Couch potatoes around the world are in mourning: Robert Adler, one of the inventors of the TV remote control, died on Thursday in Boise, Idaho.

Adler is credited with creating (with fellow inventor Eugene Polley) the remote control named The Space Command. The wireless device was created by Adler and Polley while they were both working for Zenith in the mid 1950s. He got a special Emmy in 1997. But that's not the only thing that Adler invented. He had over 180 patents. In fact, the latest one (for a touch screen technology) was filed earlier this month.

Adler also got an award in 1974 for a paper on an Optical Video Disc Player. This helped lead to the invention of DVDs.

Adler was 93.