David Sarnoff Introduces Television as a New Industry at the New York World's Fair, April 20, 1939

Contact Us About This
01

Artifact Overview

David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, is pictured here introducing monochrome television at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In 1946, he similarly introduced electronic color television. Sarnoff was a technology advocate and credited as the "father of broadcasting"--the idea that radio could serve as mass communication--rather than messages sent between one operator and another.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Negative (Photograph)

Subject Date

20 April 1939

Collection Title

Edison Institute Photographs

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

EI.1929.2685

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Keywords
02

Related Content

  • Dr. Vladimir Zworykin with a Portable Television Camera, Dearborn, Michigan, 1958
    Set

    Heroes of Radio and Television at The Henry Ford

    • 12 Artifacts
    Vladimir Zworykin was an early pioneer of television development, employed by Westinghouse and the Radio Corporation of America. Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope picture tubes were breakthroughs in television history. Together they allowed electronic television to become a viable technology. Zworykin also headed the creation of the electron microscope and infrared tubes used in night vision "sniperscopes" during WWII.
    Read More