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A Great TV Inventor: InventHelp® remembers Robert Alder, inventor of the remote control
If you're like many of us, a really good Sunday afternoon might go something like this -relaxing on the couch (in your pajamas, even though it's 3 pm) and flipping through the world of entertainment on television without ever leaving your couch cushion. Lazy Sundays in part owe thanks to Robert Alder, the inventor of the remote control. This month, InventHelp® remembers the late Robert Alder, and explores the history of the television.
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from the March 2007 issue of InventHelp's free newsletter for inventors |
Television was not invented by a single person - it was the collective effort of many inventors spanning several generations. Its infamous history begins in the simple transfer of still images across wires. As inventors experimented with selenium and light, they realized that images could be transformed into electronic signals.
Long before the days of digital photography and webcams, inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison envisioned a "photophone" that could transmit image as well as sound. But it wasn't until the 1920s that inventors like Charles Jennings and John Baird successfully transmitted moving images over a mechanical system.
It didn't take long for the government (or for large, successful companies) to catch on to television's potential. Using a wire link, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bell Telephone Company conducted the first long distance use of television. Then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover said at the time, "Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world's history."
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| Robert Alder, the inventor of the remote control. |
It seems that color television was destined to be the norm, given that enterprising innovators had invented and patented color television systems even before the black and white television functioned properly. Soon, familiar names like NBC, CBS and the FCC emerged from the dawn of television.
Pennsylvania, Oregon and Arkansas were the first states to offer cable television in 1948 as a means of improving signal reception in rural or mountainous areas. By 1952, there were 14,000 cable subscribers. Ten years later, there were more than 850,000 subscribers! One factor that likely contributed to the television's explosive growth was Robert Alder's remote control invention.
Alder, who died at age 93 last month, is most famous for making television one of America's favorite pastimes. While all we have to do is click a button to flip-flop between favorite shows or mute commercials, the process of inventing the remote control was considerably more complicated!
Alder joined the Zenith Electronics Corp. after graduating with a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna. He held more than 180 U.S. patents, the most well-known being his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control. Alder used ultrasonics, or high-frequency sound, to make the device more efficient in later years.
The impact of Alder's invention was so significant for the television industry that he and fellow inventor Eugene Polley were honored with an Emmy Award in 1997.
Alder never believed that his invention created a generation of couch potatoes. To him, it seemed logical to control the television from where you normally sit. And he didn't find much use for his most famous accomplishment: Alder didn't watch much television.
"He was more of a reader...he was always thinking science," said his wife, Ingrid.
In Robert Alder's six-decade career with Zenith, his science-driven mind created the building blocks of new technology and broad-ranging applications. And even though Alder's remote control was not his favorite invention, InventHelp® honors Robert Alder for "thinking science" and helping Lazy Sunday earn its name.
Back to Articles for Inventors | Back to March 2007 Newsletter
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