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{{Short description|German electrical engineer and inventor (1860–1940)}}
{{Infobox engineer
{{Infobox engineer
|image = paul-nipkow.jpg
| image = paul-nipkow.jpg
|caption = Nipkow in about 1884
| caption = Nipkow, {{circa|1884}}
|name = Paul Gottlieb Nipkow
| birth_name = Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow
|nationality = [[Germany|German]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1860|8|22}}
| birth_place = [[Lębork|Lauenburg]], [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Confederation]]
|ethnicity =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1860|08|22}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1940|8|24|1860|8|22}}
|birth_place = [[Lębork|Lauenburg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]<br>(today [[Poland]])
|death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1940|08|24|1860|08|22}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Engineer|inventor}}
|death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]
| known_for = [[Nipkow disk]]
|education =
| discipline = [[Electrical engineering]]
⚫
| significant_advance = [[Television]]
|spouse =
|parents =
|children =
|discipline =
|institutions =
|practice_name =
|significant_projects = [[Nipkow disk]]
|significant_design =
⚫
|significant_advance =[[television]]
|significant_awards =
}}
}}
'''Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow''' (22 August 1860 &ndash; 24 August 1940) was a [[Germany|German]] [[technician]] and [[inventor]]. He invented the [[Nipkow disk]], one of the first successful technologies for television transmission. Hundreds of stations experimented with television broadcasting using the Nipkow system in the 1920s and 1930s, until it was superseded by all-electronic systems in the 1940s.
'''Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow''' ({{IPA|de|ˈpaʊl ˈgɔtliːp ˈnɪpkɔv|lang}}; 22 August 1860 – 24 August 1940) was a German [[electrical engineer]] and inventor. He invented the [[Nipkow disk]], which laid the foundation of [[television]], since his disk was a fundamental component in the first televisions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 August 2019 |title=Nipkow-Scheibe |url=https://www.dpma.de/dpma/veroeffentlichungen/meilensteine/tempo90/nipkow/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803104047/https://www.dpma.de/dpma/veroeffentlichungen/meilensteine/tempo90/nipkow/index.html |archive-date=3 August 2019 |access-date=29 March 2020 |website=DPMA.de |publisher=Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt |language=de}}</ref> Hundreds of stations experimented with television broadcasting using his disk in the 1920s and 1930s, until it was superseded by all-electronic systems in the 1940s.

Nipkow has been called the "father of television",<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/zum-gedenken-an-paul-nipkow | title=Zum Gedenken an Paul Nipkow – B.Z. – die Stimme Berlins | date=22 August 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.histv.net/nipkow-23-81930 | title=Nipkow 23.81930 }}</ref> together with other early figures of television history like [[Karl Ferdinand Braun]].

The first regular [[Television station|television service]] in the world, [[Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow]], was named in his honour.<ref name=CB2015>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerbild.de/artikel/avf-News-Fernseher-Es-begann-in-der-Fernsehstube-TV-wird-80-Jahre-alt-11525963.html|title=Es begann in der Fernsehstube: TV wird 80 Jahre alt|last=Schuldt|first=Rainer|date=22 March 2015|website=Computer Bild|language=de|access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref>


==Beginnings==
==Beginnings==
Nipkow was born in [[Lębork|Lauenburg]] (now Lębork) in the [[Prussia]]n province of [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]], now part of Poland. While at school in neighbouring [[Wejherowo|Neustadt]] (now Wejherowo), in the province of [[West Prussia]], Nipkow experimented in telephony and the transmission of moving pictures. After graduation, he went to Berlin in order to study science. He studied physiological optics with [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], and electro-physics with [[Adolf Slaby]].
Nipkow was born in [[Lębork|Lauenburg]] (now Lębork) in the [[Prussia]]n [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|province of Pomerania]], now part of Poland. While at school in neighbouring [[Wejherowo|Neustadt]] (now Wejherowo), in the province of [[West Prussia]], Nipkow experimented in telephony and the transmission of moving pictures. After graduation, he went to Berlin in order to study science. He studied physiological optics with [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], and electro-physics with [[Adolf Slaby]].


== Nipkow disk ==
== Nipkow disk ==
[[Image:nipkow-disc-1884.jpg|thumb|left|Nipkow's 'disc' from the patent application of 1884]]
[[Image:nipkow-disc.jpg|thumb|left|Nipkow's 'disc' from the patent application of 1884]]
[[File:Nipkows apparat Tekniska museet.jpg|thumb| A television receiver using a Nipkow disk in the [[Tekniska museet]], Stockholm.]]
[[File:Nipkows apparat Tekniska museet.jpg|thumb| A television receiver using a Nipkow disk in the [[Tekniska museet]], Stockholm]]
While still a student he conceived the idea of using a spiral-perforated disk ([[Nipkow disk]]), to divide a picture into a mosaic of points and lines. Accounts of its invention state that the idea came to him while sitting alone at home with an oil lamp on [[Christmas Eve]], 1883. [[Alexander Bain (inventor)|Alexander Bain]] had transmitted images telegraphically in the 1840s but the Nipkow disk improved the encoding process.
While still a student he conceived an "electric telescope", mainly known for the idea of using a spiral-perforated disk ([[Nipkow disk]]), to divide a picture into a linear sequence of points. Accounts of its invention state that the idea came to him while sitting alone at home with an oil lamp on [[Christmas Eve]], 1883. [[Alexander Bain (inventor)|Alexander Bain]] had transmitted images telegraphically in the 1840s but the Nipkow disk improved the encoding process.


