Ray Milton Dolby, OBE (January 18, 1933 – September 12, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor of the noise reduction system known as Dolby NR. He helped develop the video tape recorder while at Ampex. He was the founder of Dolby Laboratories. He was also a billionaire and a member of the Forbes 400 with an estimated net worth of US$2.9 billion in 2008 although as of September 2012 it was estimated to have declined to $2.4 billion.
Ray Milton Dolby passed away on September 12, 2013, four months away from what would have been his 81st birthday on January 18, 2014.
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He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 22, 2015.
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Posthumously inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2004.
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Received his Ph.D degree in physics from Cambridge University in Cambridge, England (1961).
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Received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in Stanford, California (1957).
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Attended and graduated from Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California.
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In 1965, he founded Dolby Laboratories in London, England. The company became a leader in audio technology, reducing background hiss in tape recordings and introducing "surround sound".
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Created the Dolby NR that pioneered in noise reduction and surround sound which led to the development of many state-of-the-art technologies, for which he held more than 50 U.S. patents.
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Forbes magazine estimated Dolby's fortune to be at $2.4 billion.