A Legacy of Sound
Dr. [Thomas G.] Stockham [“Pioneer in Sound,” Spring 2013] was a very nice guy. I stopped by Soundstream back in the late ’70s and visited with him out of pure curiosity for what he was doing.
He gave me a half hour of his time and explained what he was doing and how he was doing it. The disc pack shown [in the online video with the article] held 10 minutes (!) of music.
The original Telarc masters at the dawn of the digital era were mastered by Soundstream at a higher frequency rate than the current CD standard. I’ve always felt those early Soundstream masters sounded much warmer (and juicier) than the Sony standard which became the norm. The Janowski recording of the Wagner Ring was mastered by Soundstream and, for me, is the best sounding of any of the digital Ring recordings.
Yes, this guy was a major pioneer in the history of recording, from Edison to the present.
James Bevan BS’71
Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu
The Young Impresario
For my last two years at the U, a large group of us (engineering & business students) would meet at the Crimson Commons, the restaurant in the basement of the Union Building, for lunch, and play dealer’s choice poker. Nolan [Bushnell] [“The Impresario,” Spring 2013] was a regular participant, and would often bet without even looking to see what he had. He was “gutsy” then, and still is now. I would not describe him at that time as being nerdy, but kind of a fun guy to be around.
Timothy Tate BS’69
Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu
Nolan [Bushnell] was a fraternity brother of mine, and we lived at the fraternity house at the same time. He was always an exceptional Nerd.
Richard Lybbert BA’69
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Praise for an Innovator
You’re a real hero, John [Warnock] [“The Innovator,” Spring 2013]. I still remember that time in 1968 seeing a drawing on Dave Evans’s office wall of a building illustrating the new “hidden line algorithm” by student John Warnock. I couldn’t imagine how the data was represented. It was just a bunch of points in space! How did he deal with it?
Congratulations on your contributions.
Carol Withrow MS’70
Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu
Encouraging a Scientist
Many thanks for both putting the item about me in “Through the Years” [Winter 2012-13] and making sure that I saw it.
Several fellow U of U geezers and geezettes saw the item and sent me congratulations via email.
I owe a great debt to U of U. I was treated as a person, not just a student ID number. As an undergrad, I had only vague ideas of a career. However, two U of U professors thought I would make a good scientist.
First, as I was completing my B.S., Professor Ivan Cutler called me in and said as much—but did not leave it at that. He told me Professor Milton Wadsworth had a Ph.D. research assistantship to offer to the right student. Then he picked up the phone and made me an appointment with Professor Wadsworth. He, too, decided I had potential and awarded me the assistantship. I did my research under Professor Wadsworth’s excellent direction. I became a scientist, and it has been a great career for me.
Two U of U professors treated me as a person and shaped my life.
A.U. “Dan” Daniels BS’61 PhD’66
Professor Emeritus for Experimental Surgery
University of Basel Faculty of Medicine
Riehen, Switzerland