77: Moody Blues

This episode covers the 1960s history of RCA's work on liquid crystal displays, their version of a TV screen one can hang on a wall. We begin with Richard Williams in 1962, who discovered that liquid crystals get a "crinkled" look under a microscope when you apply voltage. George Heilmeier then discovered a guest-host effect with liquid crystals, and even more, found dynamic scattering. RCA showed off its display prototypes to big fanfare in 1968. James Fergason, an independent researcher, patented a way to show temperature with liquid crystal colors, then invented the twisted-nematic field-effect liquid-crystal display in 1968. With Fergason's method, by the 1970s, LCD watches and calculators were being mass-produced. Finally, in 1977, Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar discovers a new type of liquid crystal: columnal liquid crystals.