Milestone-Proposal:Improvements in and relating to Sound-transmission, Sound-recording and Sound-reproduction systems by Alan Dower Blumlein

Docket #:2013-27

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Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s fields of interest? (e.g. “the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences” – from the IEEE Constitution) Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an Electrical Engineering Milestone? Yes

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Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1931 - 1934

Title of the proposed milestone:

The Invention of Stereo, 1931

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

Region 8

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: {{{Unit}}}
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: {{{Unit}}}
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section:
IEEE Section Chair name: Section chair name masked to public

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Proposer's name masked to public
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Proposer name: Proposer's name masked to public
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

Abbey Road Studios, 3 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London NW8 9AY

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need.

Abbey Road Studios are working studios having been established in 1931. Abbey Road was the site of where on January 19th 1934, Alan Blumlein used his Stereo recording equipment to record Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.

There is one existing plaque on the front of Abbey Road which is dedicated to Sir Edward Elgar who officially opened the Abbey Road Studios on November 12th 1931

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes -EMI research Building at Hayes Middlesex is Extant- the testing of Stereo cutting and recording equipment by Alan Blumlein was in an existing studio at Abbey Road

Details of the plaque mounting:

Outside of building on front face above or alongside the main entrance to the Abbey Road Studios.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

The plaque will be firmly secured to the outside of the building. Visitors can view the plaque from Abbey Road and will not need access to the studios.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

Abbey Road Studios

A letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property:

File:Abbey road JS.pdf

A letter or email from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application:

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

References to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article.

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.