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John L. Janning — In the Blink of an Eye
Inventor John L. Janning perfected the liquid crystal display (LCD) and invented the thermal printing wafer. A self–educated high school dropout, John Janning epitomizes creativity and learning through experience. A member of the Engineers Club of Dayton, Janning is enshrined in the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame.
You never want to fall in love with the first idea you come up with.
—John L. Janning
By Mark Martel and John L. Janning
Inventions take time to permeate society. Today liquid crystal displays appear all around us as flat screens on TVs, computers and handhelds, as well as on car dashboards, coffeepots, even fish tank thermometers. But LCDs grew slowly, in the second-by-second blinks of an electronic clock. The career of John L. Janning also built up over time.
First discovered in 1888, liquid crystals were found to behave like a liquid but with the optical properties of a solid. The cigar-shaped molecules look like and flow like milk.
By the late 1950s liquid crystals had gained a few uses in polarized sunglasses and the first 3D movie viewers. Bigger breakthroughs came in the 1960s. In northern Ohio at Kent State University, James Fergason and Glen Brown developed medical imaging uses to detect breast cancer and other conditions using cholesteric liquid crystals. Fergason also spread the word about liquid crystals with a 1964 article in Scientific American.[1] Industry soon jumped into the game.
Fergason’s 1970 breakthrough was a display made of nematic liquid crystals sandwiched between two glass plates coated with indium-tin oxide. Each plate had been rubbed repeatedly so that when liquid crystals touched the glass, they lined up in the rubbed direction. This in essence was a polarized filter, which only allowed light through that was oriented in the same direction. However, the second glass plate was turned 90 degrees, forcing the crystals to twist their direction between the plates. These polarized filters were placed on each side of the liquid crystal so that only polarized light could enter and exit. Polarized light beams thus twisted when passing through the crystals. But when Fergason applied electricity to the plates, the spiral twisting was cancelled because the cigar-shaped (nematic) molecules stood on end in the electric field, blocking the light from passing between the external polarizers. By masking sections of the LCD and running power to the individual sections, Fergason could turn off and on areas independently. The resulting display could thus show letters, numbers, or whatever was masked off. But there was a fatal flaw. Moisture ruined the displays within weeks. Practical LCDs were close—but stymied.
Enter John L. Janning. Dayton’s NCR, or National Cash Register, was one of the companies to receive a sample LCD from Fergason. NCR at the time was on the forefront of electronics and ran one of the best research & development labs. The LCD prototype fired Janning’s imagination. Still, his boss thought he was crazy when Janning thought he had a solution.
“He looked at me like, 'Well, if that would have worked, I would have done it.' So I just went up to my lab and did it myself. Success first shot.”[2]
Though research efforts often take hundreds of tries, occasionally success comes in a mental flash—in the blink of an eye. Janning’s inspired solution to the short-lived LCD was simplicity itself. In a vacuum chamber, he tilted glass plates nearly upright, and then released a cloud of evaporated silicon monoxide. Gravity did the rest, depositing the material into microscopic, parallel lines. The resulting thin coating lasted indefinitely. The same “oblique alignment” process is still used today when high quality, long lasting displays are needed. In 1977, newer liquid crystals were discovered that were not moisture sensitive, and “rubbed alignment” came back. But it was Janning’s oblique molecular alignment that made possible the large scale manufacturing of LCDs in the early 1970s, ushering in the LCD era.
The gateway was now open. Janning’s method was the missing link that enabled long-lasting, practical liquid crystal displays. LCDs quickly took off, appearing on watches and electronic calculators in the early 1970s. Though primitive compared to color laptop screens, the early LCDs were good enough to gain a foothold in the market and expand. Soon cheaper LCDs spread to microwaves, VCRs, clock radios and toys.
Janning’s fame spread as well, at least within technical circles. After his 1972 paper appeared in Applied Physics Letters he was inundated with over 50 telegrams of congratulations. Within a dozen years the paper had been cited 140 times. His 1971 LCD breakthrough remains a highlight of NCR’s corporate history.
