The Shadow Mask Color Picture Tube: How it Began: An Eyewitness Account of its Early History

Harold B. Law

It was toward the end of September in 1949 at RCA Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, that selected members of the Technical Staff were asked to attend a special meeting. No reason was given and I could not help but wonder what it was all about. One of the main topics of interest at the Laboratories was RCA's ongoing objective to devise a system for broadcasting television pictures in color without making obsolete the million or more black-and-white receivers then in use. Therefore, I suspected it might have something to do with this subject. My suspicion was well founded. However, before describing what happened, it will be helpful to provide some background to put the meeting and the events that were to follow in perspective.

Print ISSN
Published
1977-04
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J14837