Lou Ottens, the engineer who invented the audio cassette tape, has died aged 94.
The Dutch pioneer passed away in his hometown of Duizel last weekend, his family announced on Tuesday, March 9.
In 1960, after working at Philips for eight years, Ottens became the head of the product development department for its Hasselt division. Together with his team, they developed the cassette tape – a piece of technology that would go on to change the world.
Initially, they created the Philips EL 3585, a portable tape recorder. However, Ottens was frustrated with how clumsy it was, going on to condense the technology into something far more usable and appealing.
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