Baird, John Logie

Baird, John Logie (1888-1946), inventor, b. Helensburgh, Scotland.

Baird was a businessman working in London but his health was bad and his doctor told him to go and live by the sea.

He went to live in Hastings, Sussex and began trying to invent a system for sending pictures by wireless.

In 1924 he transmitted the image of a cross over a distance of three metres. Then he moved back to London and there, on 2 October, 1925, transmitted the image of a boy's face from one room to another.

Early in 1926 he showed his invention to the Royal Institution. This was the first demonstration of true television ever given and the equipment he used can be seen in the Science Museum, London, today.

In 1929 the British Broadcasting Corporation began making some television broadcasts. They used Baird's equipment.

Seven years later they began regular daily television programmes, but they used equipment from the United States. Not one of Baird's ideas is used in present-day television, but his efforts led to the start of television in Britain.

See JOHN ROWLAND The Television Man