Philo Taylor Farnsworth was born in a log cabin near Beaver, Utah. Even from a young age, Farnsworth displayed a keen interest in mechanics and electricity, foreshadowing his future inventive endeavors. His upbringing in a rural setting fostered resourcefulness and hands-on problem-solving skills.

While plowing a potato field on his family's farm in Idaho, Farnsworth envisioned how an image could be transmitted electronically, drawing inspiration from the parallel rows of the plowed field. This moment of insight sparked the fundamental concept of dissecting an image into lines, scanning it, and then reassembling it on a screen, a crucial element of electronic television. Farnsworth was just 14 years old at the time.