Larry F. Weber
Visionary whose research contributed to the plasma display panel technology, its lower power consumption and higher contrast ratio; Business leader at Panasonic whose worldwide advocacy resulted in plasma TV commercialization; Founded Plasmaco
Larry Weber devoted his 35-year professional career to the advancement and promotion of plasma displays. He has been at the center of many of the innovations for plasma technology, including lower power consumption, high-contrast ratio and getting its foothold into the large screen TV market.
Dr. Weber started his career in plasma displays as a student of plasma display inventors professors Donald L. Bitzer and Gene Slottow. From 1969 to 1990, he conducted research on plasma displays at the University of Illinois Computer-based Education Research Laboratory, where he became Director of the Plasma Display Research Group and attained the rank of Research Associate Professor.
In 1987, Larry became a founder of Plasmaco, Inc., which acquired from IBM what was then the world’s largest plant for manufacturing plasma displays. He served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Plasmaco, Inc., from 1987 to 1993. In 1993, he became President of Plasmaco, Inc. Under his leadership, Plasmaco, Inc., became a wholly owned subsidiary of Panasonic in 1996.
Weber helped advocate the plasma technology even when in the early 1990s, its place in the marketplace was severely threatened when liquid crystal display (LCD) began incorporating multiple colors. In 1994 Weber successfully unveiled plasma’s highest contrast color display and in 1999 completed the first 60-inch plasma TV.
He was the President and CEO of Plasmaco, Inc., from 1996 until his retirement in 2004. From 2006 to 2008 he served as the President of the Society for Information Display. He has published over 50 papers and holds 15 patents on plasma displays including the patents for the energy recovery sustain circuit that cuts plasma TV power in half, and the ramp setup waveform that gives high contrast ratio to plasma TV products.
Larry Weber is a fellow of the Society for Information Display (SID) and the IEEE. He has received two SID Special Recognition Awards for his work on plasma displays. He received major awards for his work on plasma displays including the 2000 Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize from the SID and the 2009 Daniel E Noble award from the IEEE. In 2010 the Consumer Electronics Association inducted him into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.
Although retired, Dr. Weber continues to contribute to the technology, working on, among other things, ways to further reduce power consumption.
Degrees
- 1969 BS Electrical Engineering ILLINOIS
- 1971 MS Electrical Engineering ILLINOIS
- 1975 PhD Electrical Engineering ILLINOIS