The creator of the first practical wireless TV remote control, Dr. Robert Adler, paved the way for TV viewers to become couch potatoes more than 40 years ago. However, Adler, 86, can hardly be classified as a sofa spud since he watches only about an hour of TV a week.

Adler was associate director of research at Zenith in the 1950s when the company’s founder-president, Commander E.F. McDonald Jr., challenged his engineers to develop a device to "tune out annoying commercials." Building on an approach using light beams for wireless remotes developed by fellow Zenith engineer Eugene Polley, Adler devised the idea of using inaudible sound waves to turn the TV on and off, change channels and mute the sound.

The ultrasonic remote control, which later became known in millions of living rooms as "The Clicker," first arrived in stores in 1956. Despite its widespread use in later years, the remote was not immediately popular because initially it added $100 to the price of a T.V. (In fact, it wasn’t until 1985 that there were more TVs sold with remotes that without.) Still, Adler’s ultrasonic remote was adopted by the entire industry for a quarter century and used in more than 9 million TVs until it was superceded by infrared remotes in the early 1980s.

With more than 180 patents, Adler’s work covers ultrasonic and acousto-optical devices, vacuum tubes and circuits as well as the first electromechanical I.F. filter, electron beam parametric amplifiers and ultrasonic touch system. He has been honored as a Member of the National Academy of England, an IEEE Fellow and recipient of the Edison Medal. Adler officially "retired" as Zenith’s vice president of research in 1982 but remains active as a technical consultant.