# Telectroscope > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Telectroscope > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Telectroscope.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telectroscope > Source revision: 1316193388 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Model of a videophone system}} {{for|the similarly named scientific instrument of the 17th century|Electroscope}} : [[File:Telectroscope Fig 1.png|thumb|200px|right|'''Telectroscope technical illustration''' in [Scientific American](/source/Scientific_American) Supplement No. 275, April 9, 1881]] The '''telectroscope''' or '''electroscope''' was the first conceptual model of a [television](/source/television) or [videophone](/source/videophone) system. The term was used in the 19th century to describe science-based systems of distant seeing. The name and its concept came into being not long after the telephone was patented in 1876, and its original concept evolved from that of remote facsimile reproductions onto paper, into the live viewing of remote images.{{Cite book|title=Misunderstanding media|last=Brian|first=Winston|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|year=1986|isbn=0710200021|location=London|pages=41–43|oclc=15222064}} == Moigno and Figuier's imaginary telectroscope == [[File:Moigno, abbé François, Nadar, Gallica.jpg|thumb|200px|left|{{center|[Abbé](/source/Abb%C3%A9) Moigno}}]] thumb|200px|left|{{center|Louis Figuier}} The term "telectroscope" ({{langx|fr|télectroscope}}) was used by the French abbot, mathematician and publisher [Moigno](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois-Napol%C3%A9on-Marie_Moigno) in 1877 and by the French writer and publisher [Louis Figuier](/source/Louis_Figuier) in 1878 to popularize an invention wrongly interpreted as real and incorrectly ascribed to [Alexander Graham Bell](/source/Alexander_Graham_Bell).{{Cite journal|last=Moigno|date=1877|title=Le téletroscope|journal=ΚΟΣΜΟΣ, les Mondes, revue hebdomadaire des Sciences et de leurs applications aux Arts et à l'Industrie|volume=43|pages=333}}{{Cite journal|last=Figuier|first=Louis|date=1878|title=Le télectroscope, ou appareil pour transmettre à distance des images|journal=L'Année Scientifique et Industrielle|volume=21|issue=6|pages=80–81}} Both cite the press of Boston as their source, but they might have been misled by the article "The Electroscope" published in ''[The Sun](/source/The_Sun_(New_York_City))'' of 30 March 1877. Written under the pseudonym "Electrician", the New York Sun article claimed that "an eminent scientist", whose name had to be withheld, had invented a device whereby objects or people anywhere in the world "could be seen anywhere by anybody". According to the article, the device would allow merchants to transmit pictures of their wares to their customers, the contents of museum collections would be made available to scholars in distant cities, and (combined with the telephone) operas and plays could be broadcast into people's homes.{{Cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1877-03-30/ed-1/seq-2/|title=The Electroscope|date=Mar 30, 1877|work=The New York Sun|access-date=Nov 8, 2018|issue=211|volume=44|page=2|issn=1940-7831|via=Library of Congress}} In reality, the imagined "telectroscopes" described in the articles had nothing to do with the device being developed by Dr. Bell and his assistant [Charles Sumner Tainter](/source/Charles_Sumner_Tainter) which was christened with the ambiguous name ''[photophone](/source/photophone)''. The photophone was actually a wireless optical telephone that conveyed audio conversations on modulated lightbeams, the precursor for today's [fiber-optic communication](/source/fiber-optic_communication)s. Bell and Tainter would receive several patents in 1880 and 1881 for their then cutting-edge invention (master {{US patent|235199}}), which used the same [selenium](/source/selenium) materials in its receivers that created the initial excitement surrounding the telectroscope's proposals.