Eugene Polley
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Infobox engineer
Eugene Polley (November 29, 1915 – May 20, 2012) was an electrical engineer and engineering manager for Zenith Electronics who invented the first wireless remote control for television.
Life and career
Eugene J. Polley was born November 29, 1915, in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the City Colleges of Chicago and Armour Institute of Technology,[1] but he left before graduating.[2] In 1935, he was hired as a stock boy for Zenith Electronics; he moved to the company's parts department, where he created the company's first catalog, then transferred to engineering, where his assignments included work on radar during World War II for the U.S. Department of Defense.[1]
His 1955 invention, marketed as the Flash-Matic, used visible light to remotely control a television outfitted with four photocells in the cabinet at the corners of the screen. Aiming the pistol-shaped control at an individual photocell could turn the receiver on and off, mute the sound and change the channel up or down.[3][4] Polley also worked on the push-button car radio and contributed to the development of video disks.[1]
Polley's career at Zenith included positions as a product engineer and mechanical engineer. Polley later managed its Video Recording Group, then its Advanced Mechanical Design Group; he eventually became Assistant Division Chief for Zenith's Mechanical Engineering Group. He retired after a 47-year career[1] in which he earned 18 U.S. patents.[4]
Polley and Robert Adler shared a 1996–1997 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for "Pioneering Development of Wireless Remote Control for Consumer Television."[4][5]
In 2009, Polley received the IEEE Consumer Electronics Award "for contributions to the technology of the wireless remote control for television and other consumer electronic products."[6]
Death
Polley died on May 20, 2012, at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois. His death was announced by Zenith Electronics, for whom he worked from 1935 to 1982.[7] He was 96.
External links
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b c d TV Remote Control Inventor Eugene Polley, 1915-2012, a May 21, 2012 Zenith press release via thestreet.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ TV remote's father doesn't click for all Script error: No such module "webarchive"., a February 5, 2006 article from the Chicago Tribune, via UTSanDiego.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c TV remote control inventor Eugene Polley dies at 96 Script error: No such module "webarchive"., a May 22, 2012 article from BBC News. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ Outstanding Achievement in Technical/Engineering Development Awards Script error: No such module "webarchive". from National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award Script error: No such module "webarchive". (list Script error: No such module "webarchive". from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "Authority control".