Henri de France

Henri de France (1911 to 1986) was a French television inventor whose inventions include the 819 line French standard and the SECAM colour television system. In December 1931 he founded the Compagnie Générale de Télévision in Le Havre, making television sets with a vertical definition of 60 lines, and in February 1932 he made several transmissions over 7 km from the Radio-Normandie station in Fécamp, which a few people more than 100 km away were able to receive. By October 1932 he had reached a definition of 120 lines. He patented SECAM in 1956, and on 1 October 1967 the second French channel switched from black and white to colour using it. He also held United States patents for a direction finding apparatus, television systems and an amplifier system. He is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, and a public passage near the France Télévisions buildings is named Esplanade Henri de France.