Noting that the strange behavior he had observed was just an imperfect phase transition from liquid to crystalline (Walker).
It was not until many years later that two scientists by the names of Gatterman and Ritschke produced the first synthetic liquid crystal. This was quite an accomplishment because up until 1890 all the liquid crystalline substances that scientists had studied had been naturally occurring. Next on the discovery timeline is a scientist by the name of George Friedel. He is attributed with being the first to present us with how electric fields affect the way in which liquid crystals behave. Two brilliant German scientists, Oseen and Zocher, followed him and they helped develop a mathematical basis for the study of liquid crystals. As with any invention it had taken many years for the right technology to develop making it possible to exploit the capabilities of liquid crystals. So finally we arrive at about the middle of the twentieth century. By this time many minds in the scientific community had believed that the important characteristics of liquid crystals had been discovered, but this was to be false. Scientists from the United States, England, and the Soviet Union continued working on and studying liquid crystals, and in 1968 an American company by the name of RCA demonstrated to the world the first liquid crystal display (Elston). .
3.
Now the term liquid crystals might seem like a contradiction, but it is not. Liquid crystals have the properties of both liquids and crystals. Like a liquid it has the .
ability to flow, but also like crystals, it molecules are partially lined up. Molecules in this state retain their sense of order, but like a liquid its molecules can move around into different positions. Liquid crystals are described as being closer to a liquid state than a solid. The reason for this being, the amount of heat needed to change basic substances such as solids into liquids.