Marvin Camras (1916-1995)
Marvin Camras was born in Chicago on New Year's Day, 1916, to Samuel and Ida Camras. , Camras was known to his family as an "inventor" by the age of five. As he got older, he began to focus his talents on electronics: He even built a telephone, so that he could talk with his cousin, William. In the late 1930s, Camras was studying electrical engineering at the Armour Institute of Technology (now Illinois Institute of Technology), where he later earned a BS (1940) and MS (1942). At the same time, his cousin was aspiring to become an opera singer. In order to make temporary recordings of his cousin's voice, Camras resurrected an idea of Valdemar Poulsen (1869-1942), whose 'telegraphphone' had proved that sounds could be recorded magnetically. Camras first used magnetized piano wire to record his cousin singing, but the wire twisted as it was wound through the machine, distorting the playback.
Camras found an ingenious solution: he created a magnetic recording head that would surround but not touch the wire, so that the actual recording would be impressed symmetrically on the wire across the gap of air between it and the head. Eventually, Camras made this idea work. Cousin William gave up his singing career; but Camras himself won his first patents and a position at the Armour Research Foundation (now IIT Research Institute).
After earning his B.S. from the Armour Institute in 1940, he began work with the Armour Research Foundation. He completed his M.S. from the Armour Institute in 1942 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from IIT in 1968. His work with the Armour Research Foundation/IIT Research Institute continued through 1987. He continued to teach electrical engineering at IIT until 1994.
During World War II, he adapted his wire recording technology for use by the Navy, who simulated depth charge attacks in order to train submarine pilots. He also helped the Army who used the "Model 50" machines in World War II to terrorize the enemy with high-volume, "decoy" attacks. One of the most famous uses of his technologies was the recording of fake battle sounds the Allies used during the D-Day invasion of France to fool German soldiers as to the real landing locations. The equipment Camras developed recorded and amplified the battle sounds to make them seem realistic.
After the war, Camras switched his medium from wires to tapes. After thousands of experiments, he developed a ferric oxide "paint" for the tape, whose particles would align uniformly when magnetized, forming the perfect surface on which to record. Soon thereafter, Camras invented high-frequency bias recording, a method of using high frequency sounds to sensitize magnetic tapes to lower-frequency sounds, resulting in greater clarity across the spectrum. Camras also invented stereo sound recording and reproduction by tape, long before standard phonograph records were recorded that way. His other inventions include multi-track recording, magnetic soundtracks for motion pictures, and a prototype video tape recorder (1950).
Marvin Camras' magnetic tapes and magnetic coatings were, and remain, the basis of most of the media, entertainment and computer recording and storage being done today---in total, perhaps $40 billion worth of devices and supplies per year.
His interest in sound led him in many directions. He was an expert harmonica player. He used to play the harmonica at restaurants and entertain nearby customers. Refusing to buy an overpriced violin for his daughter, who was embarking on music lessons, he claimed he could make one just as good as he could buy. He did just that, and he made many other musical instruments, as well, experimenting with violins made of exotic materials to see how those changes affected their sound. His daughter, now a music teacher, and her husband, for many years the principal violist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, still play them.
Dr. Camras remained actively involved in the engineering profession throughout
his life. Many of us had the privilege of his company at regular meetings, such as those sponsored by the Western Society of Engineers. Because of his broad range of interests, he could, and did, pose intelligent questions to engineering presenters in fields quite remote from electronics and sound.
Though most of his research was concentrated on the broad field of audiomagnetics, there were several additional areas covered by his research:
Multi-track tape recording
Magnetic sound for motion pictures
Video tape Recorder
High frequency bias to reduce signal to noise radio
Modern magnetic tape
Patents and Publications
There are over 500 patents registered to Dr. Camras, many currently licensed to General Electric, 3M, Eastman Kodak and other similar companies. Additionally, he wrote and/or edited two books:
Marvin Camras (ed), "Magnetic Tape Recording", Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, (1985), now out of print. Camras includes interesting original historical introductions ("Editor's Comments") to these historically-important technical (as opposed to historical) papers on magnetic tape recording.
Marvin Camras, "Magnetic Recording Handbook", Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, (1988), now out of print. Altho this is primarily a technical book, it begins with a chapter entitled "Magnetic Recording History and Early Recorders". The main chapters have historical introductions and include products of historical interest. And it ends with "Bibliography and References" (13 pages); appendix A "Highlights of Magnetic Recording Development" (41 pages, including 28 illustrations); and appendix B with photos of 39 individuals who contributed to magnetic recording.
Dr. Camras was the recipient of many engineering honors. A partial list would include the following:
National Medal of Technology, 1990
Inventors’ Hall of Fame, 1985
Inventor of the Year 1979 (The Patent Law Association of Chicago)
John Scott Award
Washington Award, 1979
John H. Potts Memorial Award
IEEE Consumer Electronics Award
U. S. Camera Award for Outstanding Contribution to Motion Picture Photography
Institute of Radio PGA Achievement Award
IEEE Information Storage Award
Coors American Ingenuity Award, 1992
IIT Distinguished Alumnus Award, 1948
National Academy of Engineering, 1978
IIT Camras Scholars Program
Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society)
Fellow of the IEEE
Fellow of AAAS
Fellow of the International Engineering Consortium
Society of Television and Motion Pictures Honor Roll
Personal
Dr. Camras married Isabelle Pollack in 1951, and they reared four sons and a daughter. He died of kidney failure in Evanston, IL, June 23, 1995, age 79.
Additional Information
Further information on Marvin Camras is available at the Paul V. Galvin Library at IIT (35 W. 33rd St., Chicago, IL 60616), which houses an extensive archive of Dr. Camras' papers, including copies of his patents and prototypes of various inventions. Also available through the archives is a transcript of an oral history interview with him, conducted in 1991 by Mark Clark. His life charts the day-to-day activities of a privately-funded research institution which was a forerunner to today's research parks. As the inventor of such a fundamental technology, Dr. Camras had contacts ranging from the military to Hollywood and throughout industry. A study of his career promises to illuminate themes of general interest to technological historians, including the nature of inventive creativity and the position of an independent inventor in the 20th century. Bona fide researchers may request access to these materials by calling 312.567.3374. You may also wish to contact Illinois Institute of Technology's Office of Public Relations (312.567.3109) or the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering (312.567.3400).