In the early 1920's Philo Farnsworth was working on a farm, plowing a straight line on a potato farm. His mind was far away, thinking about the possibility of transmitting moving pictures through the air. He had no electronic or engineering background, nor was he a scientist. No one in the world of science would have considered him a serious contender in the chase to find the answer to photographic transmission without the aid of wires.

Scientists from all over the world had been struggling to solve this dilemma and although many had been aided by research grants, no o…