Explore Inventors Biography by Letter

  

Home A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Usefulref Home 
 

African Inventors

Invention Timeline

Nobel Laureates

James Fergason

James L. Fergason (born Wakenda, Missouri, January 12, 1934, died December 9, 2008) was an inventor of an improved Liquid Crystal Display, or LCD, it has been alleged that his design was stolen from a patent submitted around the same time, however a court case has proved otherwise.

Fergason graduated Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Missouri. After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in physics from the University of Missouri in 1956, Fergason began his work on the practical uses of liquid crystals at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pennsylvania, earning his first patent (U.S. Patent 3,114,836) in 1963.

In June of 1966, Fergason joined the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University as its associate director. Here, in 1969, he made his seminal discovery of low-power, field-operated LC display, known as the twisted nematic cell. These displays were superior to the earlier dynamic scattering displays, and soon became widely spread. The technology was patented in the United States in 1971; Martin Schadt and Wolfgang Helfrich of Hoffmann-LaRoche patented similar technology in Europe. Also while at LCI, Fergason was part of an effort to use cholesteric liquid crystals for thermal mapping used, in particular, to screen for breast cancer. He participated in the discovery of smectic C liquid crystal phase.

Fergason formed his own company, ILIXCO, in 1968 to manufacture liquid crystal displays. His first customers were the Bulova Watch Company and Gruen Watch Company which used the technology to market the first LCD watches using this technology. By the end of the decade, most of the world's digital watches used this kind of LCD display.

Fergason held over 150 patents in the United States and over 500 foreign patents. He also was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2001 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri, in 2006 he was the recipient of the distinguished Lemelson-MIT Prize, and in 2008 he received the Jun-Ichi Nishizawa Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 2001, he founded Fergason Patent Properties, which managed licensing of his patents.

Sources