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John Logie Baird (August 14 1888 – June 14 1946) was a Scottish engineer, recognized as being the first man to televise pictures of objects in motion.

Baird was born in Helensburgh, Scotland. He was educated at Larchfield Academy, the Royal Technical College, and the University of Glasgow.

Baird experimented with Nipkow disk. After many accidents, he finally succeeded.

A semi-mechanical analogue television system was first demonstrated in London in February 1924 with an image of Felix the Cat and later a moving picture on 30 October 1925.

The first public demonstration was in the Selfridges department store in London.

He demonstrated his system to the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times on January 26 1926 in the Soho district of London.

In 1927 he transmitted a signal over 438 miles of telephone line between London and Glasgow. He set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd, which in 1928 made the first transatlantic television transmission from London to New York and also made the first programme for the BBC. That same year his tireless energy also demonstrated the first colour television and true stereoscopic television.

From 1929 onwards, the BBC made broadcasts using the Baird television system, alternating these with Marconi's broadcasts of electronic scanning system television signals during the 1930s, until they finally discontinued broadcasts of the Baird mechanical system in 1937.

Baird's mechanical television system was replaced by the electronic television system described by A.A. Campbell-Swinton and later developed by inventors such as Philo T. Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin.

Baird never stopped inventing. His 1928 invention called the Phonodisc was basically a 78rpm record that could play a 30 line video signal - a primitive video recording device, dubbed Phonovision[1].

He televised the first live transmission, of the Epsom Derby, in 1931, and the following year he was the first to demonstrate ultra-short wave transmission.

His other developments were in fibre-optics, radio direction finding, infrared night viewing and also demonstrated his big screen television system at London Coliseum, as well as Berlin, Paris and Stockholm.

In 1941 he demonstrated a 600 line HDTV colour system, and during 1944 he tried to persuade the authorities to adopt a 1000 line colour system.

There remains still the nagging doubt that his contribution to the development of radar for wartime defence projects has never been officially acknowledged.

• UK topics
• Logie Awards - Australian television

• Baird on DigitalCentury.com
• Mechanical TV: Baird Television
• Baird bio on BBC site
• How to build a Baird televisor Site also contains many detailed references to Baird's history
• John Logie Baird - Gizmohighway Technology Guide