Charles Ginsburg

Charles Paulson Ginsburg (July 27, 1920 – April 9, 1992) was an American engineer and the leader of a research team at Ampex which developed one of the first practical videotape recorders.

Ginsburg was born on July 27, 1920 in San Francisco, California. At age four, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He attended Lowell High School in San Francisco.

Ginsburg earned a bachelor's degree from San Jose State University in 1948. He worked as an engineer at AM-radio station KQW (now KCBS). He joined Ampex in 1951, and remained there until his retirement in 1986, holding the title Vice President of Advanced Technology. The engineering team that helped created the videotape recorder while working for Ampex under his direction were Charles Andersen, Ray Dolby, Shelby Henderson, Fred Pfost, and Alex Maxey.

Ginsburg was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1973, being cited for invention and pioneering development of video magnetic tape recording for instant playback.

He died on April 9, 1992 in Eugene, Oregon of pneumonia.

• David Sarnoff Award of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (1957),
• Vladimir K. Zworykin Award of the Institute of Radio Engineers (1958),
• Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal from the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences [da] (1960)
• Howard N. Potts Medal from the Franklin Institute (1969)
• John Scott Medal from theCorporation of the city of Philadelphia
• Video Achievement Award from the former International Tape/Disc Association (1975)
• Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1990).
• Inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame (2000).

• U.S. Patent 3,003,025
• U.S. Patent 2,968,692
• U.S. Patent 2,956,114
• U.S. Patent 2,921,990
• U.S. Patent 2,916,547
• U.S. Patent 2,916,546
• U.S. Patent 2,866,012