In Soviet times, when many significant discoveries for mankind suddenly came from Russia, for example, like a steam locomotive or an airplane, they shyly kept silent about one of the creators of modern television. Recently, Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (Vladimir Kosma Zworykin) is increasingly referred to as an American engineer, born in Russia, who made a significant contribution to the development of television technology.
Origin
Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin was born on July 17 (30), 1888 in the city of Murom, Vladimir province. Father - Kozma Zvorykin - Murom merchant of the first guild, was engaged in grain trading, owned the company "Shipping on the Oka Zvorykin" and Murom Public Bank. Mom came from a poor bourgeois family. The couple had seven children, of whom Vladimir was the youngest.
However, it was on him, his second son, that his father had all his hopes for the continuation of the family business. Since the elder Nikolai did not show interest in the case, he was completely passionate about science, was a student of the famous Russian physicist Alexander Stoletov. Subsequently, he worked for many years in Georgia, supervised the construction of many hydraulic structures. His uncle, Konstantin Alekseevich, also became a scientist who gained fame thanks to his work on the theory of metal cutting.
Education
His father tried early to introduce a smart boy to the family business, but he was not at all interested in large office books that recorded the movement of goods, routes, incomes and expenses. Vladimir liked ship equipment more; in his childhood he could fix the signal on the ship, mounted electric calls made by himself.
Secondary education Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin received at the local real school, which he graduated in 1906. In the same year he moved to St. Petersburg, where he entered the university. However, his father, who was worried that the youngest son was interested in science, convincingly invited him to transfer to the Technological Institute. It was created with the aim of training engineering and managerial personnel for industry. The young man did not dare to go against the will of his parents.
Choice of profession
One of his institute teachers was Professor Boris L. Rosing, who dealt with issues of transmitting images from a distance. Like many of his fellow students, Vladimir did not escape the influence of revolutionary ideas, taking an active part in the political struggle - he went to rallies and strikes. However, science attracted him more. An inquisitive student began to devote a lot of time to research in the laboratory. By the time he graduated, Vladimir Zvorykin had become a loyal follower and beloved student of the professor.
In 1912 he graduated from the institute with honors, having received the specialty of a process engineer. Father insisted on returning to his hometown, but Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin managed to negotiate with him and continue his education in France. Professor Rosing recommended a capable student to the College de France, where the famous scientist Paul Langevin became his supervisor.
Getting to know the vision
Scientists in many countries around the world have tried to solve the problem of transmitting images from a distance. Then, “mechanical television” was considered the most promising direction, when rays of light through a special Nipkov disk with holes drilled in a spiral fell onto photocells and formed an image. True, it was not possible to achieve image clarity and the quality depended on the number of holes.
However, Professor Rosing was one of the first supporters of "electronic television", which then seemed a very dubious theoretical concept. For a long time, scientists could not amplify the signal so much as to cause a noticeable reaction in the photocell. In 2011, Boris Lvovich first introduced his invention to his colleagues. Vladimir Zvorykin, who became his faithful assistant and was very impressed with the work of his teacher, forever became a supporter of the electronic path of development of far vision. According to many experts, these works became the basis for the further development of television. For his work, Rosing was awarded the gold medal of the Russian Technical Society.
In military service
Education in France ended two years later, with the outbreak of the First World War, Zvorykin returned to his homeland. Almost immediately, the young man was mobilized into the army and sent to serve in the communications troops in Grodno. In a military unit, inventor Vladimir Zvorykin arrived with a radio transmitter of his own design. After a year and a half, he was awarded the next rank - second lieutenant and transferred to the officer radio school in Petrograd.
The young officer moved to a new duty station, where he continued his scientific work, for which he almost paid with his life. After the February Revolution, a soldier wrote a statement to Zvorykina, claiming that the officer was mocking him. He made me speak in a box with holes when he himself was in the next room. He was lucky - the members of the tribunal were a little versed in electrical engineering, and he was acquitted.
Flight from the country
When the widespread arrest of officers began, he managed to escape and hide for some time in Moscow. These were the most difficult years in the biography of Vladimir Zvorykin. Then he decided to flee to Omsk - the capital of the white movement of Russia. The government of Admiral Kolchak instructed him to deal with the equipment of a powerful radio station.
