<P> The first engineering proposal for a flat - panel TV was by General Electric as a result of its work on radar monitors . Their publication of their findings gave all the basics of future flat - panel TVs and monitors . But GE did not continue with the R&D required and never built a working flat panel at that time . The first production flat - panel display was the Aiken tube , developed in the early 1950s and produced in limited numbers in 1958 . This saw some use in military systems as a heads up display , but conventional technologies overtook its development . Attempts to commercialize the system for home television use ran into continued problems and the system was never released commercially . The Philco Predicta featured a relatively flat ( for its day ) cathode ray tube setup and would be the first commercially released `` flat panel '' upon its launch in 1958 ; the Predicta was a commercial failure . The plasma display panel was invented in 1964 at the University of Illinois , according to The History of Plasma Display Panels . The first active - matrix addressed display was made by T Peter Brody 's Thin - Film Devices department at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1968 . In 1977 , James P Mitchell prototyped and later demonstrated what was perhaps the earliest monochromatic flat panel LED television display LED Display . As of 2012 , 50 % of global market share in flat - panel display ( FPD ) production is by Taiwanese manufacturers such as AU Optronics and Chimei Innolux Corporation . </P>
<P> The first engineering proposal for a flat - panel TV was by General Electric as a result of its work on radar monitors . Their publication of their findings gave all the basics of future flat - panel TVs and monitors . But GE did not continue with the R&D required and never built a working flat panel at that time . The first production flat - panel display was the Aiken tube , developed in the early 1950s and produced in limited numbers in 1958 . This saw some use in military systems as a heads up display , but conventional technologies overtook its development . Attempts to commercialize the system for home television use ran into continued problems and the system was never released commercially . The Philco Predicta featured a relatively flat ( for its day ) cathode ray tube setup and would be the first commercially released `` flat panel '' upon its launch in 1958 ; the Predicta was a commercial failure . The plasma display panel was invented in 1964 at the University of Illinois , according to The History of Plasma Display Panels . The first active - matrix addressed display was made by T Peter Brody 's Thin - Film Devices department at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1968 . In 1977 , James P Mitchell prototyped and later demonstrated what was perhaps the earliest monochromatic flat panel LED television display LED Display . As of 2012 , 50 % of global market share in flat - panel display ( FPD ) production is by Taiwanese manufacturers such as AU Optronics and Chimei Innolux Corporation . </P>
when was the first flat screen tv sold
when was the first flat screen tv sold
1958
1958