Cyril Hilsum obituary

What we know

Government physicist whose radar research paved the way for flat-panel TV and computer screens based on liquid crystals Cyril Hilsum’s research into stable liquid crystals and the devices in which they could be used paved the way for the flat-panel television and computer screens that are now ubiquitous in homes, offices and public spaces. Hilsum, who has died aged 101, was leading a Ministry of Defence team at the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) in Malvern, Worcestershire, in the late 1960s when Harold Wilson’s Labour government, looking to develop a new generation of miniature radar systems, tasked him with creating flat displays to replace the bulky cathode-ray-tube screens used for traditional radar set-ups.