George Harry Heilmeier was an American engineer, manager, and a pioneering contributor to liquid crystal displays (LCDs), for which he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Heilmeier's work is an IEEE Milestone. He was born on May 22, 1936, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. George H. Heilmeier received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering with distinguished honors from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in solid state materials and electronics from Princeton University. Heilmeier was selected by the President to be a White House Fellow for the year 1970-71, serving as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. He was appointed Assistant Director for Defense Research and Engineering, Electronic and Physical Sciences, in September 1971. In this position, he was responsible for all Department of Defense research and exploratory development in the areas of electronics and physical sciences. He received many honors, including the National Medal of Science, awarded by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, and the Kyoto Prize in 2005. He is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, which is operated in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.