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a46ivzJ1yboC|title=Alexander Graham Bell: giving voice to the world|last=Kay|first=C. Mary|date=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=9781402749513|series=Sterling Biographies|location=New York|pages=76–78|oclc=80917635}} == Further developments == thumb|right|200px|Headline from the ''New York Times'' article on Szczepanik's telectroscope (April 3, 1898) Nevertheless, the word "telectroscope" was widely accepted. It was used to describe the work of nineteenth century inventors and scientists such as [Constantin Senlecq](/source/Constantin_Senlecq),{{Cite journal|date=Mar 8, 1879|title=A Novel and Curious Instrument - The Telectroscope|journal=Scientific American|volume=40|issue=10|page=143|jstor=26063930}} [George R. Carey](/source/George_R._Carey),George R. Carey, "Transmitting, Recording and Seeing Pictures by Electricity", The Electrical Engineer, Jan. 16, 1895, pp.57-58. [Adriano de Paiva](/source/Adriano_de_Paiva), and later [Jan Szczepanik](/source/Jan_Szczepanik), who with Ludwig Kleiberg obtained a British patent (patent nr. 5031){{Cite book|title=Polska. Zarys encyklopedyczny|publisher=PWN|year=1974|location=Warsaw}} for his device in 1897.Information about a British patent on the telectroscope for Jan Szczepanik and Ludwig Kleiberg"Der Fernseher (Telelekstroskop)", Die Reichswehr, Vienna, 9 March 1898, n°1466, p.5.{{Cite book|url=http://kwasnicki.prawo.uni.wroc.pl/pliki/Kraska%20Jan%20Szczepanik.pdf|title=Jan Szczepanik czyli polski Edison|last=Kraska|first=Monika|publisher=Wrocław University|year=2009|location=Wrocław|language=pl}} Szczepanik's telectroscope, although never actually exhibited and, as some claim, likely never existed,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OlXsZdT8HUQC|title=Early television: a bibliographic guide to 1940|last1=Shiers|first1=George|last2=Shiers|first2=May|date=1997|publisher=Garland Pub|isbn=0824077822|location=New York|pages=25|oclc=34604316}} was covered in the ''New York Times'' on April 3, 1898, where it was described as "a scheme for the transmission of colored rays".{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/04/03/archives/that-new-telectroscope-details-of-the-instrument-that-is-to.html|title=That New Telectroscope|last=Horowitz|first=Johannes|date=April 3, 1898|work=The New York Times|access-date=Nov 8, 2018|page=22}} and it was further developed and presented on the exhibition in Paris in 1900.{{Cite book|title=Słownik historii Polski|last=Łepkowski|first=Tadeusz|date=1973|publisher=Wiedza Powszechna|location=Warszawa|language=pl|oclc=879373}} Szczepanik's experiments fascinated [Mark Twain](/source/Mark_Twain), who wrote a fictional account of his work in his short story ''From The Times of 1904''.[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fcent%2Fcent0057%2F&tif=00112.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP2287-0057-13 Digitized copy of Mark Twain's ''From The Times of 1904''] from the [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) Library. Retrieved 26 May 2008. Both the imagined "telectroscope" of 1877 and Mark Twain's [fictional](/source/science_fiction) device (called a '''telectrophonoscope''') had an important effect on the public. They also provided feedback to the researchers. Neither the [fictional](/source/fictional) nor the real nineteenth-century prototype telectroscopes were real television systems. "Telectroscope" was eventually replaced by the term "television", most probably coined by [Constantin Perskyi](/source/Constantin_Perskyi) in 1900. [[File:Telectroscope aperture at London City Hall showing Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Paul St. George's ''Telectroscope'' [installation](/source/installation_art) at [London City Hall](/source/City_Hall%2C_Southwark) (May 24, 2008)]] == The Telectroscope art installation == In the recent era, 'telectroscope' was the name of a modern art installation constructed by [Paul St George](/source/Paul_St_George) in 2008, which provided a visual link between London and New York City.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7415911.stm|title='Tunnel' links New York to London|last=Price|first=Matthew|date=May 23, 2008|work=BBC News|access-date=Nov 8, 2018}} In May–June 2008, artist Paul St George exhibited outdoor [interactive video](/source/Interactive_art) installations linking London and New York City as a fanciful telectroscope. According to the Telectroscope's [back story](/source/Back-story), it used a [transatlantic tunnel](/source/transatlantic_tunnel) started by the artist's fictional great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/arts/design/21tele.html|title=A Telescope Stretches From Brooklyn to London|last=Ryzik|first=Melena|date=May 21, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=Nov 8, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_S8_LYhKAlx35QUGcRpJ37ZBaDQD90R0VC80|title=Optical device connects NY, London in real time|date=May 23, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528073324/http://ap.google.com:80/article/ALeqM5g_S8_LYhKAlx35QUGcRpJ37ZBaDQD90R0VC80|archive-date=May 28, 2008|url-status=dead|publisher=Associated Press}}{{Cite news|url=http://efluxmedia.com:80/news_Telectroscope_Invention_Links_New_York_To_London_17983.html|title=Telectroscope Invention Links New York To London|last=Todd|first=Michael|date=May 23, 2008|work=eFluxMedia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401080407/http://efluxmedia.com:80/news_Telectroscope_Invention_Links_New_York_To_London_17983.html|archive-date=April 1, 2009|url-status=dead}} In reality, the installation used two [video camera](/source/video_camera)s linked by a [VPN](/source/VPN) connection to provide a virtual tunnel across the Atlantic. The connection used links of between 8 and 50 Mbit/s and the images were transmitted using [MPEG-2](/source/MPEG-2) compression.{{Cite press release |url=https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/39615/tiscali-helps-artist-realise-extraordinary-tunnel-vision-/|title=Tiscali helps artist realise extraordinary 'tunnel vision'|author= |date=June 16, 2008|publisher=ResponseSource Press Release Wire |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=September 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921055925/https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/39615/tiscali-helps-artist-realise-extraordinary-tunnel-vision-/|url-status=dead}} The producer of this spectacle was the creative company [Artichoke](/source/Artichoke_(creative_company)), who previously staged [The Sultan's Elephant](/source/The_Sultan's_Elephant) in London.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/may/25/theatre|title=You could really get sucked in...|last=Clapp|first=Susannah|author-link=Susannah Clapp |date=May 25, 2008|work=The Guardian|access-date=Nov 8, 2018|location=London}} [[File:Telectroscope observers in London.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Observers in London viewing their counterparts in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) as displayed on the faux-telectroscope]] The concept of visually linking distant places and continents in real time was previously explored by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinovitz with ''Hole in Space'' (1980), an art installation linking [shop windows](/source/Display_window) in New York and Los Angeles{{Cite book|title=Digital currents: art in the electronic age|url=https://archive.org/details/digitalcurrentsa00love_281|url-access=limited|last=Lovejoy|first=Margot|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0203005279|edition=3rd expanded|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/digitalcurrentsa00love_281/page/n254 232]–234|oclc=56629968}} as well as by [Maurice Benayoun](/source/Maurice_Benayoun) with ''[The Tunnel under the Atlantic](/source/The_Tunnel_under_the_Atlantic)'' between the [Pompidou Centre](/source/Centre_Georges_Pompidou) in Paris and the [Museum of Contemporary Art](/source/Mus%C3%A9e_d'art_contemporain_de_Montr%C3%A9al) in [Montreal](/source/Montreal) (1995). Later similar projects include the ''[New York–Dublin Portal](/source/New_York%E2%80%93Dublin_Portal)'' of 2024. == See also == * [Coaxial Cable -History](/source/Coaxial_cable) * [History of radio](/source/History_of_radio) * [History of television](/source/History_of_television) * [Telephonoscope](/source/Telephonoscope) == References == {{reflist|30em}} == External links == {{Commons category}} * [https://www.devices-of-wonder.com Paul St George's Telectroscope Project webpage] official web site * [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7415911.stm BBC News video of the Telectroscope Project] * [http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1336737864/bclid1078573088/bctid1600171037 Telectroscope Video NYC] * [http://www.moben.net/projet.php?id=14 ''The Tunnel under the Atlantic'' (1995) on Maurice Benayoun's official web site] {{Telecommunications}} Category:Television technology Category:Videotelephony --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Telectroscope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telectroscope) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telectroscope?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.