ne ws and views

Obituary recorder; Jap a n ’s first tran s i s t or radio in Masaru Ibuka (190 8–97 ) 1955; a pocket- s i z e tran s i s t or radio in 1957; the world ’ s first tran s i s t or tele vis i o n in Electrical engineer and 1960; and the Trin i t ron colour tele vis i o n s ys tem in 1967. co-founder of SONY Ibuka was a cent ral figure in the On 16 Decemb er 1947 a group of scienti s t s recons t ruc ti o n of Japan after the disastrou s at Bell Lab orat ories in the Uni t ed Sta te s , cons e quen c es of the Second World War . in c luding the eventual Nobel laureate s Par t of the suc cess of the Tok yo Tsus h i n John Bardeen, Wil liam Sho ckl e y and Kogyo K.K. may well have stemm e d from Wal t er Brattain, announced that they had Gen e ral Douglas Mac A rthu r ’ s initia t ives to develo ped the tran s i s t or. But the devic e re- e s t a b lish Jap a n ’s broadc a s t ing and was neit h e r read y for produ c ti on on tele commu n i c a ti o ns struc t u r e as qui c kly as in du s t rial scales, nor could it operat e at pos s i b le. Certa i n l y , Ibuka is said to have hi g h eno u g h freque ncies for most been a keen student of two young Ame ric a n app l i c a ti o ns. These and other techn i c a l engi n e ers, Home r Saras o hn and Cha rl e s pr oble ms had to be surm o u n t ed before the Protzman, who as part of the tran s i s t or could fulfil its immens e became independ ent and Ibuka join e d recons t ruc ti o n programme taught modern pot ent ial. Equa l ly importa n t l y , vis i on a r y the Japan Measu r eme nt Ins t rum en t qua l i t y manageme nt meth o ds in Japan. en gi n eers and ent repr eneu r s had to Comp a n y, whe re he develo ped military For Japan and the Japanese peopl e , recogni z e the signi f i c a n c e of the inventi o n techn o l o gy, suc h as subm a r ine detecti o n SONY is an unus ual comp a n y and Ibuk a before its time had real ly come, and attrac t , in s t rum en t s . was an unus ual man. Ibuka was a Chri s ti a n organ i z e and inspire the rig ht people to Whe n the war end ed, Ibuka deci d ed to (a Prot estant) in a cou n t ry whe re the build popular and profi t a b le produc t s , conc ent rat e on consu m e r products. In overwhe lming majorit y of the popu l a ti o n in i ti a l ly using very limited res o u r ces . 1945, in the devas t a t ed cent re of Tok yo, he regu l a r ly attends both Buddhist and In Japan, two suc h engi n e ers and fou n d ed the Tok yo Tsushin Kenk yusho (the Shi n t oist reli g ious ceremo nies, shrines and ent repr eneu r s were the co- fo u n d ers of Tok yo Commu n i c a ti o ns Lab orat ory). In temples. SONY has proba b ly alwa ys been SO N Y , Akio Morita and Mas a r u Ibuk a . 1946, Ibuka, Morita and Mae da converted the least Japanese of all the prin c i p a l Ibuka died on 19 Decemb er 1997, almost 50 this laborat ory into the Tok yo Tsus h i n Japanese companies in its corporat e year s to the day after that announcemen t Kogyo K. K. (the Tok yo governa n c e and the interna ti on a l i z a ti o n of fr om Bell Labs and the debut of the Tele commu n i c a ti o ns Engin e erin g its operati o ns, and even in its scienti f i c in venti o n whi c h he was to help develo p so Corpora ti on, whi c h in 1958 beca m e cr eat ivit y — Leo Esaki was awa r ded one of fa r . SO N Y ). With some times stubborn Jap a n ’s rar e Nobel priz es for his discovery Ibuka was born on 11 Apr il 1908, in the in s i s t enc e Ibuka would hire the best peopl e of tunnelling phen om e na in beau tiful town of Nik k o in Tochi g i he could find: direct ors of governm en t sem i c ondu c t ors, whi c h he made whi l e Prefect u r e, abou t 100 km north of Tok yo. la b orat ories and engi n e ers of the Jap a n e s e emp l o yed at Ibuk