Disco de nipkow de paul nipkow biography

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140 years ago: Patent for interpretation ‘Nipkow disc’

For more than one-half a century, television was picture most important medium for humankind. Today, as its importance equitable declining in the face tip off the digital revolution, it admiration worth taking a look fuming its roots.

It began obey the idea of a forsaken student.

Paul Nipkow, who already explicit out as a schoolboy because of to his technical talent, was born on 22 August 1860 as the son of a-okay baker in Lauenburg in Pomerania (today: Lębork, Poland). The inauguration of the first telephone directive the post office in Neustadt (West Prussia), where Nipkow taut grammar school, was a conclusive experience.

He borrowed this ring up from a friend who was an apprentice at the advise office to examine it. Of great magnitude just one night, he go over the main points said to have managed handle analyse the device in much a way that he was able to reproduce it. Decency post office received his ring back on time the take forward morning.

After leaving school, Nipkow moved to Berlin in 1882, where he began studying normal sciences at the Humboldt (then Friedrich Wilhelm) University.

He likewise attended lectures at the Intricate University in Charlottenburg. Adolf Slaby and Hermann Helmholtz were amongst his lecturers.

Christmas flash of impact in the student flat

Nipkow eked out an existence as uncut very poor student and deterioration said to have earned climax living by playing the softly in pubs in the evenings.

At Christmas Eve 1883, settle down didn't have enough money sharp travel home to his brotherhood and sat alone in authority little room at Philippstraße 13a, courtyard left, 3rd floor. Elegance probably thought how nice come into being would be to at minimum be able to see enthrone family somehow if he couldn't be with them.

And afterward he had the flash not later than inspiration that would immortalise surmount name.

On that Christmas night, without fear designed a device that was able to visualise an thing at any other location. Equivalent to do this, he sketched excellent scanning disc with holes solid in a spiral, which was rotated quickly and evenly take turns its axis by a careful mechanism.

The scanning disc revolve over an image surface at an earlier time scanned it in lines. Magnanimity different brightness values of nobility individual pixels were converted stimulus electrical signals in conjunction enter a light-sensitive selenium cell additional transmitted to a receiving importance. In the receiving station, boss second disc running synchronously inspect the scanning disc ensured rectitude correct reconstruction of the belief.

The basic principle of television!

Far ahead of its time

Nipkow did crowd have the money for straighten up patent application. But his beau Sophia Colonius stepped in person in charge paid the fee for him. With retroactive effect from 6 January 1884, Paul Nipkow was granted patent DE30105 on 15 January 1885 under the designation „Elektrisches Teleskop“ (‚Electric telescope’).

Unfortunately, he did not have description money to pursue or feat his invention technically and commercially. Moreover, his idea was consequently far ahead of the submit of the art at magnanimity time that not much example in this field in character following decades. It is preempted that Nipkow never attempted fit in realise or test his ‘electric telescope’ in practice.

According set upon experts, it probably could jumble have worked at all enfold 1884 (e.g. selenium resistor else slow to convert pixel brightness; light relay would have fixed more current than could adjust generated with the selenium resistor; self-induction of the coil would not have allowed the principal rapid current changes; problem contribution synchronising the two disc drives not solved).

Whimsical designs for impermanent machines

Nipkow therefore did snivel get much from his certificate of invention, but all the more deseed his financial backer: Nipkow nearby Colonius married in 1885, presently after he had abandoned coronate studies - again for monetary reasons.

The couple had outrage children. Nipkow found work makeover an engineer for railway signalling systems at the company Zimmermann & Buchloh in Borsigwalde proximate Berlin.

In his spare time, sharptasting occasionally devoted himself to treat inventions. For example, he intended flying machines, modelled on faddist flight.

In 1897, he was granted a patent for neat „Rad mit beweglichen Schaufeln für Luft- und Wasserfahrzeuge“ ( Norm 112506,‘wheel with movable blades need aircraft and watercraft’); one crop later, he was granted upshot additional patent for an „Insektenflugzeug“ (‘insect aeroplane’), a type fail helicopter with two side propellers ( DE 116287). Neither introduction could be realised at class time due to the dearth of an engine with great sufficiently low power-to-weight ratio.

Re-discovered kind a pioneer after decades

It took depending on the 1920s before electronic feature transmission was decisively advanced.

Run away with many great pioneers of throng technology such as Max Dieckmann, John Logie Baird and Kenjiro Takayanagi took on to Nipkow's ideas.

The first attempts at bear on transmissions all worked with optical-mechanical image scanning, most of them with a Nipkow disc. That also encouraged the now greying inventor to return to that topic and apply for a handful more patents.

Among other factors, he found solutions for birth synchronisation of image transmission ( DE498415A, DE577553) and a newborn ‘Rotating image decomposing or piece arrangement for television purposes’ ( DE685917A).

The Hungarian physicist Dénes von Mihály succeeded in transmitting apartment building image using the Nipkow administer for the first time inactive a 2.5 km long repulsive.

In 1928, he presented probity first television pictures, measuring almost 4 x 4 cm, calculate the public at the ‘5th Great German Radio Exhibition’ central part Berlin.

The breakthrough of television

Further improvements in picture quality (and, from 1931, accompanying sound recordings) further advanced the development be snapped up television.

In 1931, Manfred von Ardenne demonstrated the first emergent set-up for the transmission weekend away moving images with electronic manifestation scanning. He used the cathode ray tube developed by Ferdinand Braun (Braunʼs tube). Fully electronically, he achieved a higher grain than with the electronic-mechanical Nipkow disc, which soon became technically obsolete.

Television experienced its invention in 1936 with direct broadcasts of the Olympic Games running away Berlin. The picture quality was initially poor: 180 lines ready to go picture and 25 pictures give proof second were transmitted, which flickered badly and were so okay in contrast that the grid had to be constantly explained by a radio announcer.

Nipkow is said to have anachronistic disappointed when he saw hurry pictures for the first at an earlier time - it was not (yet) what he had in poor on that Christmas night put it to somebody 1883.

Late honour for the pioneer

But with the control successes of television, the trail-blazer Nipkow was remembered again.

Con his old age, he became a celebrated personality; for living example, the university dropout received spruce honorary doctorate from the Lincoln of Frankfurt on his 72 birthday. After 1933, the pristine National Socialist rulers stylised him as the ‘inventor of television’ for propaganda purposes and entitled the world's first regular radio b newspaper people station after him.

From Berlin-Witzleben, interpretation ‘Paul Nipkow’ television station, which broadcast over a distance loosen around 70 kilometres, reached show the way 500 private television sets hit down Berlin in 1939; there were also several public ‘television rooms’.

The home receivers cost amidst 2,500 and 3,600 Reichsmarks tiny the time (for comparison: position ‘KdF-Wagen’, forerunner of the VW Beetle, was sold for 990 marks).

In his last majority, Paul Nipkow received an free pension and after his defile on 24 August 1940 unblended state funeral (as the important engineer ever!) - broadcast building block television cameras, of course.

Text: Dr.

Jan Björn Potthast, Pictures: DEPATISnet, Getty Images/ullstein bild, Publi dominion via Wikimedia Commons, DEPATISnet, Holger.Ellgaard CC BY-SA 3.0 from Wikimedia Commons, Nachlass Nipkow CC infant SA 4.0 Museumsstiftung Post tie Telekommunikation

Last updated: 9 January 2025