He applied to the imperial patent office in [[Berlin]] for a patent covering an ''electric telescope'' for the ''electric reproduction of illuminating objects'', in the category "electric apparatuses". This was granted on 15 January 1885, retroactive to January 6, 1884. It is not known whether Nipkow ever attempted a practical realization of this disk but one may assume that he himself never constructed one. The patent lapsed after 15 years owing to lack of interest. Nipkow took up a position as a designer at an institute in Berlin-Buchloh and did not continue work on the broadcasting of pictures.
He applied to the imperial patent office in [[Berlin]] for a patent covering an "electric telescope" for the "electric reproduction of illuminating objects", in the category "electric apparatuses". This was granted on 15 January 1885, retroactive to 6 January 1884. It is not known whether Nipkow ever attempted a practical realization of this disk, but one may assume that he himself never constructed one. The patent lapsed after 15 years owing to lack of interest. Nipkow took up a position as a designer at an institute in Berlin-Buchloh and did not continue work on the broadcasting of pictures.


== First TV systems ==
== First TV systems ==
The first television broadcasts used an optical-mechanical picture scanning method, the method that Nipkow had helped create with his disk; he could claim some credit for the invention. Nipkow recounted his first sight of television at a Berlin radio show in 1928: "the televisions stood in dark cells. Hundreds stood and waited patiently for the moment at which they would see television for the first time. I waited among them, growing ever more nervous. Now for the first time I would see what I had devised 45 years ago. Finally I reached the front row; a dark cloth was pushed to the side, and I saw before me a flickering image, not easy to discern." The system demonstrated was from [[John Logie Baird]]'s Baird Television Company.
The first television broadcasts used an optical-mechanical picture scanning method, the method that Nipkow had helped create with his disk; he could claim credit for the invention. Nipkow recounted his first sight of television at a Berlin radio show in 1928: "The televisions stood in dark cells. Hundreds stood and waited patiently for the moment at which they would see television for the first time. I waited among them, growing ever more nervous. Now for the first time, I would see what I had devised 45 years ago. Finally, I reached the front row; a dark cloth was pushed to the side, and I saw before me a flickering image, not easy to discern." The system demonstrated was from the company [[Telefunken]].<ref name="mdr">{{cite web |url=https://www.mdr.de/lexi-tv/technik/artikel20552.html |language=de |title=Televisionen |publisher=[[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk]] |date=18 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702122254/https://www.mdr.de/lexi-tv/technik/artikel20552.html |archive-date=2 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


From 1936, when the infant [[BBC Television Service]] chose it above Baird's mechanical system, total electronic picture scanning, based on the work of [[Manfred von Ardenne]] and the [[iconoscope]] invented by [[Vladimir Zworykin]], became increasingly prevalent and Nipkow's invention was no longer essential to further development of television.
From the early 1930s, total electronic picture scanning, based on the work of [[Manfred von Ardenne]], became increasingly prevalent, and Nipkow's invention was no longer essential to the further development of television.<ref name=mdr />


== ''Paul Nipkow'' Transmitter ==
== "Paul Nipkow" Transmitter ==
Germany's first public television channel, started in Berlin in 1935, was named [[Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow]] after Paul Nipkow - the "spiritual father" of the core element of first generation television technology. He became honorary president of the "television council" of the "Imperial Broadcasting Chamber". Nipkow died in Berlin.
The world's first regular [[Television station|television service]], started in Berlin in 1935, was named [[Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow|Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow"]] after Nipkow – the "spiritual father" of the core element of first-generation television technology.<ref name=CB2015 /> He became honorary president of the "television council" of the "Imperial Broadcasting Chamber". Nipkow's glory was used by Hitler and the Nazi government as a tool of National Socialist scientific propaganda. Nipkow died in Berlin in 1940 two days after his 80th birthday and had an official ceremony organised by the Nazi government.


==See also==
==See also==
*[[German inventors and discoverers]]
*[[German inventors and discoverers]]
*[[History of television]]

==Bibliography==
SCHMIDT, Claus-Dietrich, ''Paul Nipkow. Erfinder des Fernsehens (1860–1940). Sein Leben in den technischen Fortschritt'', Lębork Museum, 2009. The only detailed biography on Nipkow.

