13 Facts About Masaru Ibuka

Masaru Ibuka was a Japanese electronics industrialist and co-founder of Sony, along with Akio Morita.

Masaru Ibuka was born on April 11,1908, as the first son of Tasuku Ibuka, an architectural technologist and a student of Inazo Nitobe.

Masaru Ibuka later moved to Kobe after his mother remarried.

Masaru Ibuka passed the entrance exam to Hyogo Prefectural 1st Kobe Boys' School and was very happy about this success.

Masaru Ibuka was instrumental in securing the licensing of transistor technology from Bell Labs to Sony in the 1950s, thus making Sony one of the first companies to apply transistor technology to non-military uses.

Masaru Ibuka led the research and development team that developed Sony's Trinitron color television in 1967.

Masaru Ibuka served as president of Sony from 1950 to 1971, and then served as chairman of Sony from 1971 until he retired in 1976.

Masaru Ibuka was awarded the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon in 1960, and was decorated with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1978 and with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1986.

Masaru Ibuka was further decorated as a Commander First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star of Sweden in that year, named a Person of Cultural Merit in 1989 and decorated with the Order of Culture in 1992.

Masaru Ibuka received Honorary Doctorates from Sophia University, Tokyo in 1976, from Waseda University, Tokyo in 1979, and from Brown University in 1994.

Masaru Ibuka served as the Chairman of the National Board of Governors of the Boy Scouts of Nippon.

Masaru Ibuka authored the book Kindergarten is Too Late, in which he claims that the most significant human learning occurs from birth to 3 years old and suggests ways and means to take advantage of this.

Masaru Ibuka was survived by a son and two daughters.