Martin Schadt wins European Inventor Award

In 1970, Swiss physicist Martin Schadt, winner of the European Inventor Award 2013 in the category Lifetime achievement, created the world's first flat-panel liquid crystal display, better known as an LCD. Working in a lab at the pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, he discovered that jolting liquid crystals with electricity would cause their spiral molecular structures to ‘unwind' and become opaque.

The next step was to sandwich the crystals between two plates of plastic attached to an electric grid. By activating only tiny sections of the grid at a time, Schadt discovered that individual "pixels" could be manipulated with electricity to alter their light transmission, making them appear either transparent or opaque. Their low energy requirements meant LCDs could be operated with ordinary batteries, optimising them for consumer use.

In 2012, electronics giants such as Sharp, Sony, Panasonic and Philips manufactured more than 40 million LCD TVs using Schadt’s technology – TVs which found their way into consumers’ homes, forever changing the look and feel of millions of middle-class living rooms.

As for Schadt, he stayed at the helm of Roche’s liquid crystal research division until 1994, when the division split off into its own company called Rolic Ltd. In 1996 Rolic was bought by Karl Nicklaus. Schadt continued as CEO and board member at Rolic until retiring in October 2002. In 2010, Rolic supplied nearly 15 million LCD displays worldwide.

Throughout his illustrious career, Schadt has received numerous awards. Today, he holds more than 110 patents – each filed in at least 10 countries. He has published 174 scientific papers as well as four book chapters.

Now 74, Schadt still actively advises research organisations and governmental agencies. His legacy, however, will forever lie in the minuscule pixels of flat-screen TVs, computer monitors or digital camera displays.