== References ==
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Paul Gottlieb Nipkow |sopt=t}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Paul Gottlieb Nipkow |sopt=t}}
* [https://www.histv.net/nipkow-world-electricity-nov-1885 "Seeing by Electricity" The Electrical World, New York, November, 14, 1885]
* [http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blnipkov.htm The Television System of Paul Nipkow]
* [https://archive.today/20121205092757/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blnipkov.htm The Television System of Paul Nipkow]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180114022427/https://www.histv.net/paul-nipkow-invente-le-disque-de-ba "Une idée et son mythe : le disque de Nipkow"] at [https://www.histv.net/ Histoire de la télévision, site edited by André Lange]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/022602}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Nipkow, Paul Gottlieb
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = German television pioneer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 22 August 1860
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Lębork|Lauenburg]], then [[Prussia]], today [[Poland]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 24 August 1940
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Berlin]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nipkow, Paul Gottlieb}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nipkow, Paul Gottlieb}}
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lębork]]
[[Category:People from Lębork]]
⚫
[[Category:German inventors]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Pomerania]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Pomerania]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century German inventors]]
[[Category:Television pioneers]]
[[Category:Television pioneers]]

Latest revision as of 20:16, 9 December 2024

Paul Gottlieb Nipkow
Nipkow, c. 1884
Born
Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow

(1860-08-22)22 August 1860
Lauenburg, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
Died24 August 1940(1940-08-24) (aged 80)
Berlin, Nazi Germany
Occupations
  • Engineer
  • inventor
Known forNipkow disk
Engineering career
DisciplineElectrical engineering
Significant advanceTelevision

Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow (German: [ˈpaʊl ˈgɔtliːp ˈnɪpkɔv]; 22 August 1860 – 24 August 1940) was a German electrical engineer and inventor. He invented the Nipkow disk, which laid the foundation of television, since his disk was a fundamental component in the first televisions.[1] Hundreds of stations experimented with television broadcasting using his disk in the 1920s and 1930s, until it was superseded by all-electronic systems in the 1940s.

Nipkow has been called the "father of television",[2][3] together with other early figures of television history like Karl Ferdinand Braun.

The first regular television service in the world, Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow, was named in his honour.[4]

Beginnings

[edit]

Nipkow was born in Lauenburg (now Lębork) in the Prussian province of Pomerania, now part of Poland. While at school in neighbouring Neustadt (now Wejherowo), in the province of West Prussia, Nipkow experimented in telephony and the transmission of moving pictures. After graduation, he went to Berlin in order to study science. He studied physiological optics with Hermann von Helmholtz, and electro-physics with Adolf Slaby.

Nipkow disk

[edit]
Nipkow's 'disc' from the patent application of 1884
A television receiver using a Nipkow disk in the Tekniska museet, Stockholm

While still a student he conceived an "electric telescope", mainly known for the idea of using a spiral-perforated disk (Nipkow disk), to divide a picture into a linear sequence of points. Accounts of its invention state that the idea came to him while sitting alone at home with an oil lamp on Christmas Eve, 1883. Alexander Bain had transmitted images telegraphically in the 1840s but the Nipkow disk improved the encoding process.

He applied to the imperial patent office in Berlin for a patent covering an "electric telescope" for the "electric reproduction of illuminating objects", in the category "electric apparatuses". This was granted on 15 January 1885, retroactive to 6 January 1884. It is not known whether Nipkow ever attempted a practical realization of this disk, but one may assume that he himself never constructed one. The patent lapsed after 15 years owing to lack of interest. Nipkow took up a position as a designer at an institute in Berlin-Buchloh and did not continue work on the broadcasting of pictures.

First TV systems

[edit]

The first television broadcasts used an optical-mechanical picture scanning method, the method that Nipkow had helped create with his disk; he could claim credit for the invention. Nipkow recounted his first sight of television at a Berlin radio show in 1928: "The televisions stood in dark cells. Hundreds stood and waited patiently for the moment at which they would see television for the first time. I waited among them, growing ever more nervous. Now for the first time, I would see what I had devised 45 years ago. Finally, I reached the front row; a dark cloth was pushed to the side, and I saw before me a flickering image, not easy to discern." The system demonstrated was from the company Telefunken.[5]

From the early 1930s, total electronic picture scanning, based on the work of Manfred von Ardenne, became increasingly prevalent, and Nipkow's invention was no longer essential to the further development of television.[5]

"Paul Nipkow" Transmitter

[edit]

The world's first regular television service, started in Berlin in 1935, was named Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" after Nipkow – the "spiritual father" of the core element of first-generation television technology.[4] He became honorary president of the "television council" of the "Imperial Broadcasting Chamber". Nipkow's glory was used by Hitler and the Nazi government as a tool of National Socialist scientific propaganda. Nipkow died in Berlin in 1940 two days after his 80th birthday and had an official ceremony organised by the Nazi government.

See also

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]

SCHMIDT, Claus-Dietrich, Paul Nipkow. Erfinder des Fernsehens (1860–1940). Sein Leben in den technischen Fortschritt, Lębork Museum, 2009. The only detailed biography on Nipkow.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Nipkow-Scheibe". DPMA.de (in German). Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt. 2 August 2019. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Zum Gedenken an Paul Nipkow – B.Z. – die Stimme Berlins". 22 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Nipkow 23.81930".
  4. ^ a b Schuldt, Rainer (22 March 2015). "Es begann in der Fernsehstube: TV wird 80 Jahre alt". Computer Bild (in German). Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Televisionen" (in German). Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018.
[edit]
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