the life of Philo T Farnsworth - Early Television Foundation

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THE STORY OF TELEVISION
in his eagerness to return to his laboratory work and would
become so ill that he had to return to bed. The general report
on his health, however, was a steady but very, very slow improvement.
It would have been a great help to the laboratory in Fort
Wayne to have his personal advice and help during
these war
years, but it was not possible to ask it.
Late in 1942,
in order to be most useful in the war effort, I
joined the staff of the Radiation Laboratory under the direction
of Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California in
Berkeley. This was a part of the atomic bomb program. The
need for haste in this project was such that I had little time to
devote to Farnsworth matters beyond attending occasional
directors' meetings. Therefore, it was not possible for me to take
time out to visit Phil again in Maine. I did occasionally hear
through Mr. Martin, who was handling patents for the Farnsworth
company, and others of Phil's progress.
I was bothered
not to be able to go to see him and get a better understanding of
his physical condition.
In the meantime, the work of the Farnsworth company went
on at a pace that was building a splendid reputation
for the
production of war materials. Under the inspiring and capable
leadership of Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Martin, the morale of the
company was tops. Production per individual was high. Everyone
was jubilant over the first E awarded for excellency in war
production by the Navy Department. This was followed by
similar awards again and again until the company had accumulated
seven for the two plants at Marion and Fort Wayne.
The former came off with the larger number of them, due
largely to the fact that the production lines were permitted to
run a longer time on one type of electronic equipment. From
all areas of the war fronts came word that the equipment built