Milestone

Report of the IEEE milestone event in Eindhoven
IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing
The Compact Disc Digital Audio System
Milestone Citation
Date and Venue
Program
Content of the Milestone Book
Partial List of Invitees
List of Attendees
Links
Images / Video
Pictures taken at the IEEE CD Milestone event

Report of the first IEEE Benelux milestone event

IEEE Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having a large impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world. Initiated by the IEEE Benelux Section, the IEEE dedicated a Milestone to N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken, with the following citation:

On 8 March 1979, N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken demonstrated for the international press a Compact Disc Audio Player. The demonstration showed that it is possible by using digital optical recording and playback to reproduce audio signals with superb stereo quality. This research at Philips established the technical standard for digital optical recording systems.

March 2009

For a video press release (March 2009), please press here.

Read more...

**The official plaque**

On 6 March 2009, IEEE President John Vig presented an IEEE Milestone to Rick Harwig, Chief Technology Officer of Royal Philips Electronics, for the creation of the Compact Disc about 30 years ago. The presentation and unveiling of the Milestone was the culmination of a three-hour long event, in which short speeches were delivered by the Rector of Eindhoven University of Technology (where the event took place), by Georges Gielen, the IEEE Benelux Section Chair (which Section nominated Philips for the Milestone), by the Mayor of the City of Eindhoven, by the Deputy of her Majesty's Governor in the Province of Noord-Brabant, and by the Deputy Director-General for Enterprise and Innovation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The first more or less technically-oriented and historical lecture was given by Joop Sinjou, with the title "From LP to CD". On the occasion of the Milestone, a book was published by Springer in the Philips Research Book Series; the first copy of the book, entitled "Origins and Successors of the Compact Disc: Contributions of Philips to Optical Storage," was presented to Joop Sinjou by IEEE Life Fellow Hans Peek. Both Joop Sinjou and Hans Peek played an important role in the development of the CD.

**IEEE president John Vig uncovering the plaque with Hans Noordanus and Martin Bastiaans**

After the tea break, two more lectures were presented: one by Hiroshi Ogawa, entitled "Sony's Approach to the CD," in which Sony's role in the development of the CD was discussed, and a more general one by Frans Greidanus, with the title "Innovation and Optical Storage." The ceremony ended by John Vig's presentation of this first Milestone in the Benelux Section to Rick Harwig, who expressed Philips' sincere appreciation for getting this important award.

The photograph shows the unveiling of the bronze plaque by John Vig and Hans Noordanus, who was the driving force behind the Milestone nomination.

IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing

IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing is a program of the IEEE History Committee administered through the IEEE History Center to honor significant achievements in electrical, electronic, and computer engineering and the associated sciences. Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents. Milestones are proposed, nominated, and sponsored by an IEEE Organizational Unit such as an IEEE section, society or chapter. After recommendation by the IEEE History Committee and approval by the IEEE Executive Committee, a bronze plaque commemorating the achievement is placed at an appropriate site with an accompanying dedication ceremony. The program is administered for the IEEE History Committee by the IEEE History Center.

IEEE established the Milestones Program in 1983 in conjunction with the 1984 Centennial Celebration to recognize the achievements of the Century of Giants who formed the profession and technologies represented by IEEE.

Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having at least regional impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world.

The Compact Disc Digital Audio System

The creation of the Compact Disc Audio System resulted, for the first time, in the introduction of complex micro electronic systems in large quantities into the life and works of the people of the world. The low price, the robust sound disc and the simple intuitive control of this friendly product made it open to all levels of society and brought high fidelity sound reproduction to the public. The combination of existing market potential, the successful concept as consumer product, the standardization and advanced technology, procured the Compact Disc a distribution all over the globe. The resulting impact on the community and technology formed one of the most important technologic impulse of the 20th century. The descent from the video domain, the radiation into the professional audio market and the CDROM (and its successors) in the multi media domain evolved the concept of the optical disc far above the level of only an audio carrier.
The Compact Disc System became a historic milestone in the information age.

