One of the most novel and brilliant innovations of the 20th century, the magnetic recording of information, has turned out also to be one of the giant commercial successes of the last 50 years. Mr. David Morton, under the direction of Dr. James Brittain, is undertaking his dissertation research on the history of magnetic recording in the United States. He is focusing first on its protracted and troubled early phase of commercial development, following through to its sudden flowering during and immediately after World War II, and then shifting to its wide-ranging social, economic, and technological effects. The history of magnetic recording is important for reasons that go beyond the huge economic significance of products such as audio and video recorders or computer hard drives. The results of this research promise to illustrate and advance our knowledge of important historical processes and phenomena such as the interaction between government and industry, the ways that large corporations build business operations around particular technologies, the mechanisms of university research and development, and the transfer of technology internationals and from laboratory to industry. In addition to studying the innovation and development phases of this technology, Mr. Morton is also exploring technological history from another perspective, that of users ald consumers. Magnetic recording history is unique because of the way that the technology proved to be adaptable to such an amazing array of applications. This research promises to show how inventors, small companies, and even individual end-users made radical changes in the way magnetic recording technology could be utilized, in a sense redefining it to fit new ideas about how it would be useful.
