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Liquid Crystal Display

Electrical Engineering

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A liquid crystal display, or LCD, is a flat-panel display that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to show information. The Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer first described the liquid crystal properties behind the technology in 1888, and George H. Heilmeier at RCA built the first operational LCD in the 1960s using a dynamic scattering mode; Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt filed the twisted nematic patent in Switzerland in 1970, and T. Peter Brody's team at Westinghouse prototyped active-matrix thin-film-transistor LCD technology in 1972. By the late 2000s LCDs had replaced the heavier, less energy-efficient cathode-ray tube in nearly all applications, becoming the standard display for televisions, computer monitors and mobile devices.

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