Liquid crystals had a controversial discovery at the end of the nineteenth century but were later accepted as a 'fourth state' of matter, and finally used throughout the world in modern displays and new materials. This book explains the fascinating science in accessible terms, and puts it into social, political, and historical perspectives.

A History of Liquid Crystals.

Review
... engaging monograph ... I recommend this cultured chronicle of the people and history of a delicate state of matter that has had a profound influence on the technologies of communications and displays. Derry W. Jones, Contemporary Physics This is a truly stimulating look at the history and science of a little-understood phase of matter and a material that affects our lives every day [...] a truly useful addition to the pedagogical literature on liquid crystals. Peter Collings, Physics Today It provides a perceptive insight into the evolution of the important area of soft matter and the development from this of an impressive display technology. Geoffrey Luckhurst, Chemistry World The authors delightful weaving of the influence of first individuals and then commercial companies with the advances in science pertinent to developing displays makes for fascinating and entertaining reading. Gerald R. Van Hecke, Science This is a readable introduction to an influential field, concentrating on personalities within political eras, and demonstrating that as complicated as the science might get, it is still a human endeavor, with all the attendant ambition, misunderstanding, dead ends and eventual enlightenment. Rob Hardy, The Dispatch The liquid crystal display has changed the world and will continue to do so. Soap, Science, and Flat-Screen TVs is a true and valuable history of its first 100 years, embracing as it does both the scientific literature and the history and socio-economic background of the individuals and institutions that make up the story. Bill Crossland, Times Higher Education Supplement

David Dunmur received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Oxford. After 3 years as a research fellow in the newly formed Department of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Bristol, he was appointed in 1968 as a lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, where he became Head of the Department of Chemistry from 1993 to 1996. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California in 1980. In 1999 he received the George Gray Medal from the British Liquid Crystal Society. From 1996 to his retirement in 2005, he was a research Professor in chemical physics (liquid crystals) in the School of Chemistry, University of Southampton.
Tim Sluckin was born in London in 1951, and educated in Cambridge and Nottingham, where he received his Ph.D in 1975 for a thesis on the theoretical physics of liquid helium. After several postdoctoral appointments in the USA and in the UK, he was appointed a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Southampton (UK) in 1981. Since 1995 he has been Professor of Applied Mathematical Physics at the University of Southampton. He has also spent extended periods of sabbatical leave abroad, including spells in France (Grenoble), Italy (Milan) and Israel (Haifa). His main research interests have been in mathematical and physical aspects of liquid crystals, but he also has interests in other fluid phenomena. Another of his interests is mathematical population biology, including, in particular, problems to do with human prehistory. More recently he has also published significantly in the history of science.