Who invented the LCD

So here I am looking up at my TV wondering  how it got there... A quick google for "who invented LCD?" gives me a hodgepodge of answers... I rub my hands in glee and begin to delve a bit deeper.

Fredrick Reinitzer discovered it back in 1888 while playing around with (I kid you not) carrots.

George William Gray wrote a paper on it in 1962, and was made  head of the British Liquid Crystal Society, along with having his name on a medal

Otto Lehman in 1904 gave it the name cholesteric liquid crystals, and was the first to put it between pieces of glass. So I guess in a sense I'm watching cholesteric TV all the time... It all begins to make sense now.

George Heilmeier is credited, along with James Fergason with inventing the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) in 1968  which was mostly used on digital watches and such. Heilmeir went on to head DARPA and created a nifty catechism which has as of this moment in time, now become an integral part of my schemata. He's also behind most of the research and development behind Texas Instruments. Yep, on the list

 T Peter Brody is said to have invented Active Matrix LCD in 1975 while working for Westinghouse

However, Sharp is the first company to make a production LCD TV.

by 2012 186 million LCD TVs will have been sold.


And people wonder why I stopped reading fiction.