by more than thirty countries (at present, more than one hundred). When interviewed by German talk show host Hans Rosenthal on why he had named it the "PAL system", Bruch replied that certainly no German would want to have a "Bruch-System" had his family name been used as the eponym; Bruch in German is synonymous with "broken". He received the David Sarnoff Medal from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in 1971 and the Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor from the German Eduard Rhein Foundation in 1981. He died in Hanover, aged 82. Awards 1967: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; Knight Commander's Cross with star 1968: Goldene Kamera 1967 (Golden Camera 1967) 1973: Culture Award, German Society for Photography 1975: Werner von Siemens Ring 1979: Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria; Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold 1982: Niedersächsischer Staatspreis (Lower Saxony State Prize), for Science 1986: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art References External links 45 Years Anniversary of Walter Bruch's PAL Color Television Hochschule Mittweida: Walter Bruch 1908 births 1990 deaths Engineers from Rhineland-Palatinate German electronics engineers Television pioneers 20th-century German inventors Werner von Siemens Ring laureates People from Neustadt an der Weinstraße People from the Palatinate (region) Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany