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Inventor of Nagra tape recorder dies

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 30.01.2013 09:18
Engineer Stefan Kudelski, with many revolutionary inventions to his credit, died in Switzerland, where he has lived since the 1940s, at the age of 84.

photo:
photo: ErlingMandelmann.ch

He is remembered first and foremost for the Nagra series of professional tape recorders.

Their first model was launched in 1951, the second, improved by incorporating mechanical filters to smooth out the variations in tape speed, and the third, which was a transistorized tape recorded with electronic speed control, in 1957.

Thanks to the spectacular success of Nagra III, Kudelski’s laboratory developed into an true industrial establishment. Kudelski also worked on the systems for synchronizing the camera with the tape recorder and his equipment found wide-ranging application in the cinema industry.

It allowed precise synchronization for audio tape with film, providing filmmakers with studio sound quality during on-location filming. For his achievements Stefan Kudelski received four Oscars: three Scientific or Technical Awards in 1965, 1977 and 1978, as well as the Gordon E. Sawyer Award in 1990 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His honours also included two Emmy Awards.

Stefan Kudelski was ten years old when his family fled Poland on the eve of the outbreak of World War Two, moving to Hungary and France and settling in Switzerland. He first attended the Ecole Florimont in Geneva and subsequently studied at the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne.

Stefan Kudelski retired in 1991 and was succeeded by his son, Andre Kudelski, as Chairman anf CEO of the Kudelski Group, which currently focuses on technology for digital television. (mk/pg)

tags: Engineers
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