Lou Ottens
Engineer
Dutch engineer, investor and former director of the Phillips Hasselt conglomerate. He worked for Phillips his entire professional career and was credited as the inventor of the cassette tape and as a key contributor in the invention of CDs.
He began working for Phillips in 1952. By 1960, he was head of the new product development department.
After the creation and final testings of the cassette tape, Phillips decided to publicly release the first cassette tape in 1963 at IFA Berlin.
He was married to Margo Ottens before her death in 2002. Together, they had two daughters and a son.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards commonly used Phillips recorders to make demos.