Hans Christoph Wohlrab

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Hans Christoph Wohlrab , also Hans-Cristof Wohlrab (born February 1, 1904 in Dresden , † August 18, 1997 in Los Angeles ), was a German-American sound engineer .

Live and act

Hans Christoph Wohlrab was the youngest of three sons of the Ministerialrat Hans Friedrich Karl Wohlrab (1863–1929) and his wife Anna, nee. Enzmann (1873-1970). He grew up in Blasewitz near Dresden, attended the higher elementary school there for three years, then the state high school in Dresden-Neustadt and then until 1922 the prince and state school Sankt Afra in Meißen . He then studied law for two semesters at the University of Bonn . From 1923 he studied physics, mathematics, mineralogy and chemistry at the University of Leipzig . There he was a student and employee of the physicist and television technology pioneer August Karolus . At that time Karolus was busy with experiments to produce sound films using a Kerr cell . In 1929 Wohlrab was awarded a Dr. Phil is doing his doctorate, at the suggestion of Karolus, with a dissertation on a method for the photographic recording of electrical and acoustic processes .

Wohlrab later worked as an engineer for Berliner Klangfilm GmbH, a company specializing in sound film technology, in which AEG and Siemens & Halske AG held the main shares. Wohlrab was responsible for the sound of one of Klangfilm's first sound films, the short film circus "Kater Murr" (1930). During the Second World War , Wohlrab served as an aviation staff engineer . In 1942 he published an article in the magazine Luftwissen about development problems of aerial photography devices . After the war he worked again in Karlsruhe for Klangfilm and Siemens, who had since bought up all of the company's shares. Among other things, he dealt with magnetic sound recorders. In 1951, he and Werner Jahn registered a patent for a magnetic tape recorder .

In 1955, Bell & Howell , an American manufacturer of film technology equipment, offered Wohlrab a managerial position. In the following year he then traveled with his family to the United States. In Chicago he worked as Research Director in the Professional Division of Bell & Howell. There he continued to do research in the field of sound film, among other things to improve the production of film copies . 1963 he and two other employees of Bell & Howell was a Oscar for Science and Development Award (Academy Scientific and Engineering Award). They received it for the design and development of a new type of printer (“automatic motion picture additive color printer”) that could be used to copy color cinema films. In 1967 he and Andrew Balint filed a patent for an interlock circuit for a film copier ( program tape discriminator ). In 1968 Wohlrab became Director of Engineering at Hollywood Film Company, a Californian manufacturer of equipment for film laboratories.

In 1975 Wohlrab received the Herbert T. Kalmus Medal Award from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) . He received it for his contributions as an engineer to the further development of printing and sound recording equipment in the color film sector, which he made over the course of his 40-year career. In 1978 the television and cinema technology company awarded him the Oskar Messter Medal , which is awarded for special merits in promoting cinema technology.

Wohlrab died in Los Angeles at the age of 93. His grave is in El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest .

Publications

  • About a method for the photographic recording of electrical and acoustic processes. Thomas & Hubert, Weida 1930.
  • The volume range of the Eurocord font. Klangfilm GmbH, Berlin 1937.
  • Development problems of aerial photography devices. In: Luftwissen Volume 9 of the series Deutsche Luftwacht , Scientific Society for Aerospace, ES Mittler, February 1942, pp. 37–41.
    • As well as in: Journal for applied photography in science and technology. 5, 1943, No. 1, pp. 1-7.
  • A Multiple Magnetic Printing Equipment for CinemaScope. In: SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. Vol. 66, No. 4, 1957, pp. 189-192.
  • An automatic additive color printer. In: SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. Vol. 68, No. 7, 1959, pp. 479-481.
  • A New Continuous Additive Color Printer for High-Speed ​​Production. In: SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. Vol. 75, no. 10, 1966, pp. 990-993.
  • Highlights of the History of Sound Recording on Film in Europe. In: SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. Vol. 85, no. 7, 1976, pp. 531-533.

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About a method for the photographic recording of electrical and acoustic processes. Thomas & Hubert, Weida 1930, p. 49.
  2. ^ Joachim-Felix Leonhard: Medienwissenschaft: a manual for the development of the media and forms of communication. Part 2, Walter de Gruyter, 2001, ISBN 3-11-016326-8 , p. 1202.
  3. ↑ Christof Wohlrab filmportal.de. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  4. ↑ US2735900 A Google Patents. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ US 3476477 A Google Patents. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  6. ↑ Broadcasting, April 29, 1968, Vol. 74, No. 18, p. 63. americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  7. ^ The Technicolor-Herbert T. Kalmus Medal Award Recipients smpte.org. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  8. ^ Oskar Messter Medal fktg.org. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  9. ↑ Hans Christoph Wohlrab In: Find a grave . Retrieved January 24, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Wohlrab, Hans Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wohlrab, Hans-Cristof
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American sound engineer
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1997
Place of death los Angeles