Olson, Harry F. (Harry Ferdinand), 1901-1982

Acoustical engineer for RCA.

From the description of Papers of Harry F. Olson, 1938-1966. (University of Iowa Libraries). WorldCat record id: 233118577

Dr. Harry Ferdinand Olson was the longtime head of acoustics and electromechanical research at the Radio Corporation of America. He was a leading expert in microphone and loudspeaker design and other aspects of acoustic research.

Olson was born at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on December 28, 1901, and received degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the State University of Iowa, where he studied under George Walter Stewart and Carl E. Seashore. He spent his entire career from 1928 to 1967 in the employ of RCA, first at its laboratory in the Bronx (1928-1930), then RCA Victor at Camden, N.J. (1930-1942) and finally at Princeton (1942-1967). His achievements included improved microphones and theater loudspeakers for early sound motion pictures, and later, home audio systems. During World War II, he spent most of his time working on sonar. In the 1950s, Olson was co-inventor of the music synthesizer with Herbert Belar, invented an early speech-to-text machine called the phonetic typewriter, and developed the first magnetic color videotape recorder for television and an early prototype of a home videotape recording system. Olso authored or co-authored several textbooks on acoustical engineering, received over 100 patents, and was honored by most of the relevant professional societies. He died at Princeton on April 1, 1982.

From the description of Harry F. Olson papers, 1926-1977. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 774916503