[NJARC] FYI -- a fascinating inventor

[john ruccolo]

Robert Adler, 1913-2007 -- TV Remote Control
Co-Inventor

PR News Wire via Dow Jones

 

  CHICAGO, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Best known as
co-inventor of the wireless
remote control for television, Dr. Robert Adler was
responsible for a large
number of significant scientific contributions to the
electronics industry,
including landmark inventions in the field of consumer
products and in
sophisticated specialized communications equipment. 
 
    (Photo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070216/CGF020 ) 
 
Dr. Adler died of heart failure on Feb. 15 in Boise,
Idaho. He was 93. 
 

  A prolific inventor with a seemingly never-ending
thirst for knowledge, his
pioneering developments spanned from the Golden Age of
Television into the
High-Definition Era, earning him more than 180 U.S.
patents. The U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office published his most recent patent
application, for advances in
touch-screen technology, on Feb. 1. 
 

  Dr. Adler's six-decade career with Zenith
Electronics Corporation began in
1941 when he joined Zenith's research division after
receiving his Ph.D. degree
in physics from the University of Vienna in 1937. He
was named associate
director in 1952, vice president in 1959, and vice
president and director of
research in 1963. He retired as research vice
president in 1979, and served
Zenith as a technical consultant until 1999, when
Zenith merged with LG
Electronics. 
 

  "Bob Adler was an unparalleled technical
contributor, leader, adviser and
teacher," said Jerry K. Pearlman, retired Zenith
chairman and CEO, who knew Dr.
Adler for 35 years. "His gifts and passions were many,
his mentoring matchless
and his ego totally nonexistent." 
 

  In the consumer electronics field, Dr. Adler has
been widely recognized as the
co-inventor (with fellow Zenith engineer Eugene
Polley) of the wireless TV
remote. Dr. Adler's "Space Command" ultrasonic remote
control for TV sets was
introduced by Zenith in 1956. He received the 1958
Outstanding Technical
Achievement Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers
(now the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE) for his
"original work on
ultrasonic remote controls" for television. 
 

  Among Dr. Adler's earlier work was the gated-beam
tube which, at the time of
its introduction, represented an entirely new concept
in the field of vacuum
tubes. The use of this tube greatly simplified the
sound system in television
receivers, markedly improving reception by screening
out certain types of sound
interference while lowering the cost of the sound
channel. 
 

  Dr. Adler also was instrumental in originating and
developing a synchronizing
circuit which permitted demonstrably greater stability
in fringe areas of the
television reception. This invention was in wide use
for many years and its
principles are still employed today. 
 

  The electron beam parametric amplifier, developed in
1958 by Dr. Adler jointly
with Glen Wade, then of Stanford University, was at
the time the most sensitive
practical amplifier for ultra high frequency (UHF)
signals. It was used by radio
astronomers in the United States and abroad, and by
the U.S. Air Force for
long-range missile detection. 
 

  Dr. Adler's original work in the field of
acousto-optical interaction was
instrumental in the 1966 public demonstration, by a
team of Zenith engineers, of
an experimental television display using ultrasonic
deflection and modulation of
a laser beam to produce a wall-size TV picture without
a cathode ray tube. 
 

  During World War II, Dr. Adler worked on
high-frequency magnetostrictive
oscillators for use in Armed Forces communications
equipment. His early work on
electromechanical filters paved the way for the
development of the highly
compact filters widely used in aircraft receivers
after the war. In the mid-
60s, he suggested the use of surface acoustic waves
(SAWs) in intermediate
frequency filters for color televisions sets, a
technology that has since become
universal, not only in television but as an essential
building block of cellular
telephone handsets. 
 

  Dr. Adler also pioneered the use of SAW technology
for touch screens. Touch
screens employing principles he originated are now in
widespread use in airport
kiosks and in museums such as the Holocaust Museum in
Washington, the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Milwaukee Art
Museum, and the San Jose
(Calif.) Technology Museum, among others. Since the
early 1990s, as a consultant
to Elo TouchSystems, Dr. Adler actively contributed to
the commercialization and
further innovation of his SAW touch screen invention. 
 

  In 1951, Dr. Adler became a Fellow of the IEEE, a
professional honor which is
conferred by the Institute's board of directors solely
on the basis of "eminence
and distinguished service." He was cited for his
"developments of transmission
and detection devices for frequency-modulated signals
and of electromechanical
filter systems." 
 

  Dr. Adler received the 1967 Inventor-of-the-Year
Award from George Washington
University's Patent, Trademark and Copyright Research
Institute for his
inventions in the field of electronic products,
devices and systems used in
aircraft communications, radar, TV receivers and FM
broadcasting. 
 

  He received the Consumer Electronics Outstanding
Achievement Award in 1970
from the IEEE. This award is made annually to an
engineer who has contributed
significantly toward the advancement of consumer
electronics through engineering
achievements. 
 

  Dr. Adler also received the IEEE 1974 Outstanding
Technical Paper Award for
his report on "An Optical Video Disc Player,"
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. 
 

  Together with Polley, he was honored in 1997 by the
National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences with an Emmy award for
Zenith's introduction of the
first wireless TV remote controls 50 years ago. He was
a charter inductee in the
Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame in 2000. Dr. Adler
was a member of the
National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the
American Association for
the Advancement of Science. 
 

  Born in Vienna, Austria on Dec. 4, 1913, Dr. Adler
emigrated to the United
States, settling in the Chicago area in 1941, when he
joined Zenith.  He lived
on Chicago's North Shore for six decades, more than 50
years in Northfield,
Ill., and in Northbrook, Ill., since 1998. 
 

  A lover of the arts, Dr. Adler was active in the
Chicago cultural community
for decades, including the Art Institute of Chicago,
the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, Masters of Baroque, and community theater.
A world traveler for both
business and pleasure, he was fluent in German,
English and French. He was an
active participant in a Chicago-area French Club in
the Chicago area for 35
years. 
 

  He was as passionate about hiking and skiing as he
was about science and the
arts. He was an avid downhill skier until age 89, and
was still hiking in the
past year. 
 

  A memorial service is being planned for the Chicago
area this spring. He is
survived by his wife Ingrid (nee Koch) Adler. 
 
SOURCE  Zenith Electronics 
 

    /CONTACT: John Taylor, Zenith, +1-847-941-8181 
 

  


 
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