Liquid Crystal Display Invented 40 Years Ago

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In May 1968, electrical engineer George Heilmeier and his team of scientists revealed the liquid crystal display to the public. The technology that is seen on computers, alarm clocks and the digital screens of microwaves is ubiquitous. Host Andrea Seabrook speaks with Heilmeier about his eureka moment and what's so great about an LCD screen.

ANDREA SEABROOK, host:

Back in the 60s families would gather in their living rooms around those massive TV sets. There were three networks and TV was called the tube because the screen was lit by a huge cathode ray tube. Then in 1968 a sleek new invention was revealed - we now see it every day on our cell phones, our iPods, even those impossibly skinny TVs bolted to living room walls.

It's the LCD screen. Forty years ago it was truly Science out of the Box.

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SEABROOK: The guy behind the LCD screen, meet George Heilmeier. Mr. Heilmeier, happy anniversary.

Mr. GEORGE HEILMEIER (Creator, LCD Screen): Well, thank you very much, Andrea.

SEABROOK: Tell me about the eureka moment. Do you remember the first time you saw it work?

Mr. HEILMEIER: Oh sure. You don't forget things like that.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. HEILMEIER: The first time really got us excited. It was an alphanumeric display and we could display numbers from one to ten and then we essentially demonstrated that we obviously could do letters as well as numbers. And we looked at the contrast and the quality of the imagery and the like and we felt that we had something there.

SEABROOK: And what was so great about having an LCD screen?

Mr. HEILMEIER: Well, it was flat, it was simply two pieces of glass with some liquid crystal material between them. And we demonstrated that with relatively low voltages - and by relatively low I mean something in the ten-volt range -we could essentially change the imagery on the display or control the imagery on the display.

And that was quite an event because cathode ray tubes required thousands of volts.

SEABROOK: How does the LCD work as opposed to a cathode ray tube?

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Mr. HEILMEIER: Well, liquid crystals, that name confuses people. In many respects they're like a liquid, that is they fill the shape of the container that they're in but on the other hand unlike other liquids, the molecules tend to align. And if you apply a voltage to them they align almost perfectly. And in that alignment process you can see visible effects of the changes and those changes that were driven by low voltages were essentially the basis upon which a display was made possible.

SEABROOK: And it doesn't need a cabinet the size of a dresser drawers.

Mr. HEILMEIER: No, it really doesn't. And it doesn't need high voltage and a lot of power. So, it really is a very, very flexible technology and you can see that by the diversity of applications that have emerged over the years.

SEABROOK: Um-hum. Did you ever imagine back then, George Heilmeier, that your invention, the LCD screen, would just be everywhere a few decades later?

Mr. HEILMEIER: Well, I guess we had those dreams but…

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Mr. HEILMEIER: …they were, from our standpoint, a decade or more away, unfortunately. The addressing circuitry, the integrated circuits that we needed to essentially display video information, took another decade before they had reached the level of sophistication that was needed.

But back in the 60s we understood pretty well that the real end game would be television.

SEABROOK: George Heilmeier led the team of scientists that introduced the liquid crystal display in May of 1968. And when you check your watch, your iPod or watch TV tonight, think of him. Thanks for joining us, sir.

Mr. HEILMEIER: Thank you very much, Andrea.

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Who invented the LCD, and When?

The liquid crystal research of the 1960s was characterized by the discovery of and experiments on the properties of the liquid crystals. George H. Heilmeier of the RCA based his research on that of Williams, diving into the electro-optical nature of the crystals. After many attempts to use the liquid crystals to display different colors, he created the first working LCD using something called a dynamic scattering mode (DSM) that, when voltage is applied, turns the clear liquid crystal layer into a more translucent state. Heilmeier was thus deemed the inventor of the LCD.

Evolution of LCD and Important Milestones

In the late 1960s, the United Kingdom Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) discovered the cyanobiphenyl liquid crystal, a type that was fitting for LCD usage in terms of stability and temperature. In 1968, Bernard Lechner of RCA created the idea of a TFT-based LCD, and in that same year, he and several others brought that idea into reality using Heilmeier’s DSM LCD.

After the LCD’s entrance into the field of display technology, the 1970s were full of expansive research into improving the LCD and making it appropriate for a greater variety of applications. In 1970, the twisted nematic field effect was patented in Switzerland with credited inventors being Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt. This twisted nematic (TN) effect soon conjoined with products that entered the international markets like Japan’s electronic industry. In the US, the same patent was filed by James Fergason in 1971. His company, ILIXCO, known today as LXD Incorporated, manufactured TN-effect LCDs which grew to overshadow the DSM models. TN LCDs offered better features like lower operating voltages and power consumption.

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