"Emmy" or National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences award given to RCA for Image Orthicon Camera.
This award was given to the Radio Corporation of America, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, and the English Electric Valve Company, for the development of the 4.5 inch image orthicon tube and camera.
While the 4.5 inch orthicon tube and camera may not sound familiar to many, its nickname should sound very familiar. "Emmy" is actually a feminized version of "Immy", which was the nickname for the image orthicon camera used throughout the industry.
"Syd Cassyd, founder and president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, initially proposed that the award be called "Ike," the nickname for a television iconoscope tube, but it was deemed too evocative of WWII hero General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower. Henry Lubcke, the third Television Academy president, eventually prevailed with "Immy," after the image-orthicon camera tube, which was instrumental in the development of television. "Immy" was feminized as "Emmy" to complement the design chosen for the statuette, which depicted a winged, idealized woman holding an atom."
"Her wings represented the muse of art, and the atom and its electrons the science and technology of the new medium. The Television Academy rejected 47 proposals before accepting the statuette designed by television engineer Louis McManus, whose wife served as its model."
"In 1949, the Television Academy held the first Emmy Awards ceremony, an annual event created to recognize excellence in U.S. television programming, although the initial event was restricted to programming from the Los Angeles area."
