John Logie Baird is remembered as the inventor of mechanical television, radar and fiber optics. Successfully tested in a laboratory in late 1925 and unveiled with much fanfare in London in early 1926, mechanical television technology was quickly usurped by electronic television, the basis of modern video technology. Nonetheless, Baird's achievements, including making the first trans-Atlantic television transmission, were singular and critical scientific accomplishments. Lonely, driven, tireless and often poor, the native Scot defined the pioneering spirit of scientific inquiry.

The United States turned up more than two years late in the First and Second World Wars. And if it commemorates the 75th anniversary of the invention of television on 7 September this year, it will be late again - by more than 19 months.

Two weeks ago, the US Congress passed a resolution to acknowledge the work of 19th-century Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci in the invention of the telephone, rubbishing Alexander Graham Bell in the process.

But this is not the first time in recent months that a Scots-born inventor has come under US attack. On 9 May this year, Governor Mark Schweiker of Pennsylvania declared 7 September "Philo Taylor Farnsworth Day" throughout the state, saying: "With the unveiling of his most well-known invention, the television, in Philadelphia, Philo Taylor Farnsworth followed in the footsteps of Pennsylvania's beloved son, Benjamin Franklin, successfully changing the course of modern technology and the lives of countless millions."

A similar proposal for 7 September has also been put on the table by Paul Schatzkin, author of The Farnsworth Chronicles. "Our goal is simple," writes Schatzkin. "We want everybody who turns on a television set to know that date is the anniversary of the day the medium arrived on this planet - and to know the name of the man who delivered it."

But the truth is that Philo T Farnsworth was not the first person to demonstrate television in the US, never mind the first on the planet. The world’s first public demonstration of "real" television took place in London on 26 January, 1926 before an audience of 40 members of the Royal Institution, Britain’s leading organisation for promoting scientific research.

The man behind the demonstration was a 37-year-old Scotsman called John Logie Baird. And what he showed on screen, 19 months before Farnsworth, was far superior to Farnsworth’s "blob of light", as it was famously described by Albert Abramson in The History of Television.

At the 1926 demonstration, Baird transmitted images of the observers from one room to another. The screen displayed half tones - black and white, and shades of grey - using a method he had patented three years before.

In private, Baird had gone even further, but kept many of his inventions a secret in case others stole his ideas. Similarly, when he registered his patents, he was always careful not to give too much away, and sometimes even submitted false details to mislead his rivals.

Baird’s true story has been obscured for a long time. But later this year, when the National Museum of Scotland publishes a new biography of Baird by historian Antony Kamm (in collaboration with the inventor’s son Malcolm), the picture will be clearer.