Professor George Gray developed liquid
crystal technology at the University of Hull, for which the
Chemistry department received the Queen’s Award for Technological
Achievement in 1979 and a National Historic Chemical Landmark Award
from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2005.
Although the initial work here began in the 1970s, liquid
crystal technology has continued to be developed at the University
of Hull, with OLEDs being a potential new generation of liquid
crystal display technology.
Professor Steve Kelly who worked with George
Gray on the LCD development and is now working on the OLED
technology, is best known for work on LCDs. He says: “It is an
amazing feeling to walk around an electrical shop and see these
huge LCD screen televisions- when I was working on this technology
originally we never dreamed the screens could be this size. I
remember how rewarding it was to work with liquid crystals in the
1970s; to see how our work led to a new era in TV manufacturing –
from the bulky cathode ray tube to the streamlined liquid crystal
displays – was quite spectacular. What we are experiencing with
OLED technology is just as much of a seismic shift and to be a part
of this cutting-edge optoelectronic research is immensely
Learn more at the Department
of Chemistry website.