We hear about the discovery of liquid crystals by Friedrich Reinitzer in 1888, through Georges Friedel's compendium in 1922 describing main types of liquid crystals. Around that time the first electromagnetic properties of liquid crystals were described by M. Jezewski, and further researched by W. Kast, Vsevolod Frederiks, and A. Repiewa. The first use of these properties was patented by the Levin brothers in 1936. A revival of research into liquid crystals began post-World War II by George Gray and then Glenn Brown by the early 1960s, which is when we reach the invention of two liquid-crystalline polymers, Kevlar and Nomex. My Patreon subscribers can download a supplemental sheet for diagrams of some of these materials.

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