Color television was introduced in Mexico on August 31, 1946
thanks to Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena.
An active stargazer, he also built his own telescope.
Camarena was born in Guadalajara on February 17, 1917 and
grew up in Mexico City. His interest in
inventing began in childhood when he made electrically propelled toys and an
amateur radio. He attended National
Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1930, and obtaining a radio license two
years later.
First Color TV
At age 17 Camarena invented a television camera. A few years later at age 23 he invented the
"chromoscopic adapter for television equipment." This early color television transmission
system could be adapted to black and white television equipment. In his patent application filed on August 14,
1941 Camarena stated that "My invention relates to the transmission and
reception of colored pictures or images by wire or wireless." The patent was granted about a year later on
September 15, 1942.
There was no international standard at the time and the cost
of television sets were inaccessible to most people. Camarena created a simplified bicolor system
in 1963. His televisions were made using
the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard that is used in
America and Asia. He began manufacturing
on a large scale the following year.
Other Inventions and
Work
Camarena located the first relay station for Mexican
television. He was responsible for a color
television broadcast and devoted evening programming to serve children because
they seemed very interested in color television programming. The color television he invented went on to
be used as a teaching tool for doctors.
Some of Camarena's work extended beyond his own work in television:
- Sent meteorological balloons to the stratosphere
to see how far his images traveled
- Technology was used during the Voyager 1 mission
to photograph Jupiter
- Made his own telescope and was a member of the
Astronomical Society of Mexico
Camarena was returning from inspecting a television
transmitter on April 18, 1965 when died in a car accident.
Resources:
Amazing Mexicans
Innovadores
de America
Wikipedia
image
| 
Re: Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena: Color Television Pioneer
