Editing Plasma display (section)

=== Early development ===
[[File:Platovterm1981.jpg|thumb|Plasma displays were first used in PLATO computer terminals. This PLATO V model illustrates the display's monochromatic orange glow seen in 1981.<ref>[[Google Book Search|Google books]] – [https://books.google.com/books?id=PaFsMI_e88kC&dq=PLATO+plasma&pg=PA43 Michael Allen's 2008 E-Learning Annual By Michael W. Allen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413013431/https://books.google.com/books?id=PaFsMI_e88kC&dq=PLATO+plasma&pg=PA43 |date=2023-04-13 }}</ref>]]

[[Kálmán Tihanyi]], a Hungarian engineer, described a proposed flat-panel plasma display system in a 1936 paper.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seura.com/flat-panel_tv_en.pdf |title=Kalman Tihanyi's plasma television |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426233227/http://seura.com/flat-panel_tv_en.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-26 |access-date=2014-04-25}}</ref>

The first practical plasma video display was co-invented in 1964 at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] by [[Donald Bitzer]], [[H. Gene Slottow]], and graduate student Robert Willson for the [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO computer system]].<ref name="plasmaaward">{{cite web|url=http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/awards/bitzer2.html|title=Bitzer Wins Emmy Award for Plasma Screen Technology|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040548/http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/awards/bitzer2.html|archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref name=plasma_invention_alumni>{{cite web|url=https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/224|title=ECE Alumni wins award for inventing the flat-panel plasma display|date=Oct 23, 2002|access-date=Jan 11, 2018|archive-date=February 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214141258/https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/224|url-status=live}}</ref> The goal was to create a display that had inherent memory to reduce the cost of the terminals.<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal |last1=Weber |first1=Larry F. |title=History of the Plasma Display Panel |journal=IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |date=April 2006 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=268–278 |doi=10.1109/TPS.2006.872440 |bibcode=2006ITPS...34..268W |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1621302|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The original neon orange monochrome Digivue display panels built by glass producer [[Owens-Illinois]] were very popular in the early 1970s because they were rugged and needed neither memory nor circuitry to refresh the images.<ref>Brian Dear, Chapter 6 – Gas and Glass, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5ZBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 ''The Friendly Orange Glow''], Pantheon Books, New York, 2017; pages 92-111 cover the development and first stages AC plasma panel commercialization.</ref> A long period of sales decline occurred in the late 1970s because semiconductor memory made CRT displays cheaper than the $2500 [[United States dollar|USD]] {{nowrap|512 × 512}} PLATO plasma displays.<ref>Brian Dear, Chapter 22 – The Business Opportunity, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5ZBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA413 The Friendly Orange Glow], Pantheon Books, New York, 2017; pages 413–417 cover CDC's decision to use CRTs with cheap video-RAM instead of plasma panels in 1975.</ref> Nevertheless, the plasma displays' relatively large screen size and 1&nbsp;inch (25.4&nbsp;mm) thickness made them suitable for high-profile placement in lobbies and stock exchanges.

[[Burroughs Corporation]], a maker of adding machines and computers, developed the Panaplex display in the early 1970s. The Panaplex display, generically referred to as a gas-discharge or gas-plasma display,<ref name="Webopedia1">{{cite web|url=http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/gas_plasma_display.html|title=What is gas-plasma display?|date=September 1996|publisher=Webopedia|access-date=2009-04-27|archive-date=2009-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015193141/http://webopedia.com/TERM/G/gas_plasma_display.html|url-status=live}}</ref> uses the same technology as later plasma video displays, but began life as a [[seven-segment display]] for use in [[adding machine]]s. They became popular for their bright orange luminous look and found nearly ubiquitous use throughout the late 1970s and into the 1990s in [[cash register]]s, [[calculator]]s, [[pinball machines]], aircraft [[avionics]] such as [[airband|radios]], [[navigation|navigational instruments]], and [[stormscope]]s; test equipment such as [[frequency counter]]s and [[multimeter]]s; and generally anything that previously used [[nixie tube]] or [[numitron]] displays with a high digit-count. These displays were eventually replaced by LEDs because of their low current-draw and module-flexibility, but are still found in some applications where their high brightness is desired, such as pinball machines and avionics.