# September 7 - Happy 75th Birthday, TV!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 6, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289 "2002-09-06T14:42:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289/1 "2002-09-06T14:42:24Z")
At the age of 14, while plowing a field near Rigby Idaho, 14-year-old Philo T. Farnsworth was struck with an inspiration that is still with us today. In fact, the screen you are looking at is directly descended from that moment in the potato field.
So, it’s his fault!
September 7, 1927 - September 7, 2002
Television will be 75 years old on September 7.
[http://philotfarnsworth.com/](http://philotfarnsworth.com/)
---
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289/2 "2002-09-06T14:49:44Z")
Shows the crowd _I_ hang out with—I was wondering which transvestite had turned 75 . . .
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289/3 "2002-09-06T14:51:36Z")
You’re 2 years and 4,000 miles out.
[John Logie Baird](http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/baird.html).
---
### Author:  [@Lao\_Tsu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lao_Tsu)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289/4 "2002-09-06T14:59:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jjimm \*
> \*\*You’re 2 years and 4,000 miles out.
>
> [John Logie Baird](http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/baird.html). \*\*
He’s the inventor of _mechanical_ television. You travel in different circles, but no one I know owns one of those.
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/september-7-happy-75th-birthday-tv/127289/5 "2002-09-07T11:08:01Z")
Yeah, but he didn’t invent _television_ per se. He refined a previously existing concept.
Having said that, wasn’t he a clever bastard?