GI Roundtable 27: What Is the Future of Television? (1945)

By Robert Farr
Staff Writer, Science Service (Institute for the Popularization of Science)
(Published August 1945)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Is Television Ready for the Public?

Uncle Sam Looks at Television

Who Are the Leaders in the Fight?

Television and Family Life

What Kind of Television?

Science Where Magic Failed

A Picture Becomes a Parade

Movies and Television

To the Discussion Leader

For Further Reading

Introduction

When the bomb bays of a B-29 swing open above Tokyo,* a dense fog may cover the city. The bombardier couldn’t see the ground if he tried. But he doesn’t try. It makes no difference to him for he uses radar to find his target, fog or no fog.

Clouds through which the human eye cannot see are no barrier to the echoing electronic waves of radar. And radar is closely akin to television. Wartime experience with radio direction and range finding is helping to answer many of the technical questions involved in television. The answers are bringing closer the day when you may be able to reach out into the ether and pull into your own living room a picture that moves.

*This pamphlet was in press when Japan surrendered. Lines appropriate during the war have not been reconverted to peace.