Some Dreams Never go for a Toss, Meet Mr. Amar Bose

The excitement level for me working on projects is really not a bit different from when I was 26.
- Amar Bose

Maybe that’s what drove him to greater heights each day and maybe that’s why obituaries have his picture highlighted and his name flashed in all papers when he breathed his last yesterday. Any person cannot achieve that kind of respect and condolences. It is the way one lives that makes his/ her final journey worth noticing, worth making people pause and reflect on the life that he/she led and sometimes even send a small silent prayer to make his soul rest in peace.

Mr. Bose is best known as the founder of Bose Corporation and for his pioneering work in the field of acoustics. Bose speakers are world-famous for giving high-end performance despite their modest size.

Born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Amar Bose’s father Nani Gopal Bose was a revolutionary freedom fighter who emigrated from Calcutta to escape British prosecution.

 He was interested in electronics right from his childhood and used to make small electrical toys to supplement his family’s income. He did his schooling at Abington Senior High School and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. from MIT in the early 1950s.

It was during his days in MIT that he purchased a new stereo system. But disappointed with the performance of the speakers, despite their impressive technical specifications, he started working on stereo speaker. The speakers that he purchased failed to reproduce the realism of a live performance. He aimed to design a speaker that would emulate the concert hall experience in the home.
In 1968, he invented the 901(R) Direct/Reflecting(R) speaker system. They were one of the first stereo loudspeakers to utilize the space around them instead of reproducing sound as if in a vacuum.

Bose’s 901(R) speakers remained an industry benchmark for 25 years. He also captured the car stereo market, with systems that transformed the on-the-road listening experience.To do further research and begin production, he received financial support from MIT professor Y. W. Lee and in 1964 he founded Bose Corporation.

Today, Amar Bose has over two-dozen patents to his name. His products can be found in Olympics stadiums, the Sistine Chapel, NASA Space Shuttle, and the Japanese National Theatre. He was also a professor of electrical engineering at MIT for many years until he retired in 2000.

“As long as there are interesting problems to solve, I’ll stay active,” Bose said in a 2005 interview.
He featured on the 2006 Forbes Billionaires list with a personal wealth of $1.2 billion.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif called Bose “an extraordinarily gifted leader.” 

“He made quality mentoring and a joyful pursuit of excellence, ideas and possibilities the hallmark of his career in teaching, research and business,” Reif said in a statement.

“While my father is well known for his success as an inventor and businessman, he was first and foremost a teacher,” the son said. “I could not begin to count the number of people I’ve met who’ve told me that my father was the best professor they ever had.”

“Even our financial people were trying to get the engineers to discourage me, because they all saw money going into it,” said Bose, a lifelong tinkerer who began repairing radios as a teenager. “But some things you just believe in.”

Well it’s that belief that got you this far in life. It is worth commendation. Hats off to you and your achievements, sir!

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