Semi Joseph Begun
Semi Joseph Begun (December 2, 1905 in Germany – January 5, 1995), usually referred to as S. Joseph Begun, was a German-American engineer and inventor known for his contributions to magnetic recording, underwater acoustics, and telecommunications. Life and career Born in 1905 in Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland), Begun earned a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1933 from the Technical University of Berlin. He immigrated to the United States in 1935. In 1939, he married Ruth Begun, who was the first woman to be awarded a physics PhD from the University of Berlin. In 1943 Begun was Vice President of Research for the Brush Development Company, Cleveland, Ohio. Brush's main business was the production of piezoelectric phonograph pickups, the least expensive and most widely used pickup of the late 1930s. Brush also produced in cooperation with Western Electric magnetic steel tape sound recorders. These used hardened steel tape as the recording medium. Another product Brush manufactured were wire recorders. These used stainless steel wire, with a composition similar to (or perhaps identical with) high carbon high chromium cutlery steel, which is ferromagnetic, as the recording medium. The recording head was a split ring, with the wire running in a groove