James Fergason

James Fergason ( born January 12, 1934 in Wakenda, Missouri; † 9 December 2008) was an American physicist of the field of liquid crystals ( LC) and their applications investigated.

James Fergason earned his bachelor's degree in physics in 1956 at the University of Missouri. He made his first practical experience with liquid crystals at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pennsylvania and received a 1963 patent (U.S. 3,114,836 ) for facilities for imaging temperature measurement with the cholesteric liquid crystals ( thermal imaging devices Utilizing a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase ).

Two years later he left Westinghouse and started his own company ILIXCO to manufacture his improved LC displays. His first customer was produced a watchmaker from Switzerland, the LCD watches.

Fergason was over 150 patents in the U.S. and over 500 patents abroad. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2008 he received the IEEE Jun- ichi Nishizawa Medal.