ELMA “PEM” GARDNER FARNSWORTH PASSED FROM THIS WORLD LAST THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
Elma “Pem” Gardner Farnsworth passed from this world last Thursday, April 27, 2006, at Bountiful, Utah; she was 98 years of age. The Waynedale News recently ran a story about the life and times of Philo T. Farnsworth who invented modern electronic television, the electronic microscope, the mini-cam necessary for modern scope surgery, night vision technology and more than two hundred patents that significantly changed our world. By the end of the 35 segments of his story, I came to believe that Pem Farnsworth’s story was not only inseparable from his, but her story was probably just as amazing as his. Every time Philo created something in his laboratory she was the first to know it and he always took her in his arms and twirled her around in circles. Pem’s picture was the first human image ever electronically transmitted on a modern television system and in the early days, she drew all of the diagrams for his patents. What is not common knowledge is that she was also an eye witness to the first electronic fusion event in human history. The debate yet rages, whether or not it was a sustained fusion, but she was nevertheless the first person besides Philo to witness this historic event. According to a live interview with her, it happened at his lab here on Pontiac Street at ITT. She said Philo’s idea for electronic fusion seemed to lurk on the edge of his consciousness for many years. His thoughts about fusion began taking him into territory that few men—if any—were capable of comprehending. It began as early as 1937, when he first witnessed a mysterious blue glow in one of his vacuum tubes. After ruling out all other possible explanations, he came to the conclusion that it was being caused by fusion. He began to obsess on this idea and began spending more and more time on it and by 1944 he was satisfied he had the answer. During a 1947 telephone conversation with Albert Einstein, Philo became very excited to find someone who understood what he was talking about when Einstein told him his own thoughts had been going in this direction at one time, but he was so shocked that his work had been used to produce the atomic bombs dropped on Japan that he vowed never to contribute further. This conversation was a turning point for Philo in more ways than one. Not only did Einstein confirm for him that his original ideas about electronic fusion were viable, it was a great psychological relief for him to find another human being who shared his unique perspective for his new fusion process.
In the summer of 1953, Pem was driving the family from Fort Wayne, IN to the Uintah Mountains in northeastern Utah. On the afternoon of the second day Philo was sitting on the front seat with their four year old son Kent between them. Not a word had been spoken for sometime and I thought they must all be sleeping. Riding in the car seemed to activate Phil’s thought processes. Suddenly, Phil sat bolt-upright, as though he had been stuck with a pin. Excitedly, throwing his hands in the air, he shouted, “I’ve got it,” the air was electric. “I’ve figured out a way to control fusion!” he said, with a note of wonder at the enormity of what he was saying, “If I can do this, it will be of tremendous importance to the entire world.” “More important than television,” She wanted to know? “Much more important because it would furnish the world with a very cheap, almost unlimited source of power.” ITT pulled the plug on Farnsworth’s fusion project in 1966; he died in 1971 and took many unfulfilled ideas with him to his grave. With the passing of his beloved Pem last Thursday the world also lost an eye witness to one of the most promising fusion experiments ever carried out.
> Read More Information About Us
> More Articles Written By Our Staff
- One Last Delivery After 25 Years Of Dedication To Community News - December 19, 2025
- 400 Kids Enjoy A Festive Afternoon - December 19, 2025
- Local Radio Stations Help Families With ‘Letters To Santa’ - December 19, 2025