On 15 January 1885, Paul Nipkow received German Patent No. 30105 for an “Electric telescope”, later known for the Nipkow disk for mechanical television scanning.
The inventive leap was not a specific television set, but a principle for remote vision. Convert an image into a sequenced stream of picture elements, transmit it as an electrical signal, then reconstruct the scene at the receiving end.
Decades later, that concept became a key stepping stone from laboratory experiments to early television.
Nipkow could not capitalise on the idea at the time, but the patent record did what it is meant to do. It fixed priority, published a concept, and preserved it until the surrounding technology finally caught up.
Schematic representation of mechanical television with a Nipkow disk, and the first television receiver with a Nipkow-Disk.
Paul Nipkow and drawings from his German Patent No. 30105 for an “Electric telescope”.
| Country | Kind | No. | Published | Title | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE | Patent | 30105 | 15.01.1885 | Elektrisches Teleskop |
Last updated on 18 February 2026