Isaac Shoenberg

Isaac Shoenberg
Born1 March 1880
Pinsk, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died25 January 1963(1963-01-25) (aged 82)
London, England
Resting placeLiberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden
OccupationEngineer
SpouseEsther Aisenstein
Children5, including David
Engineering career
DisciplineElectrical engineering
Employer(s)Marconi Wireless and Telegraph Company, Columbia Graphophone Company, EMI
Significant advanceElectronic high-definition television
AwardsIET Faraday Medal

Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1 March 1880 – 25 January 1963) was a British electronic engineer born in Belarus who was best known for his role in the history of television. He was the head of the EMI research team that developed the 405-line (Marconi-EMI system), the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting when it was introduced with the BBC Television Service in 1936.[1] It was later adopted by other TV organizations around the world.[2]

As the head of research at EMI, Schoenberg was Alan Blumlein's supervisor when Blumlein invented stereophonic sound in 1931.[3] Schoenberg was awarded the IET Faraday Medal by the British Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1954 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1962.

  1. ^ "Sir Isaac Shoenberg, British inventor". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 July 2020. principal inventor of the first high-definition television system
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference varobit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Early stereo recordings restored". BBC News. 1 August 2008. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2008. Blumlein lodged the patent for 'binaural sound', in 1931, in a paper which patented stereo records, stereo films and also surround sound. He and his colleagues then made a series of experimental recordings and films to demonstrate the technology, and see if there was any commercial interest from the fledgling film and audio industry.