For more information, see The Compact Disc Digital Audio System - Excerpts of the PhD thesis by Jürgen Lang, Das Compact Disk Digital Audio System: ein Beispiel für die Entwicklung hochtechnologischer Konsumelektronik, ISBN 3-00-001052-1.

Milestone Citation

Initiated by the IEEE Benelux Section, the IEEE has decided to dedicate a Milestone to N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken, with the following citation on the bronze plaque:

IEEE MILESTONE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTING
COMPACT DISC AUDIO PLAYER, 1979

On 8 March 1979, N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken demonstrated for the international press a Compact Disc Audio Player. The demonstration showed that it is possible by using digital optical recording and playback to reproduce audio signals with superb stereo quality. This research at Philips established the technical standard for digital optical recording systems.
March 2009
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS

Date and Venue

The dedication ceremony will take place at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Auditorium, Blauwe Zaal, on Friday 6 March 2009.

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Auditorium - Blauwe Zaal

Program

Lunch

The lunch is for a selected number of people only

12:00 Lunch in the University Club, Main Building, 1st floor, north side

Visitors who would like to take their lunch near the Blauwe Zaal before the start of the afternoon program, have several options:

Lounge in the Auditorium (AUD), 1st floor
Grand-Café De Zwarte Doos (ZD)
Brasserie-Restaurant University Club, Main Building (HG), 1st floor

See the campus map for the location of the buildings AUD, ZD, and HG.

Afternoon program

The afternoon program is open to everyone.

13:30 Welcome address by Hans van Duijn, Rector Magnificus, Eindhoven University of Technology

Welcome address by Georges Gielen, IEEE Benelux Section Chair

13:40 Introduction by Martin Bastiaans, today's session chair

13:50 Speech by Rob van Gijzel, Mayor of the City of Eindhoven

14:00 Speech by Paul Rüpp, Deputy of Her Majesty's Governor in Noord-Brabant

14:10 Speech by Hans de Groene, Deputy Director-General for Enterprise and Innovation, Ministry of Economic Affairs

14:20 Lecture by Joop Sinjou: From LP to CD

14:50 Presentation of the first copy of the milestone book by Hans Peek

15:00 Tea break

15:30 Lecture by Hiroshi Ogawa: Sony's Approach to the CD

16:00 Lecture by Frans Greidanus: Innovation and Optical Storage

16:30 Milestone award ceremony

Speech by John Vig, IEEE President

Presentation of the Milestone by John Vig

Acceptance speech by Rick Harwig, Philips Chief Technology Officer

17:00 Reception

The people who have registered, are mentioned on this list.

Content of the Milestone Book

Origins and Successors of the Compact Disc
Contributions of Philips to Optical Storage

edited by J.B.H. Peek, J.W.M. Bergmans, J.A.M.M. van Haaren, F.J.C.M. Toolenaar, and S.G. Stan

Springer, Philips Research Book Series, Vol. 11; ISBN: 978-1-4020-9552-8

In March 1979, a prototype of a 'Compact Disc (CD) digital audio system' was publicly presented and demonstrated to an audience of about 300 journalists at Philips in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. This milestone effectively marked the beginning of the digital entertainment era. In the years to follow, the CD-audio system became an astonishing worldwide success, and was followed by successful derivatives such as CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, and recently Blu-ray Disc. Today, around the thirtieth anniversary of the milestone, it is taken for granted that media content is stored and distributed digitally, and the analog era seems long gone. This book retraces the origins of the CD system and the subsequent evolution of digital optical storage, with a focus on the contributions of Philips to this field. The book contains perspectives on the history and evolution of optical storage, along with reproductions of key technical contributions of Philips to the field. .

