The Seattle Times: "Today, Russell does consulting from a lab in the basement of his Bellevue home to keep in the game and supplement a modest pension from Battelle.
A wooden box on a shelf contains a set of faintly scored glass plates, each about the size of a 3- by 5-inch notecard. They are precursors of the DVD; each contains a digital recording of a television show taken off the air in 1974 to prove that his idea for optical digital recording worked.
The plates, a collection of paperwork and a small trophy from Battelle are basically all he has to show for his work on a technology that changed how the world buys and stores music, movies and software.
'I didn't really expect I was going to make a lot of money, because I recognized early on it was going to take a big company to put this all together and get it out on the market, because it was a revolutionary thing,' Russell said, 'and you don't just do revolutionary things of that order without enormous support and that I was going to lose my position no matter what.
'That's OK, but a little royalty I kind of expected. I didn't expect to get nothing.'
Battelle did a little better. The research institution, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, made more than $1 million from the patents, but not a lot more."
Jim Russell's optical-digital recording work:
1953: Russell joins General Electric as a physicist at Hanford, where he developed several instrumentation systems, the first computerized-control system for a nuclear reactor and the first electron-beam welder.
1965: Joins Battelle at Richland and begins developing the first of three optical data-storage technologies.
1966: The first of a series of 25 patents is filed.
1973: Designs and builds first prototype.
1974: Technology demonstrated to potential licensees, including Sony and Philips.
1979: Sony and Philips begin joint development of digital audio disc.
1980: Digital Recording established to develop technology.
1982: Sony begins CD production.
1985: Digital Recording goes out of business; assets sold to Optical Recording in Toronto, which hires Russell.
1987: Russell's contract with Optical Recording ends; he becomes independent consultant and inventor.
1988: Optical Recording settles patent case with Sony and Philips.
2004: More than 35 million CD players and 25 million DVD players sold.
A wooden box on a shelf contains a set of faintly scored glass plates, each about the size of a 3- by 5-inch notecard. They are precursors of the DVD; each contains a digital recording of a television show taken off the air in 1974 to prove that his idea for optical digital recording worked.
The plates, a collection of paperwork and a small trophy from Battelle are basically all he has to show for his work on a technology that changed how the world buys and stores music, movies and software.
'I didn't really expect I was going to make a lot of money, because I recognized early on it was going to take a big company to put this all together and get it out on the market, because it was a revolutionary thing,' Russell said, 'and you don't just do revolutionary things of that order without enormous support and that I was going to lose my position no matter what.
'That's OK, but a little royalty I kind of expected. I didn't expect to get nothing.'
Battelle did a little better. The research institution, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, made more than $1 million from the patents, but not a lot more."
Jim Russell's optical-digital recording work:
1953: Russell joins General Electric as a physicist at Hanford, where he developed several instrumentation systems, the first computerized-control system for a nuclear reactor and the first electron-beam welder.
1965: Joins Battelle at Richland and begins developing the first of three optical data-storage technologies.
1966: The first of a series of 25 patents is filed.
1973: Designs and builds first prototype.
1974: Technology demonstrated to potential licensees, including Sony and Philips.
1979: Sony and Philips begin joint development of digital audio disc.
1980: Digital Recording established to develop technology.
1982: Sony begins CD production.
1985: Digital Recording goes out of business; assets sold to Optical Recording in Toronto, which hires Russell.
1987: Russell's contract with Optical Recording ends; he becomes independent consultant and inventor.
1988: Optical Recording settles patent case with Sony and Philips.
2004: More than 35 million CD players and 25 million DVD players sold.
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