The television, or TV as many of us know it as, is one of the most important technological devices we have in our modern day, and we use in our daily lives, whether to watch the news or to simply unwind with a show. What little of us know is the history of the television, who invented it, and how it ended up becoming one of the most important devices in our household.

Before we even had electronic televisions, there was once mechanical televisions, which worked by scanning images and then transmitting them onto a screen. They were considered a rudimentary device. The device was invented independently by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird and American inventor Charles Frances Jenkins in the early 1920s.  But there was someone previous to both of them, who developed the first mechanical television, German inventor Paul Gottieb Nipkow.

The first mechanical televisions used a rotating disk with holes that were arranged in a spiral pattern. They sent images through wires. Instead of “the television”, it was first called “the electric telescope”, and had 18 lines of resolution.

As early as 1907, two inventors, Russian Boris Rosing and English A.A. Campbell-Swinton, combined two devices: a cathode ray tube and a mechanical scanning system, creating a completely new television system.

But the world’s first electronic television was created by 21-year old inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth. His system was able to capture moving images using a beam of electrons, in other words, a primitive camera.

Between 1926 and 1931, mechanical television inventors refined their methods, but succumbed to the fact that all TVs were converted to the electric system. As televisions gained more strength, television stations started appearing in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as television sets, remote controls, and programs. By 1954, television in color was a reality, instead of just black and white.

The television quickly transformed from a relatively new and niche technology to a critical and essential part of our daily lives, serving as a communication device in many homes. It has transformed society, and has helped contribute to our education and knowledge, as well as a form of entertainment for us.

If you are wondering who to thank for the televisions that we spend so much time of our lives enjoying, the list is long. For more information, visit History of TV.