糖心TV

Liquid crystal displays can be seen everywhere in our world. Over the last twenty years, flat screens of some sort (for computers, TV, personal communication devices) -- mainly although not universally using liquid crystal technology -- have revolutionised information transfer between people and machines, and hence between people and people. Not without reason is it said that this has been the greatest communication revolution since Gutenberg invented printing in 1450.

But the very term liquid crystal seems to be a contradiction in itself. The term seems to have been invented in the 1890s by the Karlsruhe physicist Otto Lehmann (1855-1922), who is usually recognised as the discoverer of “liquid crystals”, following some serendipitous observations on carrots by the Prague biochemist Friedrich Reinitzer (1858-1927). But even Lehmann realised that there was a problem (Indeed, the first line of this paragraph echoes the first line of his first paper!). His earnest but sometimes tactless efforts to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable did not always earn him the respect or love of his colleagues.

This talk will briefly summarise the basic elements of liquid crystal science, as well as give a sketch of the history of the subject. I shall concentrate on the personal and intellectual disputes which dogged its early history, often using quotations from the scientists themselves. As always during periods of paradigm change, these disputes were very bitter, revealing at the same time personal and intellectual fault lines. The quarrels occur mainly within the German-speaking world, but the poisonous atmosphere eventually also leaked across the Rhine. The often unpleasant exchanges were always heartfelt, frequently amusing, but still of great historical interest. I shall touch on the personal and intellectual motives of the main protagonists, which go well beyond the world of soap opera all the way to the world of soap itself. The talk will follow the tortuous intellectual course leading from Reinitzer’s carrots to today’s optical device technology, and speculate about the philosophical significance of liquid crystals on life, the universe and everything.

Tim Sluckin is Professor of Applied Mathematical Physics in the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, UK. The material in this lecture is covered in his books:

“Crystals that Flow: classic papers from the history of liquid crystals” (with David Dunmur and Horst Stegemeyer) (Taylor and Francis, London 2004)

“Soap, Science and Flat Screen TVs: a history of liquid crystals” (with David Dunmur) (OUP 2011)