You can leisurely change channels while comfortably sitting on the couch thanks to an Illinois inventor. Eugene Polley, an engineer at Chicago-based Zenith Electronics, created the first wireless TV remote control in 1955.

Polley was a Chicago native who attended the City Colleges of Chicago and the Armour Institute of Technology—now the Illinois Institute of Technology.

In 1935, he we went to work for Zenith as a stock boy earning 40 cents an hour. He worked his way up through the company and in 1955 designed the Flash-Matic wireless remote.

The Flash-Matic used a beam of visible light to turn a TV on and off and to change channels. Later styles of remotes used sound and eventually infrared light.

He received a $1,000 bonus for his invention, and in 1997, Polley and a team of engineers received an Emmy for their pioneering work.

Learn more:
New York Times on Eugene Polley