Television, it is a part of our lives. It gives us information on current events and provides a source of entertainment. Some would even go so far as to say in this day and age people could not live without T.V. On television you can see anything like the news, reality shows, drama, sports, or anything else imaginable. Before 1947 the number of U.S. homes with television sets could be measured in the thousands. By the late 1990s, 98 percent of U.S. homes had at least one television set, and those sets were on for an average of more than seven hours a day. The typical American spends from two-and-a-half to almost five hours a day watching television. (Mitchell Stephens, Grolier Encyclopedia).
The dictionary entry for television is as follows: "an electronic system of transmitting transient images of fixed or moving objects together with sound over a wire or through space by apparatus that converts light and sound into electrical waves and reconverts them into visible light rays and audible sound 2: a television receiving set 3 a: the television broadcasting industry b: television as a medium of communication." (Britannica Ready Reference).
The idea for T.V. was actually thought up long before the technology to make one came about. In 1876, a man in Boston named George Carey came up with drawings for what he called a "Selenium Camera". He thought that by using this, people would be able to "see by electricity." There were many experiments involving the "Selenium Camera" and other versions of this tool. Then, in 1884, Paul Nipkow used a device he called an "electric telescope", which involved rotating metal disks. It produced images with 18 lines of resolution. After this experiment, it wasn't long until the first Congress of Electricity was held and showed off theses devices and introduced the word "television." .
The momentum picked up after that, and, in 1900, instead of just ideas and discussions, things began to come to physical forms.