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Inventor of television remote control dies

Robert Adler

The man who created the couch potato, the co-inventor of the T.V. remote control, has died at the age of 93.

Robert Adler, an inventor who registered more than 180 U.S. patents during a lifetime of dreaming and tinkering, won an Emmy Award in 1997 for the device along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley. He died of heart failure at a Boise nursing home in the United States, his former employers, the Zenith Electronics Corporation, said.

In a 60-year career, Mr. Adler was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make T.V. a truly sedentary pastime. Both Mr. Polley and Mr. Adler have been credited as the device's inventors. Mr. Polley created the Flashmatic in 1955 that operated on photocells. Mr. Adler introduced ultrasonics to make the device more efficient in 1956. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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