Robert Adler, co-inventor of the TV remote. (AP)
Click click click,
Television channels appear and vanish at every click. TV programs and movies flicker briefly on screen as the eye momentarily scans the channel before changing the channel again.
The remote control brought about the world famous non-Olympic sport Channel Surfing. Most champions don't even budge from the comfort of their seat. No movements are noticed except for the quick flick of the finger. Yet most television viewers or channels did not come to know the passing away of Robert Adler, the co-inventor of the television remote on 15th February 2007 at the grand age of 93.
The remote has revolutionized and initiated several PhD researches on the phenomenon of the TV couch potatoes. Yet Adler was a man who rarely watched television. He is known for more than a hundred patented inventions other than the television remote which he invented in 1956 with fellow engineer Eugene Polley.
His wife, Ingrid, said Adler wouldn't have chosen the remote control as his favourite invention. "He was a man who would dream ... and wake up and say, 'I just solved a problem'. He was always thinking science," she said.
"People ask me all the time - 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say that's ridiculous," he once said about his invention that stopped people from getting up from their couch in front of their TV. (Gulf News)
May Adler rest in peace. Like some media suggested "Viewers wishing to pay their respects may wish to press the mute button for a minute's silence." or "Turn Your TV On and Off 21 Times as a Salute."
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