Masaru Ibuka
Masaru Ibuka was born in April 11th, 1908, NikkÅ City, Japan and died in December 19th, 1997, Tokyo. He was the co-founder of a tiny recording
company that grew into the giant Sony Corporation. He was graduated from Waseda University in 1933 and worked at Photo-Chemical Laboratory, a film industry. In 1946, he quited that industry and built a radio reparation shop in Tokyo.
In 1946 Ibuka and Akio Morita founded the Sony Corporation,
which is originally named Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. Ibuka was instrumental in securing the licensing of transistor technology to Sony from Bell Labs
in the 1950s, which making Sony one of the first companies to apply
transistor technology to non-military uses. Ibuka served as president of
Sony from 1950 to 1971, and then served as chairman of Sony between
1971 and 1976.
Akio Morita
Akio Morita was born in January 26th, 1921 in the village of Kosugaya, Japan and died in October 3rd, 1999, Tokyo. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the Chita Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture
since 1665. He was the oldest of four siblings and his father Kyuzaemon
trained him as a child to take over the family business. Akio,
found his true calling in mathematics and physics, and in 1944 he
graduated from Osaka Imperial University with a degree in physics. He later joined the navy and served as a lieutenant during World War II. During his service, Morita met his future business partner Masaru Ibuka in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee.
