Paul Eisler

Paul Eisler (3 August 1907 – 26 October 1992) was an Austrian inventor born in Vienna. Among his innovations were the printed circuit board. In 2012, Printed Circuit Design & Fab magazine named its Hall of Fame after Eisler.

Early life and education Paul Eisler was the son of Wilhelm Eisler, who was born in today's Slovakia, and Caecilie Eisler from Bohemia. His task there was to eliminate radio interference on the music broadcast system on trains running from Belgrade to Niś. After being released in 1941 and a short spell in the Pioneer Corps, he was able to engage Henderson and Spalding, a lithography company in Camberwell run by Harold Vezey-Strong, to invest in his printed circuit idea via a specially created subsidiary of Henderson and Spalding called Technograph, but forfeited rights to his invention when he neglected to read the contract before signing it. It was a pretty standard employment contract in that he agreed to submit any patent right during his employment for a nominal fee (one pound sterling) but it also gave him 16.5 per cent ownership of Technograph. It drew no interest until the United States incorporated the technology into work on the proximity fuze which was vital to counter the German V-1 flying bomb.

After the war ended, the United States opened access to his printed circuit innovation and since 1948, it has been used in all airborne instrument electronics. Very few companies acknowledged or licensed Technograph's patents and the company had financial difficulties. He resigned from Technograph in 1957. Among his projects as a freelancer, were films to heat "floor and wall coverings" and food, for example, fish fingers. The wallpaper idea was viable, but interest waned after the advent of cheaper energy resources with the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea.

Eisler invented many other practical applications of heating technology, such as the pizza warmer and rear window defroster, but was not so successful in their commercialization.

In 1963, Technograph lost a lawsuit against Bendix over most of the claims in the US versions of patents.

Honours He was awarded the Pour le Mérite by the French government. The Institute of Electrical Engineers awarded him the Nuffield Silver medal.