Marvin Camras

Marvin Camras (January 1, 1916 – June 23, 1995) was an

Camras built his first recording device, a

In June 1944 he was awarded U.S. patent 2,351,004,^[1] titled "Method and Means of Magnetic Recording". In all, Camras received more than 500 patents, largely in the field of electronic communications.

Camras received a bachelor's degree in 1940 and a master's degree in 1942, both in electrical engineering, from IIT. In 1968, the institution awarded him an honorary doctorate.

In May 1962 Camras wrote a speculative prediction paper titled "Magnetic recording and reproduction - 2012 A.D.".^[2] In his paper Camras predicted the existence of mass-produced portable media players he described as memory packs the size of a package of playing cards holding up to 10²⁰ bits of information. Such devices would not have any mechanical moving parts and would store both sound and movies. He also predicted music and movie downloads, online shopping, access to online encyclopedias and newspapers and the widespread use of online banking transactions.

Camras built his own house by hand, doing everything except laying the foundation. He also built a bomb shelter in this house. In recognition of his achievements, he received the

Marvin Camras died of kidney failure at the age of 79 in Evanston, Illinois.

See also

• Tape bias

References