In the Beginning
Dr. Bose
In His
Early Life
In the Beginning
On November 2, 1929, Amar Gopal Bose was born in Philadelphia, PA. From an early age, he displayed the traits that would serve him well as an adult: a curiosity about the world around him, a fascination with science, and the ability to overcome almost any obstacle.
At his parents’ insistence, young Amar Bose studied the violin. Like many children his age, he was a less than enthusiastic student. However, through this training, he developed a keen ear, an appreciation for what the instrument should sound like, and a passion for classical music that lasted his entire life.
Amar Bose had a fascination with electric trains. However, due to his family’s financial situation, they were only able to afford to buy used trains that were almost always in need of repair. He discovered that the process of making something electrical and mechanical work again gave him almost as much pleasure as the trains themselves.
“We put up signs in all the little hardware stores where my father used to sell his imported goods. The signs said, ‘We repair radios.’ So people would drop off their radios at the store and I’d take them home and repair them, and we’d give the store 10% of the invoice. I had a little pact with my father that if my grades remained good, I could go to school only four days a week, and he would write an excuse saying I had a headache or something. The teachers all knew this; it was always on a Friday and so on Monday, they’d ask me, ‘How many radios did you fix, Bose?’”
— Amar Bose describing his radio repair business
By the time he was 13, Amar Bose had developed a strong interest in electronics and had learned how to fix broken radios. When his father’s import business collapsed during World War II, the teenager supported the family by repairing radios out of his parents’ basement. The business grew to be one of the largest radio repair services in the Philadelphia area during the war.
Many of Bose’s breakthroughs began while listening to music. One such breakthrough came while Dr. Bose was listening to a record on a new sound system he purchased to reward himself for finishing his PhD. The system looked great on paper, but Dr. Bose’s ears told him differently. Despite the perfect specs, the system’s sound reproduction was poor. Now, Dr. Bose was determined to find out why. He asked Dr. Wiesner, his mentor from MIT, if he could use the RLE’s acoustics lab over the summer to investigate. Thus began an exploration into the psychoacoustics of sound that would become one of the bedrocks of Bose Corporation.
Never Lose Your Imagination
By the time he was 13, Amar Bose had developed a strong interest in electronics and had learned how to fix broken radios. When his father’s import business collapsed during World War II, the teenager supported the family by repairing radios out of his parents’ basement. The business grew to be one of the largest radio repair services in the Philadelphia area during the war.
A Born Inventor
Amar Bose was originally waitlisted at MIT, but an MIT alumnus in Philadelphia knew the young man, knew the radio shop, and everything he’d done. The alumnus wrote a letter to the admissions office, and Amar Bose was accepted. MIT would play a profound role in shaping Dr. Bose’s life and that of his company.
After his undergraduate studies, Dr. Bose spent time abroad working and teaching on the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. He then returned to MIT to pursue his PhD in Electrical Engineering, working under the guidance of Dr. Norbert Wiener and Dr. Yuk-Wing Lee.
Dr. Bose continued his research at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics and quickly collected patents in three fields: acoustics, nonlinear systems and power electronics. Unfortunately, Dr. Bose had trouble finding a company interested in licensing any of his work. His mentor, Y.W. Lee, listened to his woes and told him a story: that every curio dealer’s dream is to 1. Come across something of extraordinary value, and 2. Recognize its value and not let it slip through your fingers. Dr. Bose thought about this, and the next day came back and said, “I know what you’re trying to tell me — that I’m trying to pass off these patents, and I’m letting them slip through my fingers, and that I should start my own company because it’s the only way that I can realize their value.” So Dr. Bose decided to start his own company.
