Walter Bruch

Biography

Walter Bruch, born on March 2, 1908, following his studies as a civil engineer and after a short time at the Institute of Research of Manfred von Ardenne, joined the Television Research Laboratory of Dénes von Mihaly on January 1, 1933. At the end of 1935 he transferred to the Research Laboratory of Telefunken in Berlin. There, Professor Fritz Schroeter charged him with the development and the construction of the television equipment for the German Post Office. The installations for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the 1937 World Trade Fair in Paris, and the first complete electronic German television studio in 1938 have been projects of his.

Besides many other research activities in the field of radar technology, he developed for Wernher von Braun the first television observation system on the occasion of the A4-rocket launching.

After World War II he had been responsible for the research department of television sets with Telefunken Gesellschaft, Germany. In 1959 Telefunken installed for him his own basic research laboratory, There the color TV system PAL (Phase Alternating Line) had been created and more than 150 German patents were the result.

Professor Bruch workied as a consultant for Telefunken, especially in the field of international standardization. As a consultant for new technologies he assists the Technical Director of the ZDF (Second German TV Program), He is one of the founders of the Fernseh-und Kinotechnische Gesellschaft (Association for Television and Cinematographical Technologies) the president of which he has been for seven years.

At the University of Hanover, Germany, he promoted scientifically the subject of television technology by holding lectures for ten years.

He has achieved world-wide renown through many hundreds of lectures throughout the world. His scientific contributions to television have been reflected by numerous honours and awards. He is an honorary member of the British Royal Television Society (Geoffrey Parr Prize in 1967), and of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers (I.E.R.E.). In 1971 he received the David Sarnoff Gold Medal from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Professor Bruch was awarded the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal German Republic in 1968. In 1974 The Royal Television Society of Great Britain presented him with her Gold Medal. Together with Wernher von Braun in 1976 he received the Werner von Siemens Ring, an award for services to sciences and technology, which is conferred only every four years. Bruch received the 1980 IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award "For the development of the Phase Alternating Line (PAL) color television system."

Professor Bruch and his wife resided in Hanover, Germany, and they have one son.