You are now entering the Jewish Currents archive.
February 15: Remote Control
The inventor of the wireless television remote control, Robert Adler, died on this date in 2007. His innovation was to use ultra-sound rather than a light beam to activate the television; by the time this was supplanted in the 1980s by infra-red technology, nine million of Adler’s “Zenith Space Command” remote controls had been sold. Alder received his education in Austria before fleeing the Nazis in 1937. Also a pioneer of touch-screen technology, he held 180 patents at the time of his death in Boise, Idaho at the age of 94.
“Nothing between you and the set but space!”
—Ad for the Zenith Space Command
I’m Arielle Angel, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. Before you go, there’s something I need to ask.
We’ve seen over and over how the mainstream media falters in telling stories on our beats—whether it’s antisemitism, Israel/Palestine in American politics, Jewish identity, or the American left. At Jewish Currents we’re committed to uncompromising analysis and longform reporting on these issues and more—stories you won’t find anywhere else. In a media landscape that obscures injustice and flattens discussion, we’re changing the conversation. But we need you.
If you believe in this work, please consider making a donation—or even better, a recurring one—to ensure that we are able to keep publishing stories like this one. We can’t do it without you.
