The experimentation of cathode rays is largely accredited to J. J. Thomson, an English physicist who, in his three famous experiments, was able to deflect cathode rays, a fundamental function of the modern CRT. The earliest version of the CRT was invented by the German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1897 and is also known as the Braun tube.[5] It was a cold-cathode diode, a modification of the Crookes tube with a phosphor-coated screen.
In 1907, Russian scientist Boris Rosing used a CRT in the receiving end of an experimental video signal to form a picture. He managed to display simple geometric shapes onto the screen, which marked the first time that CRT technology was used for what is now known as television.[1]
The first cathode ray tube to use a hot cathode was developed by John B. Johnson (who gave his name to the term Johnson noise) and Harry Weiner Weinhart of Western Electric, and became a commercial product in 1922.[citation needed]
It was named by inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin in 1929.[6] RCA was granted a trademark for the term (for its cathode ray tube) in 1932; it voluntarily released the term to the public domain in 1950.[7]
The first commercially made electronic television sets with cathode ray tubes were manufactured by Telefunken in Germany in 1934,[8][9