John Logie Baird: Television Pioneer

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IET, Jun 30, 2000 - Biography & Autobiography - 417 pages
Professor Russell Burns attempts to offer a balanced biography of one of the twentieth century's outstanding inventors, published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Baird's first public demonstration of a rudimentary television system. The author's meticulous treatment is based on primary source documents although many personal recollections are included to add humour, colour and context. A great deal of material regarding Baird's business partnerships in the early 1920s has only recently become available to researchers and is covered here for the first time.
 

Contents

1 Early life
1
2 Hastings
31
3 Frith Street London
70
4 The first demonstration of television
88
5 Noctovision and phonovision
111
6 Company formation and longdistance television
129
7 Television and the BBC
154
8 The first television broadcast and other firsts
177
12 Financial difficulties
245
13 The first public 30line service
263
14 Bairds personality
274
15 A rival and highdefinition television
288
16 The London television station
314
17 Baird and cinema television
333
18 The war years
360
Two greats
391

9 Overseas interests
195
10 Largescreen television
209
11 The early television work of Bell Telephone Laboratories
224
Appendices
397
Index
411
Copyright

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About the author (2000)

Russell W. Burns graduated from the University of Durham in 1948 with a first class honours degree in physics. Following post-graduate research he joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service in 1952. Professor Burns subsequently held various appointments in higher education in the UK and abroad, obtaining his PhD from the University of Leicester in 1976, and retired in 1989. He has been researching and writing on the history of electrical engineering for more than 30 years. He was awarded the IEE's SET Divisional Board Premium in 1993 and shared the Maxwell Premium in 1994. An IEE Fellow, Professor Burns is a past chairman of the IEE's History of Technology professional group, Archives Committee and Science Education and Technology Divisional Board.