Amar Bose
Encyclopedia
Amar Gopal Bose is an Bengali American
electrical engineer
, sound engineer and billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Bose Corporation. In 2011, he donated a majority of the company in form of non-voting shares to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
to sustain and advance MIT’s education and research mission.
In the year 2007 (Forbes 400
), he was listed as 271st richest man in the world, with a net worth
of $1.8 billion. In 2009, he had dropped off the billionaire list, and made it back onto the list in 2011, with a net worth of $1.0 billion.
to a Bengali
father and a white American
mother. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengal
i freedom revolutionary, who having been imprisoned for his political activities, fled Calcutta
in the 1920s in order to avoid further prosecution by the British
colonial police.
Amar Bose first displayed his entrepreneurial skills and his interest in electronics at age thirteen, when, during the World War II years, he enlisted school friends as co-workers in a small home business repairing model trains and home radios, to supplement his family's income.
After graduating from Abington Senior High School in Abington, Pennsylvania, Bose enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in the early 1950s. Bose spent a year in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the research labs at NV Philips Electronics and a year in New Delhi, India, as a Fulbright research student where he met his future wife Prema (from whom he is now divorced). He completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT, writing a thesis on non-linear systems.
His son, Vanu Bose, is the founder and CEO of Vanu, Inc., a firm whose software-based radio technology provides a wireless infrastructure that enables individual base stations to simultaneously operate GSM, CDMA, and iDEN. His daughter, Maya, is a practicing chiropractor.
as an Assistant Professor. He focused his research on acoustics
, leading him to invent
a stereo loudspeaker that would reproduce, in a domestic setting, the dominantly reflected sound field that characterizes the listening space of the audience in a concert hall.
Bose was awarded significant patent
s in two fields which, to this day, are important to the Bose Corporation. These patents were in the area of loud speaker design and non-linear, two-state modulated, Class-D, power processing.
To found his company in 1964, for initial capital, he turned to angel investors including his MIT thesis advisor and professor, Dr. Y. W. Lee.
During his early years as a professor, Bose bought a high-end stereo speaker system in 1956 and was reportedly underwhelmed by the performance of his purchase. This would eventually pave the way for his extensive speaker technology
research, concentrating on key weaknesses in the high-end speaker systems available during Bose's time, and focusing on psychoacoustics, which would become a hallmark of the company's audio products. Applying similar psychoacoustic principles to headphone technology, Bose created the "Tri-Port Earcup Drivers."
Today, the Bose Corporation is a multifaceted entity with more than 9,000 employees, worldwide, that produces products for home, car, and professional audio, as well as conducts basic research in acoustics, automotive systems, and other fields.
In 2011, Bose donated a majority of the company's non-voting shares to Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the condition that the shares are never to be sold.
In addition to running his company, Bose remained a professor at MIT until 2001.
Bose says that his best ideas usually come to him in a flash. "These innovations are not the result of rational thought; it's an intuitive idea."
Bengali American
Bengali Americans are Americans who can trace their ancestry to the region of Bengal in South Asia. This region comprises the Indian state of West Bengal and the country Bangladesh. Bengalis form a heterogeneous ethnic group which shares a common language and a similar culture...
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
, sound engineer and billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Bose Corporation. In 2011, he donated a majority of the company in form of non-voting shares to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
to sustain and advance MIT’s education and research mission.
In the year 2007 (Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
), he was listed as 271st richest man in the world, with a net worth
Net worth
In business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
of $1.8 billion. In 2009, he had dropped off the billionaire list, and made it back onto the list in 2011, with a net worth of $1.0 billion.
Family and Education
Amar Gopal Bose was born and raised in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
to a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
father and a white American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
mother. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
i freedom revolutionary, who having been imprisoned for his political activities, fled Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
in the 1920s in order to avoid further prosecution by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
colonial police.
Amar Bose first displayed his entrepreneurial skills and his interest in electronics at age thirteen, when, during the World War II years, he enlisted school friends as co-workers in a small home business repairing model trains and home radios, to supplement his family's income.
After graduating from Abington Senior High School in Abington, Pennsylvania, Bose enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in the early 1950s. Bose spent a year in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the research labs at NV Philips Electronics and a year in New Delhi, India, as a Fulbright research student where he met his future wife Prema (from whom he is now divorced). He completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT, writing a thesis on non-linear systems.
His son, Vanu Bose, is the founder and CEO of Vanu, Inc., a firm whose software-based radio technology provides a wireless infrastructure that enables individual base stations to simultaneously operate GSM, CDMA, and iDEN. His daughter, Maya, is a practicing chiropractor.
Career
Following graduation, Bose took a position at MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
as an Assistant Professor. He focused his research on acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, leading him to invent
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
a stereo loudspeaker that would reproduce, in a domestic setting, the dominantly reflected sound field that characterizes the listening space of the audience in a concert hall.
Bose was awarded significant patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s in two fields which, to this day, are important to the Bose Corporation. These patents were in the area of loud speaker design and non-linear, two-state modulated, Class-D, power processing.
To found his company in 1964, for initial capital, he turned to angel investors including his MIT thesis advisor and professor, Dr. Y. W. Lee.
During his early years as a professor, Bose bought a high-end stereo speaker system in 1956 and was reportedly underwhelmed by the performance of his purchase. This would eventually pave the way for his extensive speaker technology
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
research, concentrating on key weaknesses in the high-end speaker systems available during Bose's time, and focusing on psychoacoustics, which would become a hallmark of the company's audio products. Applying similar psychoacoustic principles to headphone technology, Bose created the "Tri-Port Earcup Drivers."
Today, the Bose Corporation is a multifaceted entity with more than 9,000 employees, worldwide, that produces products for home, car, and professional audio, as well as conducts basic research in acoustics, automotive systems, and other fields.
In 2011, Bose donated a majority of the company's non-voting shares to Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the condition that the shares are never to be sold.
In addition to running his company, Bose remained a professor at MIT until 2001.
Bose says that his best ideas usually come to him in a flash. "These innovations are not the result of rational thought; it's an intuitive idea."
Honors and Awards
- Elected Fellow of IEEE, 1972 - for contributions to loudspeaker design, two-state amplifier-modulators, and nonlinear systems.
- The 2010 IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award, for "outstanding contributions to consumer electronics in sound reproduction, industrial leadership, and engineering education".
- In 2011, he was listed at #9 on the MIT150MIT150The MIT150 is a list published by the Boston Globe, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011, listing 150 of the most significant innovators, inventions or ideas from MIT, its alumni, faculty, and related people and organizations in the 150 year...
list of the top 150 innovators and ideas from MIT.