Amar G. Bose, the Indian-American visionary entrepreneur and acoustics pioneer, famous for making high-quality Bose audio systems and speakers for home users, auditoriums and automobiles, has died.
Bose’s death was announced yesterday by Bose Corporation President, Bob Maresca, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bose was on the faculty for more than 40 years.
83-year-old Bose died yesterday at his home in Wayland, Massachusetts. His death was confirmed by his son, Vanu G. Bose.
“Dr Bose founded Bose Corporation almost 50 years ago with a set of guiding principles centred on research and innovation,” Maresca was quoted by New York Times as saying in a statement. “That focus has never changed.”
Bose was born on November 2, 1929, in Philadelphia. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengali freedom fighter who was studying physics at the Calcutta University when he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to British rule.
Noni Gopal Bose escaped and fled to the US in 1920, where he married an American schoolteacher. At 13, Amar Bose began repairing radio sets for pocket money for repair shops in Philadelphia.
As founder and chairman of the privately held company, Bose focused relentlessly on acoustic engineering innovation. His speakers, though expensive, earned a reputation for bringing concert-hall-quality audio into the home.
And by refusing to offer stock to the public, Bose was able to pursue risky long-term research such as noise-cancelling headphones and an innovative suspension system for cars, without the pressures of quarterly earnings announcements.
A perfectionist and a devotee of classical music, Bose was disappointed by the inferior sound of a high-priced stereo system he purchased when he was an MIT engineering student in the 1950s.
His interest in acoustic engineering piqued, he realised that 80 per cent of the sound experienced in a concert hall was indirect, meaning that it bounced off walls and ceilings before reaching the audience.
This realisation, using basic concepts of physics, formed the basis of his research.