Rest in Peace: Eugene Polley
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The word “pioneer” gets thrown around a little too easily these days as it truly only applies to a select few individuals. You may not know the name Eugene Polley right away, but I can assure you he changed the way we all watch TV at home.
Though he doesn’t have anything directly to do with the horror genre itself, Polley definitely impacted all of our lives, genre fan or not. In 1955 Eugene Polley developed for Zenith the gun-shaped wireless Flash-Matic, which pointed a beam of light at photo cells in the upper corners of the television screen. Each pump of the Flash-Matic’s trigger allowed viewers to change channels or volume on their sets, thus giving the world what we know now as the almighty remote control. During his 47-year career at Zenith, Polley earned 18 TV-related patents. Along with fellow Zenith engineer Bob Alder, he was honored in 1997 with an Emmy for their pioneering work in TV remotes.
Polley died on May 20th of natural causes. He was 96.
We here at Dread Central would like to take this time to honor this great man and offer our sincerest of condolences to Polley’s friends, family, and constituents. We salute you, sir! Rest well and thank you.
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