Guillermo González Camarena

Who was Guillermo González Camarena?

Guillermo González Camarena, was a Mexican engineer who was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television, and who also introduced color television to Mexico.

Born in Guadalajara in 1917, his family moved to Mexico City when Guillermo was almost 2 years old. As a boy he made electrically propelled toys, and at the age of twelve built his first amateur radio.

González Camarena was born into a family composed by Arturo González and Sara Camarena, originally from Arandas, Jalisco. One of his older brothers, Jorge, was a prominent painter, muralist and sculptor.

In 1939 he graduated from the Escuela Superior de Ingenería Mecánica y Eléctrica at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional; he obtained his first radio license two years later.

He was also an avid stargazer; he built his own telescope and became a regular member of the Astronomical Society of Mexico.

González Camarena invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment", an early color television transmission system. He was only 17. A U.S. patent application states, "My invention relates to the transmission and reception of colored pictures or images by wire or wireless..." The invention was designed to be easy to adapt to black-and-white television equipment. González Camarena applied for this patent August 14, 1941, and obtained the patent September 15, 1942. He also filed for additional patents for color television systems in 1960 and 1962.