Harry F. Olson


Harry Ferdinand Olson was a prominent engineer at RCA Victor and a pioneer in the field of 20th century acoustical engineering.

Biography

Harry F. Olson was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa to Swedish immigrant parents. Technically inclined from an early age, he built and flew model airplanes, constructed a steam engine and invented a wood-fired boiler that drove a 100-volt DC generator. Olson designed and built an amateur radio transmitter, gaining enough proficiency to be granted an operator's license. Olson went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Iowa then continued to earn a Master's degree with a thesis on acoustic wave filters in solids and a doctorate in Physics, working with polarization of resonance radiation in mercury. Immediately after completing his course of study in 1928, Olson moved to New Jersey to work for RCA Laboratories. Olson would remain at RCA for almost four decades.
that was used by CBS. In 2005, Mix Foundation honored Harry F. Olson and Les Anderson of RCA with induction to the TECnology Hall of Fame for their development of the Model 44 microphone in 1931.
Olson had a continuing interest in music, acoustics, and sound reproduction, and, by 1934, he was placed in charge of acoustical research at RCA. At RCA, Olson worked on a wide range of projects, which included developing microphones for the broadcasting and motion picture industries, improving loudspeakers, and making significant contributions to magnetic tape recording. Like many engineers of the World War II generation, Olson also made significant contributions to military technology as well, particularly to the fields of underwater sound and anti-submarine warfare. After the war Olson, along with Herbert Belar, developed the first modern electronic synthesizer. Equipped with electron tubes, the Mark II Sound Synthesizer was used to compose music, which was recorded and sold to the public.
A prolific inventor and engineer, Olson was awarded more than 100 patents for the various types of microphones, cardioid microphones, loudspeaker baffles, air-suspension loudspeakers, isobaric loudspeakers, early video recording equipment, audio recording equipment, phonograph pickups, underwater sound equipment, noise reduction, sound technology in motion-pictures, and public-address systems he developed. He also authored 135 articles and ten books including an interdisciplinary text charting the dynamical analogies between electrical, acoustical and mechanical systems. In 1949, Olson was honored by being the first recipient of the Audio Engineering Society's John H. Potts Memorial Award, an award program which was later renamed the Gold Medal. In 1953-4 Olson served as president of the Acoustical Society of America, which awarded him the very first Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics in 1974 and the Gold Medal in 1981. He won the IEEE Lamme Medal in 1970, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1959, and was the recipient of many honorary degrees during his lifetime.
Olson retired from RCA in 1967, continuing as a consultant for RCA Laboratories.

High Fidelity Demonstration

Shortly after World War II, Dr. Olson conducted an experiment, now considered a classic, to determine the preferred bandwidth for the reproduction of music. Previous experimenters had found that listeners seemed to prefer a high-frequency cutoff of 5000 Hz for reproduced music. Dr. Olson suspected that this was likely due to imperfections in the sound, especially in the higher frequencies, as reproduced by equipment in common use at the time. These imperfections included clicks and pops, added noise, hiss and harmonic distortion, and non linear frequency response from primitive loudspeaker designs. If the sound was free of these problems, he reasoned, listeners would prefer full frequency reproduction.
In his experiment, he set up a room which was divided diagonally by a visually opaque but acoustically transparent screen. The screen incorporated a concealed low-pass acoustical filter having an upper frequency cutoff of 5000 Hz. This filter could be opened or closed, allowing either the full range of frequencies to pass or the range only below 5000 Hz. At first, a small orchestra sat and performed on one side of the screen, while a group of test subjects sat on the other and listened. The listeners were asked to select their preference between two conditions: full bandwidth or restricted bandwidth. There was overwhelming preference in favor of the full bandwidth. Next, the orchestra was replaced with a sound-reproduction system with loudspeakers positioned behind the screen instead. When the sound system was free of distortion, the listeners preferred the full bandwidth. But when he introduced small amounts of nonlinear distortion, the subjects preferred a restricted bandwidth, thus demonstrating clearly the importance of high quality in audio systems.
As a result of this experiment and the work of others, such as Avery Fisher and later Edgar Villchur, high fidelity sound recording, transmission, and reproduction equipment saw increased investment, development, and public acceptance in the following decades. The design and manufacture of everything from microphones, to tape recorders, vinyl records, amplifiers, and loudspeakers were impacted.

Personal life

Harry F. Olson was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, on December 18, 1901. He was the first of two children. His parents were Swedish immigrants.
Olson married Lorene Johnson of Morris, Illinois in 1935. Both his mother and his wife were talented amateur artists — Lorene's paintings were displayed in Olson's RCA office for many years. Olson died at Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, New Jersey on April 1, 1982 at the age of 80.

