Developed the first commercially-sold television sets

Not long after World War II, Allen DuMont saw the tremendous potential of television. To realize that potential, DuMont became a one-man television enterprise.

First he knew that the picture on the TV screen had to improve dramatically.

When he could not get funding, he opened his own lab in the basement of his Cedar Grove home and built a cheaper, longer lasting picture tube.

Dumont then decided his new picture tube needed a better television set, so he built his own model which became the first commercially sold sets in the country.

Finally DuMont decided that people needed something good to watch on these new television sets, so he created the DuMont Television Network, the first-ever TV network in the country.

Over time he sold his research lab to Fairchild, his TV manufacturing concern to Emerson and his network to what would become Metromedia. 

DuMont also made a number of innovative improvements to radio, including the "magic eye tube" tuning accessory. He also developed long range precision radar for the armed forces during World War II, an innovation that earned him a Knighthood in France.