This book presents a balanced, thorough history of television to 1940, considering the factors technical, financial and social which influenced and led to the establishment of many of the world's high-definition TV broadcasting services. This is a major book in the study of history of science, technology and media.

Russell Burns graduated in 1948 with a first class honours degree in Physics. Following postgraduate research he joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service, subsequently going on to hold various appointments in higher education before retiring in 1986. Professor Burns has been researching and writing on the history of electrical engineering for more than 25 years. His publications include the definitive account of British television, the formative years (1986), Radar development to 1945 (1988), and more than 50 papers. The IEE's SET Divisional Board Premium was awarded to him in 1993, and he shared the Maxwell Premium in 1994. Professor Burns is a past chairman of the IEE's Archives Committee, and the IEE's Science Education and Technology Divisional Board. Professor Burns is a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

• Part I: The era of speculation, 1877 to c. 1922


• Chapter 1: Images and society (c. 16th Century to c. mid-19th Century)


• Chapter 2: Images by wire, picture telegraphy (1843-c. 1900)


• Chapter 3: Seeing by electricity, the earliest notions (1878-1880)


• Chapter 4: Persistence of vision and moving images (1825-c. 1900)


• Chapter 5: Distant vision (1880-1920)


• Chapter 6: A possible way forward (1900-1920)


• Chapter 7: Developments of importance to television


• Part II: The era of low-definition television, 1926 to 1934


• Chapter 8: The breakthrough, J.L. Baird and television (the 1920s)


• Chapter 9: The approaches of a lone inventor and a chief engineer (the 1920s)


• Chapter 10: Excellence in low-definition television (1925-1930)


• Chapter 11: German and French developments (the 1920s and early 1930s)


• Chapter 12: Some low-definition television broadcasting services, c. 1930


• Part III: The era of pre-war and high-definition television, 1934 to 1939


• Chapter 13: Large-screen television (1930-1935)


• Chapter 14: Between low and high-definition television (1930-1931)


• Chapter 15: Early electronic camera tubes, and the work of Farnsworth (c. 1920-1935)


• Chapter 16: Zworykin and the kinescope (1923-1930)


• Chapter 17: RCA, Sarnoff and television (1919-1932)


• Chapter 18: RCA and all-electronic television (1933-1935)


• Chapter 19: EMI, Shoenberg and television (1931-1934)


• Chapter 20: Progress in the UK and abroad (1934-1935)


• Chapter 21: The London station and foreign developments (1935-1938)


• Chapter 22: Television in the US (1935-1941)


• Chapter 23: The world's first, regular, public, high-definition service (1936-1939)


• Appendices