Remembering Amar Gopal Bose

The Bengali surname Bose packs rich history. Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, scientist extraordinaire. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, freedom fighter. Prof Satyendra Nath Bose, after whom is named the boson in particle physics.

And yet, elsewhere in the world, when anyone carrying that surname is asked the question: “Ah, Mr Bose. Any relation…?” he knows they’re talking about just one Bose, the one who was alive until Friday.

Amar Gopal Bose was a pioneer in modern acoustics. He was founder and chairman of the company whose products carry the Bose name into millions of homes and offices across the world. He was that rare combination of scientist, engineer, academic, and star entrepreneur (he made it to the Forbes 2007 list of the world’s 400 richest people). He’s in the US National Inventors Hall of Fame, alongside Thomas Edison, Graham Bell and the Wright Brothers.

Amar Gopal Bose was an Indian American academic and entrepreneur. An electrical engineer and sound engineer, he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over 45 years. He was also the founder and chairman of Bose Corporation.

Amar Gopal Bose, Indian-American entrepreneur and academic behind the revolutionary sound systems of Bose Corporation, died on July 12 at the age of 83 in Wayland, Massachusetts.

Dr. Bose was born on November 2, 1929, in Philadelphia, to an American schoolteacher and Noni Gopal Bose, a freedom fighter and Calcutta University physicist who fled to the U.S. in 1920 after being imprisoned for opposing British rule in India.

When his business of importing coconut-fibre doormats from India failed after the U.S. suspended non-military shipping during World War II, Noni Bose came to rely on the early business success of his son’s venture, which offered radio repair services in the basement of their suburban home.

By the end of the war, father Bose had become a firm believer in young Amar’s immense aptitude for practical electronics. In 1947, he was said to have borrowed $10,000 to help his son enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), even if he was admitted “by the skin of my teeth,” as Dr. Bose later recalled.

Born: November 2, 1929, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Died: July 12, 2013, Wayland, Massachusetts, United States

Nationality: American

He concluded that it was not just the production of sound but also its perception that made for good listening. As a result, he would incorporate the principles of this field, called psycho-acoustics, into the mantra of Bose Corporation. One of the first products to come out from the company's stable based on psycho-acoustics research, the 1968 Bose 901, is still a mainstay of its product line-up. Throughout Dr. Bose's term as Chairman and Technical Director of the company, Bose Corporation chose to stay private and away from investors who would be concerned mostly with bottom lines. Consequently, the company could pursue long-term research – without immediate deliverables - that saw it become the brand of choice for many carmakers and architectural installations in the 1980s and after. Dr. Bose did not believe in the notion of ‘retirement age’, letting the company he founded enjoy his mentorship, and managerial and technical expertise until his passing. Bose Corporation’s emphasis on sustained original research came at a cost, which was reflected in its price tags for consumers. But the company’s products today enjoy an impeccable reputation that, true to its founder’s spirit, reflects its penchant for innovation and creativity. Dr. Bose is survived by two children, Vanu and Maya, from his first marriage with Prema Bose, his wife, Ursula Boltzhauser, and a grandchild.

  “My father’s 66-year relationship with MIT was an integral part of his life. He would often talk about his mentors, professors Ernst Guillemin, Norbert Wiener, Y. W. Lee and Jerome Wiesner, as having played critical roles in shaping his life and work. It was because of everything that MIT did for him that my father was so pleased to be able to give back to MIT through his gift.”....Vanu G. Bose ’87, SM ’94, PhD ’99, son of Dr. Bose, said,

Amar Bose ’51, SM ’52, ScD ’56, a former member of the MIT faculty and the founder of Bose Corporation, has died. He was 83.

Dr. Bose received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate from MIT, all in electrical engineering. He was asked to join the faculty in 1956, and he accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years. He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001.

Amar Bose quotes:

At 13, I realized that I could fix anything electronic. It was amazing, I could just do it. I started a business repairing radios. It grew to be one of the largest in Philadelphia.
Amar Bose

I loved music, and in my ninth year at MIT, I decided to buy a hi-fi set. I figured that all I needed to do was look at the specifications. So I bought what looked like the best one, turned it on, and turned it off in five minutes, the sound was so poor.
Amar Bose

I had studied violin from age 7 to 14.
Amar Bose

The excitement level for me working on projects is really not a bit different from when I was 26.
Amar Bose

The prejudice was so bad in the United States at that time that a dark person with a white person would not be served in a restaurant. My father, mother, and I would try it occasionally. We would sit there, and the food would never come.
Amar Bose

The food we ate was Indian, and both my mother and father were very deep into the ancient philosophy of India, so it could well have been an Indian household.
Amar Bose

some sound related blog post:

sound wave
sound frequency
infrasonic sound
ultrasonic sound
physics of sound
acoustic resonance
wave studio tips

ray dolby

#thankfully shared and consulted from:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/amar_bose.html

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/obit-amar-bose-0712.html

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/amar-bose-of-sound-is-dead-at-83/article4911652.ece

http://www.bose.com/remember/index.html

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/1860726/report-remembering-amar-gopal-bose