Amar Bose facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amar Bose
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Amar Gopal Bose
November 2, 1929 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | July 12, 2013 (aged 83) Wayland, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Occupation | Engineer, entrepreneur, founder of Bose Corporation |
| Spouse(s) | Ursula Boltshauser (widowed) Prema Bose (divorced) |
| Children | 2, including Vanu |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, SM, ScD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Doctoral advisor | Norbert Wiener Yuk-Wing Lee |
| Doctoral students | Alan V. Oppenheim |
Amar Gopal Bose (November 2, 1929 – July 12, 2013) was a brilliant American engineer and inventor. He was also a professor at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for more than 45 years. You might know his name from the company he started, Bose Corporation. This company makes awesome sound systems and other cool electronics.
In 2011, Amar Bose gave most of his company to MIT. He did this by donating shares that don't have voting rights. This gift helps MIT continue its important teaching and research work.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Amar Bose was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1929. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was from India. His mother, Charlotte Mechlin, was an American schoolteacher. Amar's father was a freedom fighter in India. He had to leave his home in the 1920s to avoid being arrested by the British.
Amar showed his smarts and interest in electronics very early. When he was just thirteen, during World War II, he started a small business. He fixed model trains and home radios with his school friends. This helped his family earn extra money.
After high school, Amar went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He also spent time studying in the Netherlands and India. He later got his PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT. His research was about complex systems.
Building a Career
After finishing his studies, Amar Bose became a professor at MIT. In 1956, he bought a fancy stereo speaker system. He was disappointed because it didn't sound like a live music performance. This made him want to research how speakers work. He wanted to make them sound more realistic.
His research focused on how sound travels in a room. He also studied how people hear sound (this is called psychoacoustics). This focus on how sound feels to listeners became a key part of Bose Corporation's products.
In 1964, Amar Bose started his company. He got money from investors, including his old professor, Yuk-Wing Lee. Bose earned important patents for his inventions. These included new ways to design loudspeakers. He also invented new ways to process power for audio.
In the 1980s, Bose developed a new kind of car shock absorber. These were designed to make car rides much smoother. They could absorb bumps and control how the car moved.
Amar Bose was a very successful businessman. In 2007, he was listed as one of the richest people in the world. But he always said that he didn't start his company just to make money. He wanted to do "interesting things that hadn't been done before."
Bose Corporation has thousands of employees around the world. They make products for homes, cars, and professional sound. The company also does a lot of research. Bose kept his company private, which meant he could take risks. He could work on long-term research projects. He believed his best ideas often came to him suddenly, like a flash of intuition.
Personal Life
Amar Bose was married to Prema Bose, but they later divorced. They had two children, Vanu and Maya. He also had one grandchild, Kamala. Amar Bose did not follow any specific religion. However, he meditated for a short time every day. His son, Vanu Bose, also became an inventor. He started a company focused on radio technology.
Amar Bose passed away on July 12, 2013. He was 83 years old.
Teaching and Legacy
Even while running his company, Amar Bose continued teaching at MIT. He was a professor there until 2001. He won many awards for his teaching. The Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching was created in his honor. This award recognizes great teachers at MIT's School of Engineering. His former students often said that his classes taught them important life skills. They learned how to solve problems, which helped them in their careers.
One of his students was MIT professor Alan V. Oppenheim. Oppenheim is famous for his work with digital signals. He dedicated one of his books to Amar Bose. He said that Bose set very high standards in everything he did. Oppenheim called Bose's achievements as a teacher, inventor, and entrepreneur "legendary."
In 2011, Bose made a huge gift to MIT. He donated most of his company's shares to the university. He made sure that these shares could never be sold. Also, MIT does not get to vote on how Bose Corporation is run. This gift helps MIT continue its important work in education and research.
Honors and Awards
- Fellow, IEEE, 1972 – for his work on speakers, amplifiers, and systems.
- Honorary member, Audio Engineering Society, 1985.
- Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music, 1994.
- Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008.
- The 2010 IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award, for his amazing contributions to sound, leadership, and teaching.
- Listed at #9 on the MIT150 list in 2011. This list celebrates the top 150 innovators from MIT.
- Beryllium Lifetime Achievement Award, Association of Loudspeaker Manufacturing & Acoustics International, 2014.
- Founders Award at The Asian Awards 2015.
See Also
