Jan Szczepanik
Encyclopedia
Szczepanik held several hundred patents and made over 50 discoveries, many of which are still used today, especially in the motion picture industry, photography, and television.
Some of his ideas influenced the development of television, such as the telectroscope
Telectroscope
thumb|200px|right|Telectroscope technical illustration in [[Scientific American]] Supplement No. 275, April 9, 1881The telectroscope was the first non-working prototype of a television or videophone system...
(an apparatus for distant reproduction of images and sound using electricity) or the wireless telegraph, which greatly influenced the development of telecommunications.
Szczepanik was granted awards by royal courts. Spanish ruler Alfonso XIII
Alfonso XIII of Spain
Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority...
awarded him an order for creating the first ballistic vest, whereas Emperor Franz Josef I relieved him from mandatory military service, and, fascinated with a photosculptor (apparatus for copying sculptures), gave him a pair of pistols as a souvenir.
Before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Szczepanik carried out experiments with photography and image projection, as well as with small format color film. He holds patents for a new weaving method, a system of obtaining tri-color photography rasters, and equipment for sound recording and playback.
Following the discoverer's idea, Agfa corporation produced its Agfacolor reversible paper; color films were also made for the first time, projecting 24 frames per second. Szczepanik's more significant discoveries also include the colorimeter
Colorimeter
For articles on Colorimeter see:* Colorimeter * Tristimulus colorimeter...
(a color control tool), an electric rifle, and a color image weaving method, together with the automation of their production.
Szczepanik also worked on a moving wing aircraft, a duplex rotor helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, a dirigible, and a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
met Szczepanik and described him in two of his articles: "The Austrian Edison keeping school again" (1898) and "From The Times of 1904" (1898).