Awards and honors

YearHonor or Award
1940The Modern Pioneer Award of the National Association of Manufacturers
1952The John H. Potts Medal of the Audio Engineering Society
1955The Samuel L. Warner Medal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
1956The John Scott Medal of the City of Philadelphia
1956The Achievement Award of the IRE Professional Group on Audio
1963The John Ericsson Medal of the American Society of Swedish Engineers
1965The Emile Berliner Award of the Audio Engineering Society
1967The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' Mervin J. Kelly Medal
1969The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' Consumer Electronics Award
1970The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' Lamme Medal
1974The Acoustical Society of America's first Silver Medal in engineering acoustics
1981The Acoustical Society of America's Gold Medal

Patents

YearPatent DescriptionPatent
Number
1931Acoustic Device For Sound Pick-up
1,814,357
1932Apparatus for Converting Sound Vibrations Into Electrical Variations
1,885,001
1932System Responsive to The Energy Flow of Sound Waves
1,892,644
1932Sound Pick-Up Device
1,892,645
1933System For the Conversion and Transfer Of Energy
1,897,732
1934Acoustic Device
1,984,542
1935Loud Speaker and Method of Propagating Sound
1,988,250
1935Acoustic Device
2,007,748
1936Electroacoustical Device
2,064,316
1937Sound Reproducing Apparatus
2,102,212
1937Acoustical Device
2,102,736
1938Microphone2,113,219
1938Microphone And Circuit
2,119,345
1940Loud-Speaker
2,203,875
1940Loud-Speaker
2,224,919
1941Electroacoustical Apparatus
2,228,886
1941Acoustical Apparatus
2,234,007
1942Signal Translating Apparatus
2,269,284
1942Electroacoustical Apparatus
2,271,988
1942Radio Remote Control System
2,293,166
1942Electroacoustical Apparatus
2,299,342
1945Signal Translating Apparatus
2,390,847
1947Magnetostrictive Signal Translating Apparatus
2,414,699
1947Signal Translating Apparatus
2,429,104
1949Signal Transmission and Receiving Apparatus
2,461,344
1949Air Suspension Loudspeaker2,490,466
1950Synthetic Reverberation System2,493,638
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber
2,502,016
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber Covered By A Membrane2,502,018
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber With Complementary Fitting Portions2,502,019
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber With Fiberglass Walls
2,502,019
1950Single Element, Unidirectional, Dynamic Microphone
2,512,467
1950Feedback Controller System For Recording Cutters And the Like
2,516,338
1951Directional Microphone
2,539,671
1951Coaxial Dual-Unit Electrodynamic Loud-Speaker
2,539,672
1951Transformerless Audio Output System
2,548,235
1951Means For Improving The Sensitivity And The Response Characteristics
Of Velocity Microphones		2.566,039
1951Line Type Pressure Responsive Microphone2566,094
1951Velocity Type Microphone
2,629,000
1953Second Order Gradient Directional Microphone2,640,110
1953Portable Radio With A Bass-Reflex Cabinet2,642,948
1953Noise Discrimination System2,645,648
1953Cabinet For Sound Translating Apparatus2,649,164
1953Multisection Acoustic Filter
2,656,004
1954Uniaxial Microphone2,680,787
1954Noise Reduction System2,686,296
1954Sound Translating Apparatus
2,688,373
1954Coaxial, Dual Unit, Electrodynamic Loud-Speaker
2,699,472
1955Velocity Microphone
2,699,474
1955Dynamic Microphone
2,718,272
1956Unidirectional Microphone
2,751,441
1956Acoustical Resistance For Pressure Type Microphones2,773,130
1957Methods Of Restoring Phonograph Records
2,808,466
1957Transducer With Fluid Filled Diaphragm Suspension2,814,353
1957Loudspeaker Structure
2,825,823
1958Combination Chassis And Loudspeaker2,838,607
1958Directional Microphone
2,854,511
1958Noise Discriminator, Threshold Type2,645,684
1958Music Synthesizer
2,855,816
1958Wide Range Dynamic Phonograph Pickup2,858,375
1959Acoustic Apparatus
2,870,856
1959Signal Frequency Change Detector2,918,667
1960Vibration Control Apparatus2,964,272
1961Apparatus For Speech Analysis and Printer Control Mechanisms2,971,057
1961Electronic Sound Absorber2,983,790
1961Directional Electrostatic Microphone3,007,012
1961Music Composing Machine3,007,362
1963Stereophonic Loudspeaker3,104,729
1968Voiced Sound Fundamental Frequency Detector3,400,215