists in the field of radio electronics S.A. Vekshinsky (later academician) and A.F. Shorin. In a face-to-face conversation, Zvorykin received an offer from his compatriots to return to the USSR. He was given assurances that the Soviet government would provide him with the most favorable conditions for work and life and guarantee protection from any persecution related to his pre-revolutionary past. This proposal sunk into Zvorykin’s soul.
Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin
Having lived for a decade and a half in the United States and comparing himself with more assimilated emigrants such as Sarnov, Zworykin understood that he himself would no longer become “one hundred percent American.” He spoke English with a monstrous accent, all his habits and way of thinking remained Russian. My personal life was not entirely successful. The arrival of his wife Tatyana in America in 1919 at first seemed like a lifeline to both. In 1920, their first daughter Nina was born, seven years later Elena. Nevertheless, there was no spiritual closeness between the spouses, and in the end it came to a break. Zvorykin already lived alone in Camden.
V.K. Zvorykin with his wife Tatyana Vladimirovna and daughter Nina in 1921.
With his wife Tatyana and daughter Nina. 1921
In August 1933, Zvorykin arrived in Soviet Russia. For his report “Television using cathode tubes”, all the specialists who had learned about it gathered in the hall of the Leningrad Scientific and Technical Technical Technical Institute for Electricians. The report aroused great interest. Then, for more than an hour, Zworykin answered questions in detail, making no secrets of anything.
It was a joyful meeting with my sisters and brother Nikolai. Zvorykin left for America full of impressions and deep thoughts. Of course, life in the United States gave him a lot. There he not only found refuge in hard days social upheavals, but also received recognition as an inventor and scientist. And yet, having visited Russia, he felt with all acuteness that his soul still remained in this country.
Murom, house of V.K. Zvorykin
A year later, Zvorykin goes to Russia again. A family council meets in the house of his sister Anna, in which Vladimir Kozmich’s closest relatives take part. There is only one question: how does the family feel about his intention to return to his homeland? Joyful tears appeared in the sisters' eyes. But then Anna’s husband, Zvorykin’s same age, professor at the Leningrad Mining Institute Dmitry Vasilyevich Nalivkin, spoke up. He had known his brother-in-law for more than twenty years, so he presented his arguments without ceremony.
Nalivkin Dmitry Vasilievich
Yes, Vladimir, you are received in the USSR with great honor. You are valuable as a scientist, you need to be treated delicately, since you have an American passport in your pocket. Now imagine that you exchanged this passport for a “red-skinned passport”. For some, you will be a respected person who managed to invent something very important. For many others, you will remain, firstly, the son of a merchant of the first guild, secondly, a former white officer, and thirdly, in the recent past, an American citizen who had close ties with the world of the bourgeoisie. In an unfavorable set of circumstances, even one of these points will be enough to put you far from the laboratories and apartment promised to you. Remember the process of the Industrial Party and believe me, the matter will not be limited to this process. The risk is very big, I personally think your desire to return to Russia is unreasonable.
V.K. Zvorykin before the flight. Late 1930s
This or something like this was what the future academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a classic of Russian geology, said (his son, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.D. Nalivkin, retained memories of this). The arguments looked quite convincing. Zvorykin decided to stay in the USA. He loved to come to the USSR, meet with his sisters and nephews, and generously shower them, as befits an American uncle, with various gifts. Life very soon confirmed that Nalivkin was right. Among those who had to experience the undeserved blows of fate was, unfortunately, Vladimir Kozmich’s brother Nikolai. Working for many years in Georgia, he became known as a qualified engineer, managing a number of projects for the construction of hydraulic structures. But a small malfunction in the work was enough for Nikolai Zvorykin, like his closest employees, to be convicted. Surprisingly, after the successful commissioning of the hydroelectric complex, the entire design team was pardoned. This was rare. The campaign, which took place under the sign of “intensifying the class struggle,” continued to gain momentum.
V. K. Zvorykin at the construction of a country house in Taunton Lakes. 1930s
Military theme
In the second half of the 30s, Zworykin was mainly involved in the problems of electron optics, conducting research and development together with I. Langmuir, J. Morton, L. Malter and other well-known specialists. Work in the field of electron-optical converters led to the creation of a night vision device operating in the infrared range. During the Second World War, night vision devices designed by Zworykin were used by the US Army to equip tanks and vehicles, and also as sights.
At the same time, under the leadership of Zvorykin, work continued to improve elements of television equipment. Development new technology manufacturing the target made it possible to create a much more sensitive receiving tube - a supericonoscope.
Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin
In Zvorykin's laboratory, the orthicon, vidicon, superorticon and a number of other devices were also created. Since 1939, Zvorykin, together with his assistant J. Hillier, has been developing electron microscopes, achieving significant results in a short time.
On September 3, 1939, the day Great Britain declared war on Germany, Zvorykin was in the Scottish city of Dundee at a scientific congress. In the morning, his report on electron microscopy took place, and then the meetings were stopped. In connection with the declaration of martial law, congress participants hastened to leave Scotland. For guests from America, places were reserved on the ship "Athenia", departing from Liverpool to New York. After some hesitation, Zvorykin decided to stay longer; he wanted to get his luggage, which had fallen behind his owner during his trips to Europe. He found it awkward to travel on a luxury ocean liner, even though war time, without restaurant suit. And on September 5 I learned from the newspapers that the Athenia had been torpedoed by the German Submarine, while many passengers were killed and injured.
Upon returning to the USA, Zworykin had to expand the range of work related to military topics. In addition to night vision devices, his laboratory creates on-board television devices for targeting bombs and missiles, devices for radar systems, etc. He became a member of the Advisory Committee to the US Air Force and served on the Subcommittee on Defense Research. At the end of the war, Zvorykin was awarded a diploma from the US Department of Defense. The US Academy of Arts and Sciences elected him as a member.
V. K. Zvorykin (center) at the celebration of his 50th anniversary in country house in Taunton Lakes. 1939
In 1943, Zvorykin, who by that time had moved with his laboratory to Princeton, was approached by activists of the Fund for Relief of War Victims in Russia, which was involved in raising funds for the purchase and sending of food, clothing, etc. to the population of the USSR, and offered to head the New York branch of this foundation. Zvorykin never joined any parties or movements, did not engage in social activities. But this time he gave his consent, warning that he could devote a minimum of time to this work. He did not want to remain on the sidelines when he could help his distressed compatriots. The Foundation's activities included the participation of the President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Vice President Henry Wallace, which ensured the legality of the matter. Nevertheless, this story had sad consequences for Zvorykin.
V. Zworykin and J. Hillier with one of the first electron microscope designs. Princeton, 1942
In 1945, groups of specialists were formed in the United States to travel through the territory of Germany that had just been occupied by the Allied troops. The goal was to determine the importance of surviving research and industrial developments, identify highly qualified scientists and engineers, etc. (Similar teams were created in the USSR, which led to a kind of competition: V. von Braun was “captured” by the Americans, but M. von Ardenne went to the USSR, etc.).
V. K. Zvorykin in the uniform of a US Army colonel. 1944
When Zvorykin showed up at the Washington airport to fly with the group to Germany, it suddenly became clear that he was not allowed to leave the United States. How this incident unfolded, Zvorykin wrote in his memoirs:
FBI Agent Reports
"...I learned that my passport was detained by the State Department due to the fact that I am a member of the Russian War Victims Fund. Since this organization was completely legal, and included the mentioned high-ranking officials, the only explanation I see is my Russian origin. Needless to say, a bitter pill after many years and so much work devoted to my new country. I felt like I was in a cage again. I had to resign from the Committee on Germany and prepare for dismissal from RCA, since in this situation I lost access to my work on secret projects. Here General Sarnov stood up for me, providing official support from the RCA. Finally, in 1947, my passport was returned to me, and I became a free man again.”
The last happy thirty years
Apparently, this story left a deep scar in Zvorykin’s soul. Nevertheless, honors continued to pour in: he was awarded the Howard Potts Medal, the Presidential Certificate of Merit, the Lamme Medal and Prize of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Poor Richard Club Gold Medal for Excellence in Science, and others. , of course, are pleasant, but now Zvorykin has become wiser and more careful. In the United States, the McCarthyism campaign is beginning to gain strength, and he notes with regret that scientific merit is a weak defense in an atmosphere of pseudo-patriotic frenzy. Vladimir Kozmich had long wanted to go to the USSR to see his relatives, but in such a situation there was no point in thinking about it.
In 1951, changes took place in Zvorykin’s personal life. After many years of bachelorhood, he married the Russian emigrant E.A. Polevitskaya. The story of their union is romantic and, like many things in Zvorykin’s life, almost implausible. The acquaintance took place twenty years before this culminating event. Zvorykin was fascinated by the beauty and charm of Ekaterina Andreevna, but, alas, Polevitskaya was married.
