Radio and television.

10.2.1. The story of radio begins in the development of an earlier medium, the telegraph. It was patented simultaneously in 1837 in the United States by Samuel F. B. Morse and in Britain by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke. Later, scientists worked to devise a system that could overcome the limitations of the telegraph wire. The Italian inventor Marconi demonstrated that an electronic signal could be cast broadly (broadcast) through space so that receivers at random points could capture it. The invention was called a radiotelegraph (shortened to radio). Marconi found supporters for his research in Britain and founded the British Marconi Company to develop and market his invention for military and industrial uses. Within five years a wireless signal had been transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Newfoundland, Canada. For his work in wireless telegraphy, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1909.

10.2.2. Radio is very popular among the British. Many people rely on the radio to learn the latest news. The main television and radio broadcasting organization in Britain is the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) set up in 1922. John Reith, a Scottish engineer, was appointed the first general manager and became the architect of “public service broadcasting,” in which the profit motive plays no part. Independence from political and business control, provision for minorities, impartiality, and respect for broadcasting as a serious cultural force became its hallmarks. The BBC runs five radio stations, pro­vides television information service in Britain, operating two nation­al television channels. The BBC World Service broadcasts in English and about forty other languages of the world. Britain has one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced telecommunications systems.

10.2.3. Television today is a most important mass medium. The principles on which television is based were discovered in the course of basic research. The Scottish scientist James Maxwell predicted the existence of the electromagnetic waves that make it possible to transmit ordinary television broadcasts. Some of the earliest work on television began in the 1880s, when a German engineer designed the first true television mechanism. His mechanical scanner was used in England by the inventor John L. Baird. The first television picture was shown on October 2, 1925. Baird transmitted a picture of a human face – the face of a fifteen-year-old boy.

10.2.3. In time, the process of watching images on a television screen made people interested in either producing their own images or watching programming at their leisure. Affordable videocassette recorders were introduced and in the 1980s became almost as common as television sets. During the late 1990s the digital video disc player had the most successful product launch in consumer electronics history. The DVD player also offered the digital surround-sound quality experienced in a state-of-the-art movie theater. Another development in this sphere is the high-definition television (HDTV) system.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16