Telectroscope
The telectroscope was the first prototype television system. The term was also used in the 19th century to describe imaginary systems of distant seeing. Most recently, the term has been used for the name of a piece of installation art with a visual high speed broadband[1] link between London and New York City constructed by Paul St George in May 2008.[2]
Figuier's imaginary telectroscope
The term "telectroscope" was used by the French writer and publisher Louis Figuier in 1878 to popularize an invention he wrongly interpreted as real and ascribed to Alexander Graham Bell.[3] Figuier was probably misled by the article "The Electroscope" published in The New York Sun of 29 March 1877.[4] Written under the pseudonym "Electrician", the article claimed that an "an eminent scientist", whose name had to be witheld, had invented a device whereby objects or people anywhere in the world "could be seen anywhere by anybody". According to the article, the device would allow merchants to transmit pictures of their wares to their customers, the contents of museum collections would be made available to scholars in distant cities, and (combined with the telephone), operas and plays could be broadcast into people's homes.[5] In reality, the fake "electroscope" described in the article had nothing to do with the real electroscope and did not exist.
Real telectroscope devices
Nevertheless the word "telectroscope" was widely accepted. It was used to describe the work of nineteenth century inventors and scientists such as Constantin Senlecq,[6][7] George R. Carey,[8][9] Adriano de Paiva,[10] and later Jan Szczepanik, who with Ludwig Kleiberg obtained a British patent for his device in 1897.[11][12][13] Szczepanik's telectroscope was covered in the New York Times on April 3, 1898, where it was described as "a scheme for the transmission of colored rays".[14] Szczepanik's experiments fascinated Mark Twain, who wrote a fictional account of his work in his short story From "The London Times" of 1904.[15] Both the hoax "electroscope" of 1877 and Mark Twain's fictional telectroscope had an important effect on the public. They also provided feedback to the research.
Neither the fictional nor the real nineteenth century prototype telectroscopes were real television systems. Even after the invention of the scanning disk by Paul Nipkow the prototype telectroscopes did not ensure the satisfactory quality of image transmission.
"Telectroscope" was eventually replaced by the term "television" most probably coined by Constantin Perskyi in 1900.
The Telectroscope art installation
In May-June 2008, artist Paul St George is exhibiting outdoor interactive video installations linking London and New York City in a fanciful simulated "telectroscope". According to the installation's invented back story, the device works using a transatlantic tunnel started by the artist's fictional great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George.[16][17][18] The producer of this spectacle was the Artichoke company, who previously staged the The Sultan's Elephant in London.[19]
References
- ^ BBC report, "The week's weirder videos"[1]. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
- ^ Matthew Price (Friday, 23 May 2008), 'Tunnel' links New York to London, BBC
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Louis Figuier, L'année scientifique et industrielle ou Exposé annuel des travaux scientifiques, des inventions et des principales applications de la science à l'industrie et aux arts, qui ont attiré l'attention publique en France et à l'étranger. Vingt et unième année (1877), Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1878. Reproduced on L'histoire de la télévision . Retrieved 26 May 2008.
- ^ André Lange, L'histoire de la télévision. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
- ^ "The Electroscope", The New York Sun, March 29, 1877. Reproduced on L'histoire de la télévision.
- ^ "A novel and curious instrument. The Telectroscope", Scientific American, Vol. XL, n°10, New York, 8 March 1879. [2]
- ^ Constantin Senlecq and his work [3]
- ^ George R. Carey, "Seeing by Electricity", Scientific American of June 5, 1880 [4]
- ^ George R. Carey, "Transmitting, Recording and Seeing Pictures by Electricity", The Electrical Engineer, Jan. 16, 1895, pp.57-58.[5]
- ^ Adriano de Paiva, "A telefonia, a telegraphia e a telescopia", articles of June 1877 and June 1878 [6]
- ^ Information about a British patent on the telectroscope for Jan Szczepanik and Ludwig Kleiberg [7]
- ^ "Der Fernseher (Telelekstroskop)", Die Reichswehr, Vienna, 9 March 1898, n°1466, p.5. [8]
- ^ Jan Szczepanik: Polish Edison (Polish government web site. Retrieved 26 May 2008
- ^ Johannes Horowitz, That New Telectroscope, New York Times, April 3, 1898, p.22. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
- ^ Digitized copy of Mark Twain's From "The London Times" of 1904 from the Cornell University Library. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
- ^ Ryzik, Melena (2008-05-21). "Telescope Takes a Long View, to London". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Optical device connects NY, London in real time". The Associated Press. 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
- ^ Todd, Michael (2008-05-23). "Telectroscope Invention Links New York To London". eFluxMedia.
- ^ The Observer (Sunday May 25, 2008), You could really get sucked in...
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