03/20/2026
Flat-screen TVs didnât appear overnightâthey were the result of decades of innovation, moving away from the bulky box-style televisions of the past. In the 1960s, researchers at companies like RCA began experimenting with new display technologies, but early designs were limited. The first real step toward flat TVs came with plasma display technology, pioneered in 1964 by Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson at the University of Illinois. These early plasma screens were flat, but expensive and not yet practical for homes.
By the 1990s, plasma TVs became commercially available, offering the first true flat-panel televisions for consumers. Around the same time, LCD (liquid crystal display) technologyâoriginally developed in the 1970sâstarted improving rapidly. Companies like Sharp Corporation and Sony played major roles in bringing LCD TVs to market, making screens thinner, lighter, and more energy-efficient.
LED TVs came laterânot as a completely new screen type, but as an evolution of LCD. Instead of using fluorescent backlights, manufacturers began using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the screen. This shift happened in the mid-2000s, with companies like Samsung Electronics leading the push. LED technology allowed TVs to become even thinner, brighter, and more energy-efficient, while improving contrast and picture quality.
Today, what we call âflat-screen TVsâ are mostly LED-backlit LCDs or newer technologies like OLED, but they all trace back to those early experiments with light, glass, and the vision of creating a screen that could hang on a wall instead of sitting like a box in the middle of a room.