100 Years of TVFarnsworth Centennial
Farnsworth Television Centennial · 1927–2027

One line.
One hundred years of television.

On September 7, 1927, a 21-year-old inventor named Philo T. Farnsworth sent a single straight line from a camera tube to a receiver in his San Francisco lab. It was the first all-electronic television picture. On September 7, 2027, television turns 100.

321Days
00Hours
00Minutes
00Seconds

until September 7, 2027, the hundredth anniversary of the first transmission.

Take part Read the story
A Predicta-style television set showing a single glowing horizontal line, the first image Farnsworth transmitted
202 Green Street · Sept. 7, 1927The first image was a single line.
Follow the countdown

A hundred milestones, one a week

Farnovision

Countdown to the Centennial

The top 100 milestones in the first 100 years of television, counted down one week at a time until September 7, 2027.

Visit Farnovision
Podcast

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV

An episode for each milestone, every week. On Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you listen.

Listen to the podcast
The first picture

A farm boy’s idea, six years later

In 1921, a fourteen-year-old in Rigby, Idaho, looked back over the rows he had plowed and saw a way to send pictures through the air. Break the image into lines. Read them one after another. Rebuild them on the other end faster than the eye can follow. He sketched the idea on a chalkboard for his chemistry teacher, Justin Tolman.

Six years later, Philo T. Farnsworth was 21 and working in a small laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. He had filed his television patent on January 7, 1927. On September 7, his camera tube, which he called the image dissector, picked up a slide with one straight line on it, and the receiver showed it.

“The received line picture was evident this time.”
Farnsworth’s lab notebook, September 7, 1927

Word went to his backers by telegram: “The damned thing works!” A year later, when an investor asked when they would see some dollars, Farnsworth put a dollar sign on the screen.

Every video picture since has traveled the way his did, as an image broken into lines and rebuilt on the other side. The centennial marks the day that first worked.

The full history Read Distant Vision
A farmer driving a team of horses pulling a disc harrow across a dry field
Rows in a worked field. Farnsworth’s idea was to scan a picture the same way, one line after another.
Philo T. Farnsworth seated at a desk with papers, early 1930s
Philo T. Farnsworth in the early 1930s. Bachrach Studio.
Timeline

From a potato field to 2027

  1. 1906Aug 19

    Born in Beaver, Utah

    Philo Taylor Farnsworth is born on his family’s farm. The family later moves to Idaho.

  2. 1921

    The idea

    Plowing a potato field near Rigby, Idaho, at fourteen, he works out how to scan a picture line by line.

  3. 1927Jan 7

    Patent filed

    Farnsworth files his application for a television system.

  4. 1927Sep 7

    The first picture

    A single line appears on the receiver at 202 Green Street, San Francisco. It is the first all-electronic television image.

  5. 1928

    A dollar sign

    Asked by an investor when they will see some dollars, Farnsworth transmits a dollar sign.

  6. 1930

    Patent granted

    The U.S. Patent Office issues his television system patent.

  7. 1934

    The Franklin Institute

    Public demonstrations in Philadelphia give crowds their first look at all-electronic television.

  8. 1935

    Victory over RCA

    The Patent Office awards Farnsworth priority of invention in his interference case with RCA.

  9. 1939

    RCA pays royalties

    RCA agrees to license his patents, the first time the company pays royalties instead of collecting them.

  10. 1969

    The Moon landing

    Watching Apollo 11 on television, he tells his wife, “Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.”

  11. 1971Mar 11

    Farnsworth dies

    He dies in Salt Lake City at 64.

  12. 2027Sep 7

    Television turns 100

    One hundred years after the first line appeared on the screen.

Places

Where it happened

Six places carry a piece of the story. Each is a natural home for a centennial event.

1906

Beaver, Utah

Farnsworth’s birthplace, on August 19, 1906.

1921

Rigby, Idaho

The farm fields where a fourteen-year-old pictured television, and the school where he first drew it out.

1927

San Francisco

202 Green Street, the lab where the first all-electronic picture appeared.

1934

Philadelphia

The Franklin Institute, site of the public demonstrations that drew crowds to see television.

1939–1967

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Home of Farnsworth Television & Radio, and later of his fusion research at ITT.

1990

Washington, D.C.

Utah placed a statue of Farnsworth in National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

Take part

Be part of the centennial

The hundredth year of television belongs to everyone who grew up in front of a screen. Here is how to join in.

Schools & STEM programs

Teach the idea from the potato field

Planning a lesson or student project for the week of September 7, 2027? Tell us what would help your classroom. We’ll be glad to help where we can.

Tell us about your class
Museums, libraries & historical societies

Host an exhibit or talk

Images and archive items from the Farnsworth estate may be available for exhibits, loans and reproduction. Tell us what you have in mind.

Ask about exhibits
Stations & media

Mark the moment on air

September 7, 2027 falls on a Tuesday. Interview requests, archive images and background for producers are welcome now.

Contact for media
Communities & fans

Throw a hundredth birthday

Hold a watch party, put old sets on display, or record a relative’s memory of the first television in their house. Tell us about it.

Tell us about your event
Or write to [email protected]
Farnsworth Television Centennial emblem: a Predicta-style television above the number 100, with the words Farnsworth, Television Centennial, 1927 to 2027
Partners

Help mark the hundredth year

Museums, universities, broadcasters and companies are invited to join the centennial as partners. Partners will be listed here as they sign on.

The centennial emblem and the Farnsworth name and likeness are managed by the Philo T. Farnsworth Estate. To use the emblem, ask first at the address below. Commercial use of the Farnsworth name, likeness or emblem in products, advertising or sponsorships is licensed through CMG Worldwide.

Become a partner