4 ms·

Also the inventor of the CD. I wonder what else he built that is sitting in a stack of papers somewhere.

• rob74 6y ago
  Not to underestimate Mr. Ottens' contribution, but as the article notes, he was the "head of product development at the Belgian Hasselt branch of the Eindhoven company Philips" - so I guess he didn't single-handedly invent both the Compact Cassette (as it was called initially) and the Compact Disc, I think it was more of a group effort under his leadership...
  • lordnacho 6y ago
    It's normal to credit leaders with the team's effort though. Just about anything is a team effort, but credited to the leader, at least for public announcements.
  • clydethefrog 6y ago
    Yes, it's a bit like a Steve Jobs situation. In a Dutch eulogy I read yesterday it has the anecdote of him showing a wooden block that would fit in the inside pocket of his jacket and decided for the team: this is how small the music cassette should be. He also quickly negotiated with Sony when they started to copy the design to make Philips' design the universal standard. Edit: Found this quote in Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape (2016): "You can credit me with a few ideas. But the designers developed the device. I haven't done anything special. "
    • aksss 6y ago
      But did he walk around the office eating pretentious fruit? https://youtu.be/E3s-qZsjK8I https://youtu.be/E3s-qZsjK8I
  • Triv888 6y ago
    The leader gets more credits because he often gives direction.