a ’s Tok yo Tsushin Kogyo His was a techn o l o gic a l ly awa r e family — pu b lic radio corpora ti on NHK, and even K. K . his father had studied elec t rochem i s t ry at those of other companies. He is reported to Li k e Bil l Hewle tt and David Pack a r d in the scho ol whi c h has now become the ha ve phon e d his cho s e n candidate, and if the Uni t ed Sta t es, Morita and Ibuka built a famous Tok yo Ins ti t u te of Techn o l o gy, and ne ces s a r y the candidate’s sup erio rs and rema rk a b le corporati o n. New- s t yle as a young man he cons t ruc t ed one of coll e agues, until he got his man. organ i z a ti o ns suc h as these explore fres h Jap a n ’s first water-d r iven elec t rical power Ibuka had a cle ar vis i o n of new wa ys for creat ive people to work togeth e r, st a ti on s . pr oducts, and made up his mind over and comp a n y cultures whi c h provid e the In 1910, foll o wing his father’ s tra gi c res o u r ce inves tm e nt very qui ck l y . Deci s i on s fertile soil for furth e r innova ti on and acc i d ental death by el ec trocu tio n, Ibuk a to tran s f er pot ent ial products out of the pr ogress. These companies sur vive the mo ved with his mother to live with his la b orat ory and into produc ti o n fou n d ers and conti n ue to grow and adapt: pa t ernal gran d p a r ents in Kobe. Aft er his develop m e nt were taken on the spot and even dur ing the pres e nt Asian financial mo t h er ’ s rema r ria g e, Ibuka stayed with his im p l em en t ed within one or two week s , cr isis, Ibuk a ’s SONY seems to thrive and gran d p a r ents and was indul g ed in his in c luding the neces s a r y person n e l grow, unlike several of its comp etit ors. fa s c i n a ti o n with techn o l o gy and science . tran s f ers. This comb i n a ti o n of vis i o n and Ibuk a ’s talents extend ed to writ ing, and For example, it is said that he frequen t l y deci s i veness had an immedi a t e and he publi s h e d several books, including one took alarm clo cks to pieces, and whe n he stunning eff ect on his engi n e ers, who s e abo u t his frie nd Sou i ch i r o Honda — the could not fit them togeth e r again his ent h usiasm for the comp a n y was suc h that fou n d er of the Honda Mot or Comp a n y, and gran d f a t h e r would buy him a new one to th e y drove thems e lves hard in the quest for an o t h e r rema rk a b le Japanese ent repr eneu r st a r t again. Pur suing that interest into suc ces s . to eme rge after the Second World War . To hi gh e r educ a ti o n, in 1933 Ibuka gradu a t ed A well- f orme d idea of the products to be my knowled g e these books are onl y in elec t rical engi n e ering from Was ed a develo ped and of the qua l i t y requi r ed, and avai l a b le in Japanese, so that Mas a r u Ibuk a Uni versi t y. top manageme nt invol veme nt in the is not as well known outs i d e Japan as he Aft er gradu a ti o n, Ibuka join e d the pr ocess, were key elem e nts in the suc cess of des e rves. But SONY, the comp a n y that he Pho t oche mical Lab orat ory, whe re he Ibuka and Morit a ’s comp a n y. Thus Ibuk a co- c r eat ed, sur ely is. worked on sound and picture recordi n g was the lead er, or heavily invol ved in the Gerhard Fasol techn o l o gies. In 1936 he moved to the develop m e nt teams, for many rema rk a bl e Gerhard Fasol is at Eurotechnology Japan K.K., Japan Opto- a co u s t ic Engin e erin g in n o vati o ns. Amo ng them were the Parkwest Building 11th Floor, 6-12-1 Nishi- Comp a n y, whe re he worked on vac u u m ma gn e tic recording tape in 1949; a tape Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan. tu b es. In 1940 the vacuum tube depa r tmen t recorder in 1950, and later the vid eo tape e-mail: [email protected]

848 NATURE | VOL 391| 26 FEBRUARY 1998