Inventor of the TV remote dies

By Clement James on Feb 21, 2007 10:56 AM
Filed under Hardware

Robert Adler dies, aged 93.

Robert Adler, best known as the co-inventor of the TV remote control, has died of natural causes in Idaho aged 93.

An inventor to the end, Adler filed more than 180 patents throughout his long life. The US Patent and Trademark Office published his most recent patent application, for advances in touch-screen technology, on 1 February.

Adler joined the Zenith Electronics Corporation in 1941 where he served until 1999, when the company merged with LG Electronics.

The inventor's Space Command ultrasonic remote control for TV sets was introduced by Zenith in 1956.

Adler received the 1958 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award from the Institute of Radio Engineers (now the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) for his "original work on ultrasonic remote controls" for television.

Adler also received the IEEE 1974 Outstanding Technical Paper Award for his report, An Optical Video Disc Player for NTSC Receivers, representing early work in what was to become the digital video disc or DVD.

His other IEEE awards include the Edison Medal in 1980 and the Sonics and Ultrasonics Achievement Award in 1981.

The Edison Medal is the principal annual award of the IEEE and is presented for a career of "meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering or the electrical arts".