Editing Philo Farnsworth (section)

==Early life==
Farnsworth was born August 19, 1906, the eldest of five children<ref name=videopt1p71>{{cite news | title = Zworykin vs. Farnsworth, Part I: The Strange Story of TV's Troubled Origins | url =https://www.scribd.com/doc/146221929/Zworykin-v-Farnsworth-Part-1-The-Strange-Story-of-TV-s-Troubled-Origin | author-link = Frank Lovece | first= Frank | last= Lovece | work = Video | date = August 1985 | page = 71 | access-date = May 20, 2013}}</ref> of Lewis Edwin Farnsworth and Serena Amanda Bastian, a [[Latter-day Saint]] couple living in a small log cabin built by Lewis' father in Manderfield, near [[Beaver, Utah]]. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Bastian, was a [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark|Mormon immigrant]] from [[Denmark]].<ref name="Everson1" /> In 1918, the family moved to a relative's {{convert|240|acre|km2|1|adj=on}} ranch near [[Rigby, Idaho]],<ref name=alumni>{{cite web | url = http://www.byhigh.org/History/Farnsworth/PhiloT1924.html | title= Philo Taylor Farnsworth: Mathematician, Inventor, Father of Television | publisher = Brigham Young High School Alumni | access-date=April 24, 2015}} Article edited by Kent M. Farnsworth, 2006.</ref> where his father supplemented his farming income by hauling freight with his horse-drawn wagon. Philo was excited to find that his new home was wired for electricity, with a Delco generator providing power for lighting and farm machinery. He was a quick student in mechanical and [[Electrical technologist|electrical technology]], repairing the troublesome generator. He found a burned-out electric motor among some items discarded by the previous tenants and rewound the [[armature (electrical engineering)|armature]]; he converted his mother's hand-powered washing machine into an electric-powered one.{{sfn|Schatzkin|2023}} He developed an early interest in electronics after his first telephone conversation with a distant relative, and he discovered a large cache of technology magazines in the attic of their new home.<ref name="ElmaFarns1">{{cite book | last = Farnsworth | first = Elma G. | year = 1990 | title = Distant Vision: Romance and Discovery of an Invisible Frontier | location = [[Salt Lake City]] | publisher = PemberlyKent Publishers, Inc. | isbn = 978-0-9623276-0-5 | page = #? | url = https://archive.org/details/distantvisionrom00farn }}</ref> He won $25 in a [[pulp magazine|pulp-magazine]] contest for inventing a magnetized car lock.<ref name=videopt1p71 /> Farnsworth was a member of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].<ref name="Mormon Faith in America">{{cite book|first1=Maxine |last1=Hanks | author-link = Maxine Hanks |first2=Jean Kinney |last2=Williams |year=2015|title= Mormon Faith in America|isbn= 978-1438140377|page=?|publisher=Infobase Learning }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Terryl L.|last1= Givens | author-link = Terryl Givens |first2= Philip L. |last2=Barlow | author2-link = Philip Barlow |year=2015|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism| page= 10|publisher= Oxford University Press | isbn =  978-0-1904-6350-2 |quote=Philo Farnsworth, one of several inventors of television, was another Latter-day Saint media engineer.}}</ref>

