On October 15, 1978, Dr. Gregorio Zara died. Among his better known works include the "videophone" which he demonstrated in 1954 and patented the next year as "photo phone signal separator network." Making use of this, the Filipino scientist's creation allowed people to talk and view each other at the same time, a two-way television-based phone, predating the 1956 development of related technology by the American Bell Labs called the "picturephone." Notably, development of videotelephony has been ongoing elsewhere since the 1920s.
Other Zara patents would be a solar-powered water heater, an induction compass for pilots, and an airplane engine that runs on alcohol fuel. He also contributed in robotics, helping in the development of the walking Marex X-10.
In the realm of physics, he developed in 1930 a concept on electrical kinetic resistance. It was in the same year he finished his doctorate in physics at Sorbonne. He obtained his bachelor's degree on mechanical engineering just four years earlier, in 1926, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through a scholarship grant.
His government service featured his technical expertise as he worked in the Department of Public Works and Communications, as well as the Department of Defense. He also shared his knowledge through teaching, becoming a professor in the Far East Air Transport Incorporated University (FEATI) in 1946 and vice president of the institution until 1962. Along with Juan Salcedo, Jr. and Alfredo Santos, Zara became one of the first National Scientists of the Philippines, awarded in 1978.
Zara was born in Batangas on March 8, 1902. Learn more about science in the Philippines:
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