Masaru Ibuka was a Japanese electronics engineer and industrialist, who was the co-founder and leading engineer of the Sony Corp. His development of the tape recorder, transistor radio, and many other products put Sony at the forefront of technological innovation for more than three decades and made it the world’s most successful and recognized electronics company.
Background
Masaru Ibuka was born in the city of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, on April 11, 1908. He was a very inquisitive child who was fond of experimenting. One of the earliest short-wave hams in Japan; his calls have been logged in overseas records back in the days of 1926.
Education
Ibuka graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, with the Bachelor of Science degree in electrical communications in 1933.
In 1933, Ibuka got a job as a research engineer with the Photo-Chemical Laboratory. He later served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, being a member of the Imperial Navy Wartime Research Committee. In 1946, he left the company and navy, and founded a bombed out radio repair shop in Tokyo.
The same year, Ibuka and Akio Morita started Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K., later called Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering. In 1949 the company produced a magnetic recording tape; in the mid-1950s, under the leadership of Ibuka, the company developed the first transistor radio. The development of these and other devices accelerated the miniaturization of electronic products.
In 1958 the company was renamed Sony Corporation with Ibuka continuing as president until 1971 and as chair until his retirement in 1976.
Ibuka also served on various organizations, including the Sony Foundation of Science Education, National Welfare Foundation for Handicapped Children, and Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation.
("from birth to three are the key years for developing you...)
1977
Views
Quotations:
"Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience."
Membership
Japan Institute Invention and Innovation
,
Japan
1972 - 1991
Japan Audio Society
,
Japan
1979 - 1992
Fellow Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
National Academy of Engineering
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
Railway Technical Research Institute
1987 - 1992
Imperial Navy Wartime Research Committee
Japan Committee for Economic Development
Early Development Association
Boy scouts of Nippon
1985 - 1994
Personality
Ibuka had a very pure sense of business, and claimed that he had almost no management ability, and few ideas about how to make lots of money. But he possessed the wonderful human gift of being able to attract the right kind of collaborators, those rare people with talent and imagination.
Physical Characteristics:
After collapsing with arhythmia in 1992, he was confined to a wheelchair, where his favourite occupation was listening to company reports.
Interests
Writing, early childhood education
Sport & Clubs
Golf
Connections
Masaru Ibuka was twice married and had one son and two daughters.