M. Georges Valensi (1889–1980) was a French telecommunications engineer who, in 1938, invented and
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed a method of transmitting color images via
luma
Luma or LUMA may refer to:
Arts
* La Trobe University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia
* LUMA Projection Arts Festival, an annual event featuring building-scale projection mapping and light installations in Binghamton, NY
* LUMA Foundation, ...
and
chrominance
Chrominance (''chroma'' or ''C'' for short) is the signal used in video systems to convey the color information of the picture (see YUV color model), separately from the accompanying luma signal (or Y' for short). Chrominance is usually represente ...
so that they could be received on both color and black & white
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
sets.
Rival color television methods, which had been in development since the 1920s, were incompatible with monochrome televisions.
Valensi was an official of
CCIF serving first as
Secretary-General
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
(1923–1948) and then as
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
(1949–1956).
All current widely deployed color television standards –
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
,
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''color sequential with memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, some parts of Europe and Africa, and Russia. It was one of th ...
,
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
and today's digital standards – implement his idea of transmitting a signal composed of separate
luminance
Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls withi ...
and
chrominance
Chrominance (''chroma'' or ''C'' for short) is the signal used in video systems to convey the color information of the picture (see YUV color model), separately from the accompanying luma signal (or Y' for short). Chrominance is usually represente ...
. Because his invention pre-dated the actual introduction of color television by so long, his patent was exceptionally extended to 1971.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valensi, Georges
French telecommunications engineers
20th-century French inventors
Television pioneers
1889 births
1980 deaths