RIP Eugene.
http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_20680677/eugene-polley-inventor-tv-remote-dies-at-96

St. Peter: "I'll open the gates."
Gene Polley: "That's OK, I'll do it from here."

He invented the Flash-Matic but wasn't someone else responsible for inventing the Space Command, the first truly practical wireless TV remote?

A shop I worked in had a working Flash Matic set on the sales floor as a conversation piece. They would turn in on once in a while. When the sun shined in the window, the thing would go nuts once in a while.

CBS news (radio) mentioned his passing and that his invention, while a milestone was not a success, but then gave an inane cop-out reason: according to the report, Flash-Matic failed because there weren't enough channels to change at the time to make a remote control worthwhile. Isn't the truth--dawn creeping through window pane turns TV on and drives it nuts--a lot more interesting?

He invented the Flash-Matic but wasn't someone else responsible for inventing the Space Command, the first truly practical wireless TV remote?

You're thinking of Robert Adler.

When I got my Flash-Matic working it did pretty well (after a lot of tinkering). Then I turned on the lights...

RIP, Eugene Polley. Your contribution to our glorious past is appreciated.

Notice how it was LG that provided a photo of him? The government should have stopped the sale of then-crippled Zenith's remaining assets to a foreign entity. Or restore the necessary tarrifs to stifle unfair competition from imports. Another sorry reminder of why this proud company was relegated to the dustbin of history, save for what we collectors can rescue...

Wow I didn't expect that any engineers of that era were still around!

Says he worked on developing video discs.....Which begs the question which format(CED/selectavision, LaserDisc, other)?

Rip

From the WPXI website

174532

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran his obit also. I've taken a picture below. It makes me sad. It's kind of like an obit for Lex Luthor with Superman's picture in it. I've never called a news orginazation before to let them know how massively stupid they are, but I think I will now.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7081/7263724814_fe3ac172be.jpg
*Edit* I my above rant doesn't make any sense then know that the picture that the Post Gazette ran in the article is actually a picture of Robert Adler who was often credited with inventing the wireless TV remote control much to Polley's chagrin.

Could you imagine a remote control that looks like a gun in todays world? Sad when you think about it really.

Wow I didn't expect that any engineers of that era were still around!

Says he worked on developing video discs.....Which begs the question which format(CED/selectavision, LaserDisc, other)?

Zenith investigated several disc formats, but did the most work on floppy optical discs, I believe.

I wish I could have had him autograph my remote!