Brilliant Jewish Hi-Fi pioneers: term paper

A cousin of mine is contemplating doing a term paper on the early Jewish innovators in the field of stereo music reproduction and I'm trying to give her some ideas. Saul Marantz is Jewish, I am pretty certain? Avery Fisher? Does anybody know if Dr. Sidney Harman is Jewish also? I know his wife is. Can anyone think of any other Jews who have made significant advancements in the audio field?? Phil Spector and Steve Hoffman don't count as I believe she is looking for engineers, designers, etc.

 

Just found another one:

Emile Berliner -- Inventor of the gramophone.

What about Sidney Harman? That one has me stumped.

 

Brilliant, schmilliant - as long as they make nice music for their mothers.

 

Of course, I agree. But this is a special topic. Nothing is wrong in it. It's just like researching great female chemists or Greek archaeologists of the 17th century or something.

 

Disclaimer: I don't have the slightest clue on the religious beliefs (or lack of) the people I mention.

A couple more you might want to check:

Thomas Alva Edison
Lee DeForest

 

Harvey Roseberg (Dr. Gizmo)
Julius Futterman

Wait a minute...you said HiFi. Is Panasonic Jewish?

 

I believe David Hafler could be included (Mr. Dynaco), and Julius Futterman of OTL amplifier fame. Try Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg's site for Futterman info: http://www.meta-gizmo.com/index.html

 

Great, thanks for the names, guys!



Yeah, Panasonic is definitely Jewish. Dr. Moishe Panasonic really knew is stuff! We would not know music reproduction as we know it today if it weren't for him. Itzhak Hitachi and Yehuda Yamaha were pretty sharp also!

 

I got in touch with Art Shifrin, lover of all things audio and choo-choo, too (link to Art's waaaaay cool site is on Steve's homepage, or if you're lazy): www.shifrin.net


Anyhoo, Art provided this info: Dr. Semi Josef Begun was indeed Jewish.

He designed the first tape recorder made in the USA: The Brush Soundirror, model BK401. I'm trying to nail down the dates of its first showing which seems to have been the IRE Conference circa Dec '46 / Jan '47. I have a book that he wrote about magnetic recording, but don't know where it is at the moment.

Art restores audio in all kindsa weird and wonderful formats, so it's appropriate that he provided a more obscure person for prix's quest....

 

Thanks, Mike! Can you ask him about Sidney Harman? He's a big name and would be a good one to include if he is indeed Jewish. I'm real curious about old Sidney.

 

Blumlein ?

 

Here's a link to the Consumer Electronics Association and their inductees in their hall of fame: http://www.ce.org/publications/hall_of_fame/inductees.asp

Perhaps this will help....

 

Thank you. This is a great resource! I will forward it to my cousin.

 

Ummmm, do we get credited in the footnotes????

 

Sharp's first name was Bernie - he made less expensive hi-fi gear. And don't forget Neguva Nakamichi...

 

I just called Jane Harman's office in Washington. Sometimes I get obsessed with finding an answer to something I am curious about. In case anyone is interested to know, Dr. Sidney Harman is Jewish.

 

I looked around for the good doctor and found a lotta places with info, but none about your quest. Here's another possibility: Peter Goldmark, team leader at CBS on the LP development front and designer of CBS' color tv system that unfortunately was not compatible with the b&w broadcasting technology...

 

Long retired altar boy indy mike sez: a great hi-fi experience would cause way too much earthly pleasure - too much guilt involved if something leads to that much fun (you think Jewish guilt is smothering - heh - try having human guilt monitors dressed in habits and wielding rulers)....