Eugene Polley, Inventor of First TV Remote Control -- RIP

The first TV remote control,
created by Eugene Polley

Yesterday, only a handful of people knew who Eugene Polley was and what his significance was to television. What a difference a day makes! According to Polley's obit in The New York Times, he died on Sunday in a Chicago suburb. His obit pointed out Polley was the inventor of the first legit TV remote control device.

Polley did manage to display an occasional sense of humor about his invention and the credit for it. Here's one that is great fun: "The flush toilet may have been the most civilized invention ever devised, but the remote control is the next most important. It's almost as important as sex."