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Engineer

Vladimir Zworykin

Electrical Engineering

Vladimir Zworykin was a Russian-American engineer at RCA who filed a patent application for an electronic camera tube concept, the iconoscope, in 1923, and led RCA's development of a working electronic television system in the early 1930s. RCA's attempt to claim priority over Philo Farnsworth on the strength of the unreduced 1923 filing failed in a 1934 patent office ruling.

Facts
Birth Year
1888 1
Death Year
1982 1
Nationality
Russian Empire 2
Nationality
Russian-American 1
Nationality
United States 2
Vladimir Zworykin
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Associated With

Developed the iconoscope, a key component of electronic television.

Held Differently

Television, Inventions

Why this is disputed. RCA backed Zworykin's 1923 iconoscope patent filing as prior to Farnsworth's, but a 1934 United States patent office ruling, upheld on appeal in 1936, found the 1923 filing had never been reduced to practice and awarded priority to Farnsworth.

Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
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Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
2. Vladimir Zworykin (Wikipedia)
  • Wikipedia 'Vladimir Zworykin': born Murom, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire; checked 2026-09-27
  • Wikipedia 'Vladimir Zworykin': citizenship American; checked 2026-09-27
View the Source
Vladimir K. Zworykin (Wikipedia)
In Group: Telecommunications and Radio Engineers, lead paragraph: telecom/radio/television invention or advance stated in own articleView the Source
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