Berliner, Emile, 1851-1929

Emile Berliner (1851-1929) was a prominent inventor living at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Overlooked by today's historians, Berliner's creative genius rivaled that of his better-known contemporaries Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, and, like the works of these two inventors, Berliner's innovations helped shape the modern American way of life. Although Berliner did not invent recorded sound technology, his innovations led to its mass distribution. His flat-disc recordings eventually replaced the more fragile and unwieldy Edison cylinders as consumers' sound technology of choice.

Emile (originally Emil) Berliner was born in Hanover, Germany, on May 20, 1851. He was one of thirteen children born to Samuel and Sarah Fridman Berliner, two of whom died in infancy. His father was a merchant and a Talmudic scholar, and his mother was an amateur musician.

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