Tamas Peter Brody | |
|---|---|
 T. Peter Brody in 2011 | |
| Born | Bródy Tamás Péter (1920-04-18)18 April 1920 Budapest, Hungary |
| Died | 18 September 2011(2011-09-18) (aged 91) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupations | Founder and chief scientist, Advantech US |
| Known for | Inventing theActive matrix display |
Tamas Peter Brody (18 April 1920 – 18 September 2011) was a British-naturalisedphysicist and theco-inventor ofactive matrixthin-film transistor display technology together with Fang-Chen Luo,[1] having produced the world's firstactive-matrix liquid-crystal display (AM-LCD) in 1972 and the first functional AM-EL (electroluminescent display) in 1973 while employed byWestinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh. Brody coined the term "active matrix" and first used it in a published journal article in 1975.[2][3]
Brody was born in Budapest, Hungary. From early childhood Brody was interested in sports, particularly swimming and rowing, and had a passion forclassical music.[4] In 1938 he left his parents and two younger brothers behind in Hungary to learn the family trade at theLondon College of Printing. He was naturalised as a British subject in January 1948.[5] He served as a designer/draftsman and worked for theSpecial Operations Executive in theBritish Army during and after theSecond World War, rising to the rank of staff captain.[6]
Brody studiedpiano at theGuildhall School of Music and Drama inLondon winning the Lady Mayoress' Prize for piano performance in 1952.[7] Brody met his future wife Maude M. Frost at aFabian Society dance in London and they married in 1952.
Brody obtained a Ph.D. inTheoretical Physics from theUniversity of London in 1953 and worked as a senior lecturer at the university until 1959. He moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on being offered the opportunity to work as a researcher forWestinghouse Electric Corporation.[8]
From 1959 to 1979 he did theoretical work ontunnel diodes,semiconductor device theory and experiment, injection luminescence,field emission,pattern recognition, later turning his interest tothin film technology.[8][9][10][11]
Brody died in Pittsburgh, aged 91.
The cathode ray tube, like the brontosaurus, will become extinct, and for the same reason: too much bulk, very little brain.
Over the years 1968–79, Brody developed many electronic uses forthin-film transistors, including flexible circuits, aircraft power controls, industrial timers and others.[14] His work at Westinghouse culminated in the invention of active matrix technology, using aCdSeTFT to drive each individualpixel of aflat-panel display.[15][16][17][1] This form ofliquid-crystal display is the dominant technology in flat-panel displays.[18]
When Westinghouse cancelled the research program in 1979, Brody resigned, and two years later founded Panelvision Corporation, the world's firstAM-LCD company. In 1983 the company introduced the first AM-LCD products into the US market.[19] Panelvision was acquired by Litton Systems in 1985, and after a period of consulting, Dr. Brody founded Magnascreen Corporation, oriented towards very large area displays, in 1988. This venture was funded in part byJerome Wiesner, Richard Leghorn ofItek, andApple'sJohn Sculley, and won contracts worth $7.8 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[20]
Brody left Magnascreen in 1990 to form Active Matrix Associates, a consulting group, and over the period 1991–97 worked on a number of classified projects for DARPA. In 1998, in collaboration with two former Westinghouse colleagues, Bob Stapleton and Paul Malmberg, he invented a process for fabricating low-cost thin film electronic circuits by purelyadditive processes. In 2002 he founded Amedeo Corporation (now Advantech US[21]), funded in part byCompaq, dedicated to the exploitation of additive technology. The company is concentrating on the development and commercial production of low cost active matrixbackplanes for emerging display technologies, includingAM-OLED. He was active as chief scientist of Advantech US until his death at the age of 91.
Brody was afellow of theSociety for Information Display (SID), and a recipient of many awards in recognition of his pioneering work, which became the foundation of a major new industry. He published over 70 scientific papers and received more than 60 patents.[8] The SID created the Peter Brody Prize in 2017 to honor outstanding contributions of young researchers to active matrix information display technology.[22][23]
Brody was the first person in history to receive all three major SID awards.