Reinitzer noticed that cholesteryl benzoate behaved very strangely. Instead of melting into a clear liquid, Reinitzer saw that cholesteryl benzoate melted at 145°C and became a milky, cloudy liquid. He heated it further, to 179°C, and it became transparent. None of the scientists involved could possibly have dreamed of the applications for this material. It was only in the early 1960s that a research group discovered that liquid crystals could be used for screens and displays.
Liquid crystals are now used in many areas of everyday life. They are used to make the flat screens of laptop computers but also increasingly for desktop PCs. The rapidly increasing mobile phone market uses liquid crystals to make mobile phone screens. Most people don’t realise how much chemical expertise has gone into making an ordinary mobile. Even the toy industry has benefited from liquid crystals, since without chemistry there could never have been a Tamagotchi boom (1996).
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