Alexander M. Poniatoff

Alexander Matveevich Poniatoff (Александр Матвеевич Понятов) (1892-1980); engineer. He emigrated from Russia to China, where he worked for the Shanghai Power Company until he emigrated to the United States in 1927. He founded, in 1944, the Ampex company, using his initials, A.M.P., plus "ex" for "excellence" to create the name. The high-frequency bias techniqe, which made quality recording possible, was invented by telefunken engineers and poniatoff the beneficiary of what was effectively war-booty. Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen's original magentic recorder was previously only useable for telephony recording. In 1956, engineers of Ampex created the world's first rotary head recorder, the VR-1000 videotape recorder. Poniatoff served as president of Ampex until 1955 when he was elected chairman of the board.

Links

* [http://www.ce.org/Events/Awards/468.htm About Poniatoff and Ampex during his time]
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/672/000057501/ Another site about Poniatoff]
* [http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/713/ About Poniatoff at the 20th Century American Leaders Database]