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.

Fergason graduated from Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Missouri. After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in physics from the University of Missouri in 1956, and after a brief time in the Army, stationed in Texas, 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 1966, Fergason joined the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University as its associate director. Here, in 1969, he made his seminal discovery of a low-power, field-operated LC display, known as the twisted nematic cell. Also at LCI, Fergason was part of an effort to use cholesteric liquid crystals for thermal mapping, in particular, to screen for breast cancer. He participated in the discovery of smectic C liquid crystal phase.

Twisted nematic liquid crystal displays were superior to the earlier dynamic scattering displays, and soon became widespread. The technology was patented in the United States by Fergason in 1971. 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, in 2007 he was awarded David Richardson Medal by the OSA 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

• James Fergason (National Inventors Hall of Fame)
• Liquid Crystal Display - James Fergason (About.com Inventors)
• James Fergason invented an improved liquid display (Lemelson Center, Smithsonian Institution)
• James Fergason: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) (Lemelson-MIT Program)
• Dr. James Fergason Full Biography (Fergason Patent Properties LLC.)
• James Fergason (Lemelson-MIT Prize)
• Father of LCD Honoured (IEEE Award)
• Dr. James L. Fergason Obituary (San Jose Mercury News)