Jan Szczepanik (June 13, 1872 – April 18, 1926) was a Polish inventor, with several hundred patents and over 50 discoveries to his name, many of which are still applied today, especially in the motion picture industry, as well as in photography and television.

Some of his concepts helped the future evolution of TV broadcasting, such as the telectroscope (an apparatus for distant reproduction of images and sound using electricity) or the wireless telegraph, which greatly affected the development of telecommunications.

Szczepanik was born in the Austrian Partition, in the village of Rudniki near Mościska (now Mostyska,[1] Ukraine) but relocated as infant with his mother to Zręcin in the industrial region of Krosno,[2] where he grew up.

He moved to Vienna after his attempt to advance the Jacquard loom from France (invented in 1801) was rejected by some local weavers for fear of losing business.

Following the discoverer's idea, Agfa corporation produced its Agfacolor reversible paper; color films were also made for the first time, projecting 24 frames per second.