Early days
Long before, the seeds of Janning’s independent thinking were planted. John was born in 1928, and as a youngster he had tinkered with homemade radio sets. One day while playing with two cat whisker components he says he almost invented the transistor, one of the most important (and lucrative) electronic inventions of the century. But he let a friend talk him out of persisting. “If it was possible, someone would have already invented it,” the friend reasoned. At John’s expense, he was to learn much that was said just wasn’t so.
Though not proud now of having quit high school, at the time he was a self-described anti-establishment rebel. But Janning continued to learn by other means. In the words of Mark Twain, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.” It took a while, but in 2009 he finally received his honorary diploma from Wilbur Wright High School. (See Dayton Daily News article.)
At age 22 he served two years with the Army Infantry during the Korean War, marrying wife Dolores soon after his return.
Janning worked as an electronics technician for the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI). He instrumented specimens for evaluating nuclear detonations and was a participant at bomb tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific and at Frenchman and Yucca Flats in Nevada, witnessing many nuclear blasts. Later, Janning applied for a job at NCR. They were laying off people at the time but when he scored 390 out of a possible 400 on a pre-employment test, he received three job offers in one day from three different departments. Thus began his career at NCR in 1958.
Janning’s first major achievement came soon after in 1961.
A chemist at NCR, Henry Baum, had discovered a coating that turned paper dark when heat was applied. It was a solution looking for a problem. But, how to heat it? Bill Puterbaugh, manager of the Advanced Development department, connected a thin bare wire to a battery — causing it to heat — and applied it to this treated paper. It made a mark. Janning told him he should do it with a thin evaporated film of metal. Puterbaugh said, “OK, show me.”
Go to Page 2 >>
Inventor John Janning describes his self-taught approach to engineering, his career at NCR and beyond, his inventions, philosophy, work ethic, and dream of winning the Nobel Prize.
John Janning demonstrates his new electronic fuse for Christmas lights, and explains his liquid crystal display and thermal printing wafer inventions. Watch video >>
As a motivational speaker, Janning describes his innovation techniques, like “Gonna’s don’t count” Janning says this will be the epitaph on his tombstone. Click here to read more >>
This Week’s Citation Classic (PDF)
John L. Janning’s 1972 paper “Thin Film Surface Orientation for Liquid Crystals” has been cited in over 140 publications.
List of John L. Janning’s publications
External Resources:
DDN: Wilbur Wright School honors ‘last graduate’ before closing
81-year-old inventor John L. Janning finally receives his high school diploma - becoming the last graduate of Wilbur Wright High School.
How a useless lab anomaly grew up to be an indispensable part of hundreds of everyday devices. By Linda Hamilton. Invention & Technology Magazine, Spring 2002.
Heartland Science: Ohio’s Legacy of Discovery & Innovation
Two Ohioans have had a great impact on the liquid crystal display (LCD) market - James Fergason and John L. Janning
NCR history timeline mentions Dayton innovators John H. Patterson, Charles F. Kettering, and John L. Janning
Fergason Patent Properties, LLC
Liquid Crystal Display History
Marquis Who's Who Publications: Janning
Technical Papers
Janning, John L. "Thin film surface orientation for liquid crystals." Applied Physics Letters 21.4 (1972): n. pag. Web. 13 Aug 2010.
http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.165 4331
Hsindao, E. Lu, Howeard E. Jackson, and John L. Janning. "Characterization of the effects of different capping layer structures on the laser recrystallization of silicon by using electrical test structures and Raman spectroscopy." Applied Physics Letters 60.12 (1986): n. pag. Web. 13 Aug 2010.
http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.337 468
Wu, R.W., J.T. Boyd, H.A. Timlin, Howard E. Jackson, and John L. Janning. "Optical waveguide detection: Photodetector array formed on the waveguide utilizing laser recrystallized silicon." Applied Physics Letters 46. (1985): n. pag. Web. 13 Aug 2010.
http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.959 15
Liquid Crystal Resource
“The school of hard knocks can’t be beat.” In this short video, inventor John L. Janning discusses the importance of tinkering and shows his two most important inventions. Credits >>