It was a problem that everyone knew was solvable, but one that had yet to be solved.

Engineers, inventors and tinkerers had been working on “telemotion,” the “televista,” the “photo-telegraph,” and the “tele-vision” in various forms, using well-known technologies and off-the-shelf equipment, since the early 20th century.

The New York Times first mentioned the idea — it was still only an idea — on Feb. 24, 1907, in an article announcing the first successful transmission of photographs by wire.

“The new ‘telephotograph’ invention of Dr. Arthur Korn,” the anonymous reporter wrote, “assures us that ‘television,’ or seeing by telegraph, is merely a question of a year or two with certain improvements in apparatus.”

The article was accompanied by portraits, all transmitted with the new technology, of five elegantly mustachioed men. There was also a picture of Dr. Korn himself, sitting next to his “telephotographic apparatus.” He had a healthy mustache, too.