Изобретатель цифровых часов Джордж Тиесс скончался в Далласе в возрасте 95 лет

DALLAS -- A North Texas man who, as Johnny Carson said, "put Mickey Mouse out of work," has died. George Thiess, credited with inventing the digital watch, passed away Aug. 15 at the age of 95. "He was always doing something before it's time," said his daughter, Suzanne Graupman. Thiess founded Electro/Data, a small Garland-based electronics company, in 1966. Soon after, while wearing a $10.95 Timex watch, he had the idea to make a watch that didn't need hands and displayed the time digitally. The company then began working on a shrinking its technology for a digital clock so it could fit on a wrist. Hamilton Watch Co., the historic timekeeping company, was also working on a digital watch, but hit a wall with the internal electronics, so the two companies teamed up in 1969. Electro/Data handled the inside, Hamilton handled the outside. The first prototype, called the Pulsar Time Computer, debuted on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where the host joked, "The machine finally put Mickey Mouse out of work." Encased in 18-karat gold, Pulsar watches went on sale in 1972 for $2,100, or around $17,000 in today's dollars. They were a sensation, in part due to their unparalleled accuracy. The digital watches were accurate within a minute a year, while the best mechanical watches offered about 15 seconds a day, according to the Smithsonian. Roger Moore as James Bond wore one in the 1973 film Live and Let Die. "He told me that the name 'Pulsar' came from when it was being introduced on the Johnny Carson show, and they were at the Four Seasons where all the reporters were out there shouting questions, and someone had asked, 'What are you going to call it?' And he didn't have a name yet. One of the reporters actually said, 'Why don't you call it Pulsar?'" Graupman said. In 2011, Thiess donated a prototype Pulsar to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. "I was hesitant to give it up at first, but I realized that it's a part of history, and people should see it," he told Texas Co-op Power magazine. After digital watches, Thiess turned his attention to electric cars, rigging up a red Mercedes with a fuel cell powertrain in what he called "the Blitzen Benz," according to Graupman. "He liked tinkering with just about anything electronic. I don't even know how many small parts he had in his little workshop," she said. A native of St. Louis, Thiess graduated from Washington University with a degree in physics, and served four years at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth during the Korean War. Graupman said Thiess and her brother, Eric Parker, who won a scientific Oscar for the development of the Digital Molecular Matter toolkit, could talk for hours about science and math, holding "casual conversations about thermodynamics." She also recalled Thiess outfitting an old LaSalle car with a television in the back in the '60s, and they would drive to the Prince of Hamburgers drive-in on Lemmon Avenue. "I thought everybody's dad was an inventor, and that's what people did," Graupman said. "I thought everybody else had a TV in their cars." Later in life, Thiess and his wife Susan lived in Hillsboro with seven goats named Uno, Dos, Tres and so on, a donkey named Lily and a large vegetable garden. Graupman described him as a strong Christian who loved painting. Thiess served on the board of the Hilco Electric Cooperative for 15 years, which he was passionate about. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, two children, two step-children, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, with one on the way. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of longtime HILCO Electric Cooperative Board Member George Thiess," the organization said. "George was a remarkable individual whose visionary mind and 15 years of dedicated board service left a lasting mark on our cooperative and the communities we serve. On behalf of the Board, leadership, and staff at HILCO, we extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Susan, and his family."