Farnsworth excelled in [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] at [[Rigby High School]]. He asked science teacher Justin Tolman for advice about an electronic television system that he was contemplating; he provided the teacher with [[Sketch (drawing)|sketches]] and [[diagram]]s covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically, and Tolman encouraged him to develop his ideas.<ref name="Barnouw1990">{{cite book|last=Barnouw|first=Erik | author-link = Erik Barnouw|title=Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television|url=https://archive.org/details/tubeofplentyevol00barn|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York}}</ref>
One of the drawings that he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and [[RCA]].<ref>{{cite web| last = Godfrey| first = Donald| url = http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/farnsworthp/farnsworthp.htm| title = Farnsworth, Philo: U.S. Inventor| publisher = [[The Museum of Broadcast Communications]]| access-date = July 5, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070713085015/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/farnsworthp/farnsworthp.htm| archive-date = July 13, 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref>
[[File:Philo Farnsworth 1924.jpg|thumb|Yearbook photo of Farnsworth, 1924]]
In 1923, the family moved to [[Provo, Utah]], and Farnsworth attended [[Brigham Young High School]] that fall. His father died of pneumonia in January 1924 at age 58, and Farnsworth assumed responsibility for sustaining the family while finishing high school.<ref name=alumni /> After graduating BYHS in June 1924, he applied to the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[Annapolis]], [[Maryland]], where he earned the nation's second-highest score on academy recruiting tests.<ref name="ElmaFarns1"/> However, he was already thinking ahead to his television projects; he learned that the government would own his [[patent]]s if he stayed in the military, so he obtained an honorable discharge within months of joining<ref name="ElmaFarns1"/> under a provision in which the eldest child in a fatherless family could be excused from military service to provide for his family. He returned to Provo and enrolled at [[Brigham Young University]], but he was not allowed by the faculty to attend their advanced science classes based upon policy considerations.<ref name= alumni /> He attended anyway and made use of the university's research labs, and he earned a Junior Radio-Trician certification from the [[National Radio Institute]], and full certification in 1925.<ref name=alumni /> While attending college, he met Provo High School student Elma "Pem" Gardner<ref name=alumni /> (1908–2006),<ref name="nyt2006">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/television/03farnsworth.html | title =  Elma Gardner Farnsworth, 98, Who Helped Husband Develop TV, Dies | work = [[The New York Times]]  | date = May 3, 2006}}</ref> whom he eventually married.

Farnsworth worked while his sister Agnes took charge of the family home and the second-floor boarding house, with the help of a cousin living with the family. The Farnsworths later moved into half of a duplex, with family friends the Gardners moving into the other side when it became vacant.<ref name="Schatzkin20-1">{{cite book |last=Schatzkin |first=Paul |year=2023 |title=The Boy Who Invented Television |publisher=Incorrigible Arts |isbn=978-0-9762000-7-9}}<!-- also isbn=978-0-9762000-9-3 --></ref> He developed a close friendship with Pem's brother Cliff Gardner, who shared his interest in electronics, and the two moved to [[Salt Lake City]] to start a radio repair business.<ref name="ElmaFarns1"/> The business failed, and Gardner returned to Provo.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

Farnsworth remained in Salt Lake City and became acquainted with Leslie Gorrell and George Everson, a pair of San Francisco philanthropists who were then conducting a Salt Lake City [[Community Chest (organization)|Community Chest]] fund-raising campaign.<ref name="Schatzkin">{{cite web | last = Schatzkin | first = Paul | url = http://www.farnovision.com/chronicles/tfc-secret.html | title = The Farnsworth Chronicles | publisher = Farnovision.com | access-date = September 8, 2006}}</ref><ref name="EFarnsworth6">{{harvnb|Farnsworth|1990|page=6}}</ref> They agreed to fund his early television research with an initial $6,000 in backing,<ref name=videopt2p97>{{cite news | title = Zworykin vs. Farnsworth, Part II: TV's Founding Fathers Finally Meet – In the Lab | url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/146222148/Zworykin-v-Farnsworth-Part-2-TV-s-Founding-Fathers-Finally-Meet-in-the-Lab | author-link = Frank Lovece | first= Frank | last= Lovece | work = Video | date = September 1985 | page = 97 | access-date = May 20, 2013 | ref=CITEREFLovece1985a}}</ref>  and set up a laboratory in Los Angeles for Farnsworth to carry out his experiments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.earlytelevision.org/philo_farnsworth.html |title=Early Electronic TV |access-date=September 21, 2008 | publisher=Early Television Foundation }}</ref>

[[File:San Francisco, Farnsworth's Green Street Lab plaque.jpg|thumb|Plaque at the location of Farnsworth's San Francisco laboratory on Green Street.<ref name="sfmuseum"/>]]
Farnsworth married Pem<ref name="nyt2006"/> on May 27, 1926,<ref name=alumni/> and the two traveled to [[Berkeley, California]], in a Pullman coach. They rented a house at 2910 Derby Street, from which he applied for his first television patent, which was granted on August 26, 1930.<ref name="ElmaFarns1"/> By that time they had moved across the bay to San Francisco, where Farnsworth set up his new lab at 202 Green Street.<ref name="sfmuseum"/>