共通テスト英語 2022年度（令和4年度） 本試験 第5問
本文と解答解説

In your English class, you will give a presentation about a great inventor. You found the following article and prepared notes for your presentation.

Who invented television? It is not an easy question to answer. In the early years of the 20th century, there was something called a mechanical television system, but it was not a success. Inventors were also competing to develop an electronic television system, which later became the basis of what we have today. In the US, there was a battle over the patent for the electronic television system, which attracted people’s attention because it was between a young man and a giant corporation. This patent would give the inventor the official right to be the only person to develop, use, or sell the system.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth was born in a log cabin in Utah in 1906. His family did not have electricity until he was 12 years old, and he was excited to find a generator—a machine that produces electricity—when they moved into a new home. He was very interested in mechanical and electrical technology, reading any information he could find on the subject. He would often repair the old generator and even changed his mother’s hand-powered washing machine into an electricity-powered one.

One day, while working in his father’s potato field, he looked behind him and saw all the straight parallel rows of soil that he had made. Suddenly, it occurred to him that it might be possible to create an electronic image on a screen using parallel lines, just like the rows in the field. In 1922, during the spring semester of his first year at high school, he presented this idea to his chemistry teacher, Justin Tolman, and asked for advice about his concept of an electronic television system. With sketches and diagrams on blackboards, he

showed the teacher how it might be accomplished, and Tolman encouraged him to develop his ideas.

On September 7, 1927, Farnsworth succeeded in sending his first electronic image. In the following years, he further improved the system so that it could successfully broadcast live images. The US government gave him a patent for this system in 1930.

However, Farnsworth was not the only one working on such a system. A giant company, RCA (Radio Corporation of America), also saw a bright future for television and did not want to miss the opportunity. They recruited Vladimir Zworykin, who had already worked on an electronic television system and had earned a patent as early as 1923. Yet, in 1931, they offered Farnsworth a large sum of money to sell them his patent as his system was superior to that of Zworykin’s. He refused this offer, which started a patent war between Farnsworth and RCA.

The company took legal action against Farnsworth, claiming that Zworykin’s 1923 patent had priority even though he had never made a working version of his system. Farnsworth lost the first two rounds of the court case. However, in the final round, the teacher who had copied Farnsworth’s blackboard drawings gave evidence that Farnsworth did have the idea of an electronic television system at least a year before Zworykin’s patent was issued. In 1934, a judge approved Farnsworth’s patent claim on the strength of handwritten notes made by his old high school teacher, Tolman.

Farnsworth died in 1971 at the age of 64. He held about 300 US and foreign patents, mostly in radio and television, and in 1999, TIME magazine included Farnsworth in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. In an interview after his death, Farnsworth’s wife Pem recalled Neil Armstrong’s moon landing being broadcast. Watching the television with her, Farnsworth had said, “Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.” His story will always be tied to his teenage dream of sending moving pictures through the air and those blackboard drawings at his high school.

Your presentation notes:

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906–1971)

Early Days – born in a log cabin without electricity – [31] – [32]

Sequence of Key Events [33] [34] Farnsworth successfully sent his first image. [35] [36] RCA took Farnsworth to court.

Outcome – Farnsworth won the patent battle against RCA thanks to [37].

Achievements and Recognition – Farnsworth had about 300 patents. – TIME magazine listed him as one of the century’s most important figures. – [38]