Historical Figures Codexery

Akio Morita

Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony.

Akio Morita

プレジデント社　撮影者不明 · via Wikipedia: Akio Morita · Public domain

Akio Morita co-founded the electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corporation in 1946 with Masaru Ibuka.[1][2] He was born in Nagoya, Japan, in 1921 into a family of sake brewers.[2] Morita died of pneumonia in Tokyo in 1999.[2]

Quick Facts

Born
26 January 1921
Birthplace
Nagoya, Empire of Japan
Died
3 October 1999
Place of death
Tokyo, Japan
Spouse
Yoshiko Kamei
Children
3
Known for
Co-founder of Sony
Education
Osaka University (BS)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Morita's family had been involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production since 1665.[3] In September 1945, Ibuka founded a radio repair shop in Tokyo, and Morita joined him after seeing a newspaper article about the venture.[4] With funding from Morita's father, they co-founded Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation in 1946.[5] Morita and Ibuka designed one of the first magnetic tape recorders produced in Japan in 1950.[2]

The company was renamed Sony in 1958, a name derived from the Latin "sonus" and the American term "sonny"[6][2] Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in 1960.[7] He became president of Sony in 1971 and chairman in 1976.[8][9] Morita stepped down as Sony chairman in 1994 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in 1993.[10][11]

In 1949, magnetic recording tape was developed by the company, and Japan's first tape recorder went on sale the following year.[6]

What the cited sources add

The IEEE Global History Network account states Morita was born in 1921 in Nagoya, where his family had been sake brewers since the sixteenth century.[2] The same source notes that Morita became fascinated with electronic gadgets and took an interest in mathematics and physics at an early age.[2] Morita later distanced himself from much of the book's conclusions and had his chapters removed from the English translation.[12] The prezi.com source states that Sony was one of the first companies to apply transistor technology to non-military uses.[1]

References

  1. "Masaru Ibuka", prezi.com. facts only, no text reused. prezi.com
  2. "Akio Morita", IEEE Global History Network. facts only, no text reused. ieeeghn.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chronology About Akio Morita, Akio Morita Library (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sony Global – Sony History Chapter 1 Rebuilding from the Ashes", www.sony.net; "Chronology – About Akio Morita – Akio Morita Library" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sony Global – Press Release – Masaru Ibuka 1908–1997", www.sony.net; "Sony Global – Sony History Chapter 1 Rebuilding from the Ashes", www.sony.net (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Masaru Ibuka", Gold Mercury International; "Masaru Ibuka", prezi.com; "Akio Morita", IEEE Global History Network (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nobuo Abiko, "Pioneering firm upsets Japan hiring: Pattern broken", The Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 1966, p. 14; Nobuo Abiko, "Pioneering firm upsets Japan hiring: Pattern broken", The Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 1966, p. 14; Nobuo Abiko, "Pioneering firm upsets Japan hiring: Pattern broken", The Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 1966, p. 14; Nobuo Abiko, "Pioneering firm upsets Japan hiring: Pattern broken", The Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 1966, p. 14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sony co-founder Morita dies", October 4, 1999, p. 3; Sterngold, "Masaru Ibuka, 89, Engineer And Sony Co-Founder, Dies", The New York Times, December 20, 1997 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sterngold, "Masaru Ibuka, 89, Engineer And Sony Co-Founder, Dies", The New York Times, December 20, 1997; "Sony co-founder Morita dies", October 4, 1999, p. 3; Trenholm, "Photos: The history of the digital camera", CNET (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sony co-founder Morita dies", October 4, 1999, p. 3 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Akio Morita" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Talk about "Akio Morita"/ Naoyuki Agawa, Professor of Keio University (2001) (in Japanese); "Sony co-founder Morita dies", October 4, 1999, p. 3; "ASIANOW – Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony Corp. dies – October 2, 1999", CNN (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. City Mayors Shintaro Ishihara Governor of Tokyo 7 September 2012 Retrieved on September 22, 2012. facts only, no text reused. citymayors.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Akio Morita (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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