The Death Of An American Hero – The Inventor Of The Remote Control
By: Jamie Samuelsen
Sad news came from Chicago this morning reporting the death of 96-year-old Eugene Polley. He died of natural causes in a suburban Chicago hospital on Sunday.
Polley lived a long, noble life. He served for the Department of Defense in World War II. He helped develop the push-button radio for cars and he was part of the team that started producing video disks that became the forerunners to the modern day DVD. In total, he worked as an engineer for Zenith for 47 years.
But all that is a mere footnote to his major life accomplishment.
Eugene Polley invented the TV remote control.
And for that – we pause to pay tribute and give thanks.
If you're reading this and you're under the age of 30, you have no concept of what TV is without a remote. But for my generation and those ahead of us, it goes down as the single greatest guy invention of all-time. My parents bought our first remote control TV around 1979 or so. Granted, it was one of the remotes with two buttons on it (Power/Volume and Channel). To turn the channel, you held down the button and the dial would flip around, often sending the picture into a vertical or horizontal maze.
But as time went on, and the invention was perfected, the remote control became an essential part of life. I tweeted earlier my theory that the remote is the most important guy invention ever. Most agreed, although as with any argument, there was some dissent. Here are some of the other nominees.
Condoms
Tough to argue. But they are mutually beneficial to men and women. The remote seems uniquely appreciated by men.
DVR
Also tough to argue. But given the choice between the two, I'd always pick the remote. I existed just fine for years taping shows on a VCR. Granted, I'd never want to go back to those caveman days. But I'd much rather do that than experience life without a remote.
The First-And-Ten Line
When that silly yellow line first appeared, I actually didn't like it. Now I can't live without it (much like my remote). In fact, I sometimes have to remind myself that the players on the field CAN'T actually see the line. But as much as the line has improved the football-watching experience – it can't hold a candle to what the remote has done for the football watching experience. This is especially true on college Saturdays when there are 100 games on at once.
Beer/Pizza
Yep. You had to go there. Look, I can't imagine life without any of these things. But I'll take a nice cocktail and steak to go with my remote control rather than sit there watching the same thing with a pizza and a cold beer.
Stop a moment today and give thanks for the life of Eugene Polley. And think of him the next time one of your kids loses the remote or your wife takes it into another room by mistake. He's a genius. And his name should go down in history alongside Edison, Ford and Einstein.
And I'm 100 percent serious.
