1963 george heilmeier biography

Liquid crystal scientist George H. Heilmeier was born in 1936 in Philadelphia. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and then moved on to Princeton where he earned MA, MSE, and PhD degrees in solid-state electronics.

Soon after graduation, he joined RCA Laboratories, where his work on various electronic and electro-optic devices led to his promotion to Head of Solid State Device Research in 1966.

Heilmeier was working at RCA’s David Sarnoff Research Center in 1963 when he and Richard Williams published a report suggesting the use of liquid crystal materials for display.

Heilmeier and a lab group including Nunzio Luce, Louis Zanoni, Joel Goldmacher, Joseph Castellano, and Lucian Barton began investigating the use of liquid crystal displays for a television concept. The group realized that LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs were many years off, so they concentrated on developing the digital time display for clocks and watches