Thursday, May 24, 2012

Eugene Polley 1916 - 2012


Chances are you aren't familiar with his name, but you are familiar with his marvelous invention, the remote TV control. He died Sunday of natural causes at the age of 96.

R.I.P. Eugene Polley, Inventor Of The TV Remote Control

Thank you and rest in peace Mr. Polley.

9 comments:

Granny Annie said...

Many people would say that the TV remote was a great invention for men but I know it was a great invention for women. Before the remote, women were the remotes. "Change the channel, chance the channel, change the channel" words spoken to my mother constantly. So thanks Mr. Polley from my generation and R.I.P.

cube said...

Grannie Annie: Agreed. That's why women had children ;-)

Brooke said...

I was going to say, what did I have kids for, then?

;)

Oh, yeah. To scrape the cat box. Heh.

BB-Idaho said...

My TV remote and my remote garage door opener are about as high tech
as I get. (even at that, one day
the remote was next to my old scientific calculator and I accidently picked the remote up
to convert grams to ounces for my
wife's outgoing package. Odd, I
got no numerical answer, but quite
a flurry of fast-changing channels..)

Jan said...

If the world were fair the man would have a Nobel Prize and many statues of him would adorn our nation.

sue hanes said...

Cube - Thanks to Eugene Polley for making our lives just that much easier - and giving us just one more reason to become a couch potato.

Just kidding.

He sure had a nice long life.

Thanks - Cube.

Trekkie4Ever said...

Thank you for sharing this, I had no idea who had invented the remote control.

But I know I use it every single day.

silly rabbit said...

I think the remote was a great idea. I hope he rests in peace and had the happiest of lives. It was a good long run as lives go.

Unfortunately, in our house we have too many remotes. In order to watch a DVD, we must enlist the assistance of three different remotes. I've lived here two years plus... and just now figured out how to do that without screwing up the home theater horribly.

I know. Sad but true. I am a remote doofus! Not Mr. Polley's fault.

Always On Watch said...

In my grandmother's last years, she had to sit a lot; as a result, she watched a lot of television. This was in the days before the remote control, and sometimes my grandmother would sit through a show she didn't like or not turn off the television because getting out of the chair was a difficult task.

Remote controls are particularly good for the chronically ill and the elderly.

PS: In this household, we refer to the remote control as "the scepter," as in the scepter of power.