Katyusha Polevitskaya at the dacha. 1930s
In the future, their paths almost never crossed: Ekaterina Andreevna raised children and lived in family concerns, Vladimir Kozmich was little distracted by anything not related to electronics. The marriage proposal followed when Zvorykin learned that Polevitskaya had become a widow. And although both “young people” had crossed the sixty-year mark by that time, they looked, according to the recollections of friends and relatives, as an extremely happy couple. The couple lived in love and harmony for more than thirty years (Ekaterina Andreevna outlived Zvorykin by a year).
V.K. Zvorykin with his wife E.A. Polevitskaya.
It was very important for Vladimir Kozmich that his wife was keenly interested in his work. Now it is difficult to say how much the erudite and energetic Ekaterina Andreevna, a doctor by profession, influenced her husband, but in the 50s Zvorykin’s scientific and inventive interests moved mainly to the field of medical electronics.
In 1954, upon reaching the age of 65, Zworykin retired from his position as director of the electronics laboratory at RCA. His merits are so great that he is given the position of honorary vice president of RCA. A conference is held in his honor at McCosh Hall at Princeton University, in which scientists from various US universities and firms take part. IN closing speech RCA President D. Sarnov notes Zvorykin’s outstanding contribution to transforming the company over a quarter of a century from a small company into a leader in a rapidly developing industry. “The concept of resignation has nothing to do with Vladimir Zvorykin,” said Sarnov. “A scientist like Zvorykin never retires. His talent does not fade. The imagination and creative instinct of a real scientist lead him along to even more extensive knowledge.”
President of ARCA David Sarnov
Honorary Vice-President of the RCA company V.K. Zvorykin at the anniversary exhibition of his devices. Princeton, 1954
Indeed, in Zworykin’s plans there was no place for long rest. That same year, he began work as director of the Center for Medical Electronics at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. For research chemical reactions Zvorykin soon created a unique microscope inside living cells, reproducing a color image of objects on a television screen. The development of integrated microelectronics allowed him to implement the idea of endoradiosounding together with doctors. The probe in this method is a miniature radio transmitter tablet, with which you can obtain data on acidity and other indicators of the internal environment.
Vladimir Kozmich and Ekaterina Andreevna after the wedding ceremony. 1951
Together with the outstanding mathematician J. von Neumann, Zworykin develops new method forecasting weather changes using meteorological rockets and computer data processing. Then he sets about solving the problem of improving traffic safety on highways and eventually creates an experimental model of a radio-controlled safe car.
V. K. Zvorykin with a model of a radio-controlled car
The scientist's authority is very high; many universities would like to cooperate with the inventor of electronic television and electron microscopy. In addition to working at the Rockefeller Institute, Zvorykin begins teaching activities as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. At his request, the series of lectures falls on the period from December to March. Once upon a time he could only dream of spending winter time in the comfortable Florida climate. Now, having removed cozy house, the Zworykin couple travels from Princeton to the warm coast of Miami every year in November.
Many researchers in different countries are beginning to use electronics for medical and biological purposes. The International Federation of Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering is being created; Zworykin was elected the founding president of the federation. One of the vice-presidents was professor from Russia V.V. Parin, with whom Vladimir Kozmich maintained friendship for many years.
V. V. Parin, E. A. Polevitskaya and V. K. Zvorykin. Princeton, 1946
Zvorykin owns over 120 scientific patents. His name is listed in the American National Gallery of Fame for Inventors, he has been awarded more than thirty awards, including the US National Medal of Science, the Pioneer Award of the American Association of Manufacturers, the Order of the Legion of Honor of France, the Order of Honor of the Italian government, etc. His life was full of trips to many countries, meetings with scientists, engineers, public figures. Since 1959, he came to his homeland eight more times, visited loved ones, and was interested in the development of science, technology, and culture in our country. He lamented that he could not visit Murom, where he spent his childhood and youth (the city was closed to foreigners). Then, with his characteristic entrepreneurial spirit, he solved this problem.
Series of messages "
It is difficult today to meet a person who does not know what a television is. A television has long been no longer a luxury item; it is found in almost every home and is used by young and old. IN modern world There are many types of TVs that differ from each other in parameters, characteristics, screen types, etc. However, not everyone knows the history of the television and who is considered its first inventor. However, the appearance of television is the merit of many scientists. Thanks to their inventions and research, the issue of transmitting images over a distance using technical means was resolved very successfully by the end of the 19th century. The beginning was made by the Englishman Smith, who discovered the phenomenon of the photoelectric effect in 1873. Hertz and other scientists continued research in this direction. At the beginning of 1888, Russian scientist A.G. Stoletov created an “electric eye,” which was the prototype of photocells. In 1884, the Nipkow disk was created, and in 1907, Dieckmann demonstrated a television, measuring 3 cm by 3 cm with a screen of 20 pixels. We cannot ignore the famous Russian scientist B. Rosing, who invented the “cathode telescope” system, which reproduced an image with a cathode ray tube. These and a number of other inventions were fundamental in the history of television.
