Lou Ottens, the engineer who led the team that developed the cassette tape and CD died earlier this month in the Netherlands. He was 94.
After earning his engineering degree, Ottens started working at Philips in Belgium. In 1960, he was appointed the head of Product Development and, three years later, the cassette tape was unveiled at an electronics expo in Berlin.
Blank cassettes for recording were introduced to consumers in 1964, followed by pre-recorded music cassettes – which became a popular alternative to vinyl records through the ‘70s. Ottens went on to help invent the compact disc, which dominated the market in the ‘80s and ‘90s.