Who Was John Logie Baird?

Today’s Google Doodle honors the inventor of the first mechanical television. This marks the 90thanniversary of Baird first demonstrating how his invention worked.

His Wikipedia page will tell you that he was born in Scotland, and that he also formed the Baird Television Development Company, which was the first to do a television transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.

Those who witnessed the event first hand were awed at what they were seeing.

“The image as transmitted was faint and often blurred, but substantiated a claim that through the ‘televisor,’ as Mr Baird has named his apparatus, it is possible to transmit and reproduce instantly the details of movement, and such things as the play of expression on the face,” explained a reporter from The Times.

Who has the time to watch television now?

It is amusing to see how far we have come from that first demonstration. Today, some could argue that television is on its way out with online streaming on handheld devices becoming the norm for consuming entertainment. While riding the bus, or in the subway, most people prefer to catch up on their news, or shows using tablets or smartphones.

Though the world isn’t as busy as it may seem

For many people television is still a way to unwind, relieve stress, get informed, and even become educated. There are few homes across the world who, even if they have a high speed internet connection, don’t have a television set.

Televisions are crucial to the functioning of some other electronics

It is with televisions that most gaming consoles and media players work. So perhaps, in our time, what is changing is the method of transmission, but the core content will stay the same.

What would our world be like, if Baird hadn’t invented the television, would we be living in a simpler world? Some may say yes, but I think the positives of his invention have outweighed the negatives by a huge margin.

Originally published at thetechnews.com on January 26, 2016.