Charles Hubert Coleman Jr. (October 28, 1926 – July 13, 2005) was an American electronic engineer and a pioneer in the field of color video tape recording and later in high data-rate digital tape recording. He was also an amateur explorer and avid pilot.[1][2][3]
Chuck Coleman | |
|---|---|
 Charles Hubert Coleman Jr. | |
| Born | October 28, 1926 |
| Died | July 13, 2005 (aged 78) |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, Inventor |
| Employer(s) | US Marines, WBKB, CBS Television, Ampex |
| Awards | IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award, 1970 SMPTE David Sarnoff Gold Medal, 1970 |
Early life
editColeman was born on October 28, 1926, in Washington, DC and, as one of three children, grew up in Charleston, Illinois. His father was a professor of history at a state teacher's college.[1] On his 17th birthday in October 1943, he joined the US Marines. Following boot camp, he was shipped to the Pacific and spent the remainder of the war teaching young Marines how to be radio technicians.[1] Upon discharge in 1946, he joined WBKB-TV (now WBBM) in Chicago. In 1953, WBKB-TV was purchased by CBS Television.[2] At CBS he quickly became a pioneer in the brand new field of video tape recording. Coleman invented Autotec[4] time base correction and applied it to improve the quality of the black and white TV broadcasts from WBKB[5]
Career at Ampex
editBy 1960, engineers at Ampex Corporation in had recognized the superior quality of the recorded TV images being shown on a certain Chicago TV station (WBKB).[1] Coleman was quickly lured to join Ampex in Redwood City, California where he spent the rest of his career on perfecting video tape recording[6] and pushing the boundaries of high data-rate tape-recording.[7] Coleman made many inventions and received many accolades for his work. He received both the SMPTE David Sarnoff Gold Medal[8] and the IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award in 1970[2] and, subsequently, the Alexander M. Poniatoff Award at Ampex in 1971,[9] for his contributions to color video tape recording. Coleman was also the driving force behind the Digital Cassette Recording System.[10] Ampex' most successful digital product.[11][12][13] His colleagues at Ampex included Charles Ginsburg, John Mallinson, and Neal Bertram.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Charles Coleman". www.earlytelevision.org.
- ^ a b c "Charles H. Coleman - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". ethw.org. 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Barker Creek Ranch Airstrip Nevada Airport Information". FunPlacesToFly.com.
- ^ Broadcast Engineering, March 1961, page 42
- ^ "Magnetbandmuseum - Sie sind im Bereich: Timebase Correction". www.magnetbandmuseum.info.
- ^ "Tonbandmuseum - Sie sind im Bereich: Ampex Story Teil 6". www.tonbandmuseum.info.
- ^ Wood, R.; Petersen, D. A.; Lindholm, D. A.; Coleman, C. H. (June 1, 1985). "High data rate magnetic recording in a single channel". Journal of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers. 55 (6): 229–236. doi:10.1049/jiere.1985.0075 – via digital-library.theiet.org.
- ^ "Charles Coleman Honored For Color-Video Inventions". The New York Times. September 28, 1970.
- ^ Abramson, Albert (August 15, 2003). The history of television, 1942 to 2000. McFarland & Co., Publishers. OCLC 48837571 – via Open WorldCat.
- ^ "Ampex Digital Cassette Recording System (DCRS)" (PDF).
- ^ "AMPEX History".
- ^ Overview of the prototype of the first commercial PRML channel | 102788145. 26 March 2009.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ "Ampex shows heavy-duty cassette recorders". Flightglobal.com. February 25, 1998.