Georges Valensi
Georges Valensi was a French telecommunications
engineer who in 1938 invented and patented a
method that allows color images to be transmitted and received on
both color and black and white television sets. Rival color television methods, which had been
in development since the 1920s, were
incompatible with monochrome televisions.
All current widely deployed color television standards
- NTSC, SECAM, PAL and today's digital standards -
implement his idea of transmitting a signal composed
of separate luminance and chrominance.
Because his invention so predated
the actual introduction of color
television, his patent was
exceptionally extended to 1971.