In 1918, Zvorykin for the first time went on a business trip to America to purchase radio equipment, and having completed a mission, he returned to Omsk. When he was on his second trip to the United States, the Reds captured the city, and he simply had nowhere to return to.
Early years in america
Vladimir Zvorykin was helped to get into the research laboratory of the Westinghouse company in Pittsburgh, where he took up the development of image transmission from a distance. By 1923, the first broadcasting electronic tube was developed, which the scientist called the "foreignoscope." The image was so low-quality that Zvorykin himself called his invention "elevision". Nevertheless, he applied for it, and after a year and for the receiving tube - a kinescope.
In 1924, Zvorykin received American citizenship and entered the University of Pittsburgh. Two years later, received a doctorate.
The main work of life
In 1928, he managed to negotiate with David Sarnov, head of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), on research funding. A year later, Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin developed a vacuum television receiving tube. Other elements of television equipment were also created that allowed the transmission of images. In subsequent years, the scientist managed to decompose the light beam into blue, green and red colors, laying the foundation for color television.
These inventions were applied during the first television broadcasts in the USA in 1936. The scientist’s works have received worldwide recognition, the photos of Vladimir Zvorykin were printed by leading publications of the world. He received invitations for lectures and counseling from many countries around the world, including the Soviet Union. With the assistance of RCA and personally Vladimir Kozmich, a television broadcasting center was built in the USSR in 1938 and the production of the first televisions began.
In 1944, Vladimir Zvorykin invented devices that allowed him to develop night vision devices and television bombs with television guidance.
To return or not to the USSR?
In 1933, the scientist first came to the Soviet Union to give lectures in Moscow and Leningrad. And after many years of separation, he meets his sisters and older brother Nikolai. He realizes that he has remained Russian and is very homesick. Having lived in America for a decade and a half, Zvorykin spoke English with a terrible accent and was not too assimilated.
A year later, having again arrived in the USSR, he decides to consult with his relatives whether he should return for good. Shortly before this, representatives of the Soviet government promised him the most favorable conditions for life and work. And he almost decided to return. As Vladimir Zvorykin recalled in a brief biography, the sisters would be happy to have him move. Only the husband of Anna's sister, a professor at the Mining Institute, Dmitry Nalivkin, did not advise doing this. And it is good that reason outweighed emotions when making a decision. Soon, mass repressions began in the country.
In the postwar years, he visited the Soviet Union eight more times, met with relatives, scientists and lectured. He even managed to visit Murom (closed to foreigners) when he simply escaped from official events in Vladimir and took a taxi to his hometown.
Last years
Since the beginning of the 50s, Zvorykin has been engaged in fundamental research in the field of television technology. He began work on the use of electronics in other areas - meteorology, optics and medicine. An outstanding scientist led the Center for Medical Electronics at the Rockefeller Institute and the International Association of Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering. The scientist participated in the development of electronic medical equipment, including microscopes, endoscopes and radiosondes.
Vladimir Zvorykin received 120 patents for his inventions, his name is inscribed on the board of honor of the American National Gallery of Fame of Inventors. He has authored over 80 scientific papers, and has won numerous awards and prizes, including the US National Medal of Science and the Legion of Honor of France.
personal information
The first time Vladimir Kozmich Zvorykin married in 1916 Tatyana Vasilyeva, a student at the dental school. In 1919, she managed to come to her husband in America. A year later, the first daughter Nina was born, and another seven years later, Elena. However, family happiness did not last long, in 1930 they divorced.
Happy changes in the personal life of the scientist occurred only in 1951, when he married the Russian emigrant E. A. Polevitskaya, professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania. They first met twenty years before, then Ekaterina Andreevna was married and raised children. Zvorykin was engaged in science and almost did not pay attention to everything else. When Polevitskaya became a widow, he proposed to her. The couple were then over sixty, but they were an unusually happy and beautiful couple. Together they lived for more than thirty years. The inventor of the television, Vladimir Zvorykin, died in 1982, Ekaterina Polevitskaya survived it for only a year.