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A memorial service will be held in January for James L. Fergason of Menlo Park who held more than 130 patents in the United States. Mr. Fergason died Dec. 9 at age 74. Recently inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Mr. Fergason was known as the father of the modern liquid crystal industry, say family members.
James Fergason was born in Wakenda, Missouri. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Missouri in 1956, he began his work on the practical uses of liquid crystals at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pennsylvania, earning his first patent in 1963. He was granted a U.S. patent for a liquid crystal display that utilized the twisted nematic field effect (TN effect), according to Wikipedia.
Mr. Fergason left Westinghouse to form his own company, ILIXCO, to manufacture these improved liquid crystal displays. His first customer was the Gruen Watch Co. of Switzerland, which used the technology to market the first liquid crystal display (LCD) watches using the technology. Most of the world’s digital watches use this kind of LCD display, says Wikipedia.
Mr. Fergason has been honored with dozens of awards including the Richardson Medal from the American Optical Society and the Lemelson-MIT Prize, the highest award offered anywhere in the world for invention, say family members. In 2001 Mr. Fergason was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri.
Through his professional organizations, he also mentored independent inventors. Serving on the U.S. Patent Office advisory board, he supported efforts to improve the quality of patents, say family members.
Mr. Fergason is survived by his wife of 52 years, Dora of Menlo Park; children Teresa Neal, Jeffrey Fergason, John Fergason, and Susan Mortimer; brother Lewis Fergason; and 10 grandchildren.
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