Talk:Vladimir K. Zworykin

Untitled
Zworykin is offically listed as an '26 alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, I believe for a PhD in physics. See, for example, this pdf I don't know anything more specific concerning the relationship, but the absence of mention in this entry has already caused one mistaken edit of the alumni list. Oh, it's also in one of this entry's external links: "He also enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh where he received the Ph.D. in 1926." - Hesychast

What happened to Rosing?
Tube says that Rosing disappeared during the Revolution, this article said (in text I've commented out) that Rosing died in exile in 1917. Can anyone tell me what happened to him? Tube doesn't give a lot of details for non-central persons in the history. Sigh. So many facts, so many things to check. --Wtshymanski 01:51, 12 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Tube is wrong; Rosing died in exile in 1933, two years after being exiled to Arkhangelsk by Joseph Stalin. Here is one source: . — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pavel92 (talk • contribs) 04:32, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Philo T. Farnsworth
I think we need some discussion here about Farnsworth, particularly the patent battle between Farnsworth and Sarnoff and Zworykin's part in that. Also an analysis of who really was the "father of television"? I would do it myself, but... Chrisw404 08:37, 20 October 2006 (UTC)


 * totally agree. Although I'd hate to see Zworykin's article devote a lot of text to Farnsworth, it should at least be mentioned, as these two interacted early on while developing their systems, and then spent some time in court battling later on (the system did eventually declare Farnsworth's patents to be the valid ones that described television, even with RCA's lawyers and money backing Zworykin).  For now, I've just linked to the Farnsworth article near the top of this one, but it does seem strange that such an important battle between these two doesn't get a single mention anywhere else in the article.  What's going on with that? User:Renauldo64 11:04, 6 Jan 2007

Ugh! Tube is certainly not a thoroughly-researched book, my copy is full of red ink. I would take anything you read in there with a shaker of salt. Secondly, there is no definitive "father of television". Baird was the first person to achieve results, ie. true TV pictures, but there were extremely important contributions before and after this event by several key figures - earlier ones are Nipkow, Rosing and Campbell-Swinton. Later on, Farnsworth's camera tube is of course fundamentally different from Zworykin's, so the strange perception from some recent authors that they are essentially the same system is laughable to those who are willing to understand how the tubes actually work. Neither of these men came up with all of the essential theories behind their systems either, in particular Campbell-Swinton and Kalman Tihanyi deserve credit for their ideas. Also, Rosing of course, who continued his television research until 1931 when he was exiled to Arkhangelsk by Joseph Stalin. Rosing died in exile in 1933, (not 1917). Please also be wary of the current horribly oversimplified dichotomous approaches to this history of Farnsworth vs. RCA (and nobody else) as it is inherently inaccurate, there are more players that cannot be reasonably written out of history, even when only considering the early American electronic era of TV 24.57.195.98 17:03, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like there were a bunch of "fathers of television." I think it was joint effort. Kitty2008 02:03, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

What is his patronymic?
I have seen Кузьмич and Козьмич.

My Russian Language textbook uses the former.

Killer Swath (talk) 03:37, 17 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Use Козьмич (it is the official patronymic; it is also supported by the fact that he was born in the family of the merchant Козьма Алексеевич Зворыкин, who was in the first guild of merchants). --P.P. (talk) 04:03, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Age at death
RCA released article when he died saying he was born July 30 and died 1 day short of 93rd birthday. This article much more recent has him dying on 94th birthday. Are we sure of this? (Pershingboy)63.3.10.130 (talk) 01:08, 20 December 2009 (UTC)


 * The Russian WP article has a cited note that says he was born 29 July (NS; or 17 July OS), which happened to be the same day of the year as the day he died. OR, but probably someone converted 17 July to 30 July by adding 13 days to it, which would have been correct had he been born in the 20th century, but he wasn't.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  02:33, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Were these backwoods Russian churches so confused that they didn't even know what YEAR it was? Come on...--Wtshymanski (talk)

Date of birth
The box on the right and the start of the article list multiple different dates (1888 or 1889?)... russian version does not list 30 July. Is this unknown? or just a typo? 83.171.182.234 (talk) 11:16, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Multiple references list July 30th, not July 29th: britannica.com, nytimes, nasonline. I do not actually see "July 29th" in the translation of the reference for July 29th. I also don't see the old school date of July 17th. That being said, if the old school date is proven to be July 17th, then the new school date would be the 29th (+12), not the 30th. Most sides I found quoting the July 29th date were referenced circularly to wikipedia, except for a site that relied on "recollections of" several people (rbth.com). Wiseprincebambi (talk) 01:56, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

This resource lists multiple potential dates - Albert Abramson "Zworykin, Pioneer of Television", University of Illinois Press, 1995, p. 215. Zworykin himself gave dates of July 7th and July 13th to the US State Department. When questioned about the discrepancy, he said he was using an old Russian calendar that was 13 days behind (the Julian calendar was 13 days behind in 1937). However that does not explain the two dates, nor why his naturalization certificate was then created with a July 17th date in 1945, since that date should have been Gregorian. Because Zworykin was born in the 1800's, the conversion at the time of his birth to Gregorian would have been +12. SO, if his birthdate was July 7th (using his Russian Julian calendar) that converts to July 19th Gregorian; if it was July 13th (again Julian calendar) then the Gregorian date would be July 25th Gregorian. How the state department then came up with July 17th is unclear, as is why it should be considered Julian. Additionally, if July 17th is the correct Julian date, and he continued to celebrate it using the Julian calendar in the 1900's, though his official Gregorian birthdate would have been July 29th, he would have been celebrating it on July 30th every year since his old calendar was now 13 days off instead of 12. Wiseprincebambi (talk) 03:00, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

weasel words in opening paragraph
Do we really need the sentence "His last prominent supporter would seem to be..."? I do not understand what "support" means in this context, can someone explain?

As long as there is mention of Farnsworth in the article, should Zworykin's Russian collaborator Semyon Kataev also be mentioned? He ended up patenting a device very similar to iconoscope in USSR 3 months before Zworykin's filing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.64.219.139 (talk) 23:38, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Deleted 1923 statement
I removed the unreferenced "not in 1923, as popular accounts would have it". Wikipedia should state what is correct, not what is incorrect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Guyburns (talk • contribs) 02:34, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

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