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This got me curious when I saw the news item on national Swedish news (!) a few hours ago, so I did some wikipedia reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel

by tpmx 6y ago

This got me curious when I saw the news item on national Swedish news (!) a few hours ago, so I did some wikipedia reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel#Etymology > The word pixel is a portmanteau of pix (from "pictures", shortened to "pics") and el (for "element"); similar formations with 'el' include the words voxel and texel. The word pix appeared in Variety magazine headlines in 1932, as an abbreviation for the word pictures, in reference to movies. By 1938, "pix" was being used in reference to still pictures by photojournalists. > The word "pixel" was first published in 1965 by Frederic C. Billingsley of JPL, to describe the picture elements of scanned images from space probes to the Moon and Mars. Billingsley had learned the word from Keith E. McFarland, at the Link Division of General Precision in Palo Alto, who in turn said he did not know where it originated. McFarland said simply it was "in use at the time" (circa 1963).

tpmx 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_imaging#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_imaging#History > The first digital image was produced in 1920, by the Bartlane cable picture transmission system. British inventors, Harry G. Bartholomew and Maynard D. McFarlane, developed this method. The process consisted of “a series of negatives on zinc plates that were exposed for varying lengths of time, thus producing varying densities,”. The Bartlane cable picture transmission system generated at both its transmitter and its receiver end a punched data card or tape that was recreated as an image. > In 1957, Russell A. Kirsch produced a device that generated digital data that could be stored in a computer; this used a drum scanner and photomultiplier tube. So Kirsch was a pioneer in creating a device that could store images in a computer. That is something he should be remembered for. This "inventor of the pixel" thing is just weird, though. Pixels can clearly exist outside of computers, and did so before 1957. Not to mention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic#History .
- djmips 6y ago
  "Inventor of the pixel" is a feel good story title.

by tpmx 6y ago

tpmx 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_imaging#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_imaging#History > The first digital image was produced in 1920, by the Bartlane cable picture transmission system. British inventors, Harry G. Bartholomew and Maynard D. McFarlane, developed this method. The process consisted of “a series of negatives on zinc plates that were exposed for varying lengths of time, thus producing varying densities,”. The Bartlane cable picture transmission system generated at both its transmitter and its receiver end a punched data card or tape that was recreated as an image. > In 1957, Russell A. Kirsch produced a device that generated digital data that could be stored in a computer; this used a drum scanner and photomultiplier tube. So Kirsch was a pioneer in creating a device that could store images in a computer. That is something he should be remembered for. This "inventor of the pixel" thing is just weird, though. Pixels can clearly exist outside of computers, and did so before 1957. Not to mention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic#History .

djmips 6y ago
"Inventor of the pixel" is a feel good story title.