The Compact Disc as a humble masterpiece - J.A.M.M. van Haaren
The Philips prototype of the CD system
1. Introduction to contributions on the Philips prototype of the Compact Disc digital audio system - J.B.H. Peek
2. Presentation of J. Sinjou on the public presentation of the Philips prototype of the CD system on March 8, 1979 - J.P. Sinjou
3. The Philips 'VLP' system - K. Compaan and P. Kramer - Philips Tech. Rev.
4. The error control system of Philips Compact Disc - L.B. Vries - AES
5. A monolithic 14-bit D/A converter - R.J. van de Plassche and D. Goedhart - IEEE J. Solid State Circuits
The CD system as standardized by Philips and Sony
1. Introduction to publications of the Compact Disc digital audio system - J.B.H. Peek and J.P. Sinjou
2. The Compact Disc digital audio system - M.G. Carasso, J.B.H. Peek, and J.P. Sinjou - Philips Tech. Rev.
3. Compact Disc: system aspects and modulation - J.P.J. Heemskerk and K.A. Schouhamer Immink - Philips Tech. Rev.
4. Error correction and concealment in the Compact Disc system - H. Hoeve, J. Timmermans, and L.J. Vries - Philips Tech. Rev.
5. Digital-to-analog conversion in playing a Compact Disc - D. Goedhart, R.J. van de Plassche, and E.F. Stikvoort - Philips Tech. Rev.
6. Compact Disc mastering - an industrial process - W. Verkaik - AES
7. Communications aspects of the Compact Disc digital audio system - J.B.H. Peek - IEEE Communications Magazine
Compact Disc standards and formats - Sorin G. Stan
1. Introduction
2. Read-only CDs
3. Recordable and rewritable CDs
4. Miscellaneous CD versions and formats
Digital Versatile Discs - Sorin G. Stan
1. From Compact to Digital Versatile Discs
2. The DVD-ROM and DVD-Video
3. DVD standards
4. The DVD-R
5. The Re-recordable DVD
6. The DVD-RAM
7. Other DVD forum's specifications
8. Miscellaneous DVDs and DVD-like optical media
Blu-Ray Disc
1. Video after 2000: Blu-ray Disc as the ultimate high-definition format - J.A.M.M. van Haaren and M. Kuijper
2. High numerical aperture optical recording: active tilt correction or thin cover layer? - Y.V. Martynov, B.H.W. Hendriks, F. Zijp, J. Aarts, J.-P. Baartman, G. van Rosmalen, J.J.H.B. Schleipen, and H. van Houten - Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.
3. Optical disc system for digital video recording - T. Narahara, S. Kobayashi, M. Hattori, Y. Shimpuku, G.J. van den Enden, J.A.H.M. Kahlman, M. van Dijk, and R. van Woudenberg - Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.
4. Groove-only recording under DVR conditions - M. Kuijper, I. Ubbens, L. Spruijt, J.M. ter Meulen, K. Schep - Proc. SPIE
5. Wobble-address format of the Blu-ray Disc - S. Kobayashi, S. Furumiya, B. Stek, H. Ishibashi, T. Yamagami, and K. Schep - Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.
6. Liquid immersion deep-UV optical disc mastering for Blu-ray Disc Read-Only Memory - J.H.M. Neijzen, E.R. Meinders, and H. van Santen - Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

Partial List of Invitees

IEEE

John Vig, IEEE President 2009
Marko Delimar, IEEE Region 8 Director-Elect

Philips

Rick Harwig, Chief Technology Officer Royal Philips Electronics
Frans Greidanus, Senior Vice President Philips Research

University

Hans van Duijn, Rector Magnificus
Jo van Ham, Member of the Executive Board
Harry Roumen, Secretary of the Executive Board

Government

Hans de Groene, Deputy Director-General for Enterprise and Innovation, Ministery of Economic Affairs
Paul Rüpp, Deputy of Her Majesty's Governor in the Province of Noord-Brabant
Rob van Gijzel, Mayor of the City of Eindhoven

People involved in Philips Optical Storage

We have tried to trace as many persons who have some relation to Philips Optical Storage as possible. We succeeded in inviting the people mentioned on this list.

List of Attendees