PCMAG - Remote Control Inventor Eugene Polley Dies at 96, May 25, 2012

"Eugene Polley, inventor of the wireless television remote control, has died at the age of 96, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Polley died of natural causes on Sunday in a Chicago-area hospital.
The former Zenith engineer's green, gun-shaped Flash-Matic remote control was introduced in 1955, five years after the Zenith Radio Corporation unveiled Lazy Bones, a TV remote that was connected to the set with a wire. By aiming Polley's ray gun-like Flash-Matic (pictured) very precisely at the receiver, one could pull the red trigger to shoot a beam of light at a photoelectric cell to change the channel and adjust the volume."
ALEXANDER LANGUAGE SCHOOLS