The creator of electronic television is considered V.K.Zvorykin, creator of the electronic transmitting tube - iconoscope. In 1936, Zvorykin, a student and follower of the famous scientist Rosing, created the first electronic television in his laboratory, a little later he became the first creator of a television for the public. V.K. Zvorykin was born on July 17, 1889 in Murom in the family of the merchant Kozma Alekseevich Zvorykin. There are discrepancies and inaccuracies regarding the date of birth of this outstanding scientist. So, in Central Archive Petersburg, a copy of his birth certificate has been preserved, which indicates a different year of birth - 1888. The merchant's two brothers were famous Russian scientists, and his eldest son, Nikolai, also gave preference to science. Therefore, Kozma Alekseevich dreamed of eventually transferring his business to Vladimir, who already in childhood showed himself to be an incredibly energetic, capable and “handy” young man. As soon as the fashion for electric bells appeared in the city, he immediately made and equipped them entrance doors in the houses of relatives and friends. He successfully repaired the alarm system on a ship that belonged to his father's company.
In 1906, Vladimir successfully graduated from a real school in his native Murom and, at the insistence of his father, entered the Technological Institute of St. Petersburg, after which he became a certified industrial engineer in 1912. At the institute, an event occurs in Vladimir’s life that played a huge role for him in the future. In 1910 he was engaged research work in the laboratory under the direction of Rosing, 
who is passionately working on the problem of transmitting images over a distance (electronic television). On the recommendation of the professor, Zworykin went on an internship in 1912 at the College de France. Here he listens to lectures by the famous Paul Langevin and studies under his guidance the properties of x-ray radiation. First world war Private Zvorykin has been in command of the radio station for almost a year, which he himself installed. As a result of overvoltage, he was sent for rehabilitation to Petrograd, where he was soon awarded the rank of officer and sent as a teacher to the Officer Electrical Engineering School. In 1916, he was appointed military representative at the ROBTiT plant, which produces radio stations for the navy and army. Here he met a major entrepreneur and famous radio engineer S.M. Aizenstein. After the revolution, Zvorykin understands that his dreams of creating a laboratory where he could implement many of his engineering ideas and ideas in the field of electronic television, which was an early agreement with Eisenstein, would no longer come true. Zvorykin is seeking a transfer to work in Siberia. He hopes that the richest entrepreneurs in Siberia, interested in developing production, creating their own networks of radio stations, establishing trade international relations, will help in the implementation of his plans. Fleeing from arrest, Zvorykin, with great difficulties, reached Omsk in July 1918, where he was seconded by the Provisional Siberian Government to England, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Having reached Arkhangelsk, Zvorykin met the US Ambassador to Russia D.R. Francis and received a visa to the US. In 1920, Zworykin and his wife moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked for the Westinghouse Electric Company. Since 1923, he has been inventing and constructing transmitting (iconoscope) and receiving, reproducing images (kinescope) cathode ray television tubes. In the late 1920s, Zworykin met a major entrepreneur, president 
RCA (Radio Corporation of America), a native of Russia D. Sarnov, who was well versed in electrical engineering issues. He supported Zvorykin’s ideas in the field of creating television systems and research, and invested huge amounts of money in this project. In 1931, Zworykin created a serial tube with a mosaic photocathode; he solved the most important issue of color transmission and laid down the basic principles of modern color television. In 1932, a television station was installed at the Empire State Building in New York, and the corporation's factories began producing the first televisions. Today, the buyer pays great attention to the characteristics functional features products. High-quality, multifunctional TVs from the online store palladium.ua will make your stay pleasant and comfortable. Plunge into the world of amazing and beautiful. Zworykin was proud of his invention, which brought people information, knowledge, culture, and gave the whole family the opportunity to sit in front of a blue screen. At the same time, he realized that television also carried danger; it could “brainwash all of humanity.” Over the course of a long and fruitful life, this great person made many inventions, his name was included in the National Chamber of Fame of Inventors of the United States of America in 1977.