The inventor of the first wireless TV remote control, Eugene Polley, has died aged 96.
TV enthusiasts everywhere have Polley to thank for hours of feet-up, channel surfing. His invention began as a luxury, but has become a necessity in an era of hundreds of TV channels and home theatres.
Until 1955, if you wanted to switch TV channels, you got up from your chair, walked across the room and turned a knob, but then came the new Zenith television with Flash-Matic tuning. The TV came with a green ray-gun-shaped contraption with a red trigger. The advertising promised "TV miracles". The "flash tuner" was "absolutely harmless to humans!" and most intriguing of all promised that "you can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen".
Polley was proud of his invention even late in life, a spokesman for Zenith said. He showed visitors at his assisted-living apartment his original Flash-Matic and how it had evolved into the technology of today. "He was a proud owner of a flat-screen TV and modern remote … he always kept his original remote control with him."
Polley's Flash-Matic pointed a beam of light at photo cells in the corners of the television screen. Each corner activated a different function, turning the picture and sound off and on, and changing the channels.
Polley, a Chicago native , and fellow Zenith engineer Robert Adler were honoured in 1997 with an Emmy for their work in pioneering TV remotes. In 2009, he received the Masaru Ibuka consumer electronics award from the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers.
Remote control inventor dies
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