T.P.Brody was born in Budapest, Hungary. He was educated in England, where he received his Ph.D. in mathematical physics in 1953 from the University of London. From 1953 to 1959, he worked as Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University. From 1959-79 he worked at the Research Laboratories of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh, USA. After theoretical work on tunnel diodes, semiconductor device theory and experiment, injection luminescence, field emission, pattern recognition, he turned his interest to thin film technology.
Over the years 1968-79, he developed many electronic uses for thin film transistors, including flexible circuits (today very fashionable), aircraft power controls, industrial timers and others. His work culminated in his invention and full development of active matrix display technology. His department built the world’s first AMLCDs in 1972, the first AM-EL displays in 1973 and demonstrated real-time video imagery on both types in 1974. He coined the term”active matrix” and introduced it into the literature in 1975.
In 1979, Westinghouse discontinued supporting the display program on the grounds that they could not see it as a potentially profitable business. Dr. Brody left Westinghouse and in 1981 founded Panelvision Corporation, the world’s first AMLCD company. In 1983 the company introduced the first AMLCD products into the US market. Panelvision was acquired by Litton Systems in 1985, and after a period of consulting, Dr. Brody founded Magnascreen Corporation, oriented towards very large area displays, in 1988.
Dr. Brody left Magnascreen in 1990, formed Active Matrix Associates, a consulting group, and over the period 1991-97, worked on a number of classified projects for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). In 1998, in collaboration with two former Westinghouse colleagues, he invented a process for fabricating low cost thin film electronic circuits by purely additive processes. In 2002 he founded Amadeo Corporation (now Advantech US) dedicated to the exploitation of additive technology. The company is concentrating on the development and eventual commercial production of low cost active matrix backplanes for the emerging OLED industry. He is currently President/CEO of Advantech.
Dr. Brody is a Fellow of the SID (Society for Information Display), and recipient of the SID Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize, the Rank Prize (UK) and the Eduard Rhein Prize (Germany) in recognition of his pioneering work – now the foundation of a major new industry. He has published over 70 scientific papers and has 60 patents.