Alan Edward Bell was a technologist who played a central role in developing the universal DVD format and the DVD copy protection system. He worked at RCA, IBM, Warner Bros. Studios, and Paramount Pictures before co-founding WR Entertainment.CED Magic: Memories of VideoDisc - Who's Who in VideoDisc: Alan E. Bell
Background, Education, and Death
Alan Bell was born in Brixton, south London, around 1949. His parents, Ivy (nee Smith) and Ted were a factory worker and a printer, respectively. The family moved to Crawley, West Sussex, in 1957 where Bell attended Thomas Bennett comprehensive school.
Bell studied at Imperial College, London, gaining a first class degree in physics in 1969. He was awarded a PhD degree in 1973 also from Imperial College for experimental work on the low-temperature magnetic and electrical properties of dilute alloys (Kondo effect) working under A. D. Kaplin.A.E. Bell, "Magnetic and electrical measurements on very dilute zinc and copper based alloys", Imperial College, London, Ph.D. Thesis, 1973 He then received a Sarnoff Fellowship to visit RCA Laboratories at Princeton, N.J. as a postdoctoral researcher working, for nine months, on liquid crystals using optical Raman scattering to determine the molecular ordering of the nematic phase.
Bell was married to Patricia (nee Wilkinson) from 1972 until their divorce in 2009. They had two children, Geoffrey and Melissa.
In May 2016, Bell was killed in a motorcycle accident while on vacation in Laos.
Career
In 1974, Bell completed his postdoc and joined the technical staff at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Center. His research focussed on improving the recording characteristics of metallic recording media. The research led to the development of broadcast-quality optical video recording, the RCA videodisc.Alexander B. Magoun, "David Sarnoff Research Center: RCA Labs to Sarnoff Corporation", Arcadia Publishing, page 105, 2003
Bell served as a Senior Scientist for Exxon’s Central Research Laboratory.
From 1982 to 2000, he worked for IBM Almaden Research Center. He was instrumental in the unification of the competing formats that resulted in the introduction of DVD and was a member of IBM's digital media team focused on copy protection technologies.Alan E. Bell, "Next-Generation Compact Discs" Scientific American, Vol. 275, No. 1, pp. 42-46, July 1996 The method and format were agreed between IBM, Intel, Matsushita, and Toshiba. "Record Companies unveil DVD Copy Protection Plans", Tech Monitor: Technology, March 3, 1999
In 2000, Bell was named Executive Vice President of Technology at Warner Bros., Technical Operations."Alan E Bell named senior vice-president technology", Warner Brothers press release, October 25, 2000J. Goldfarb, "Inventors try one disc for two new DVD formats", NBC Tech News, Sept. 19, 2006
In 2007, Bell became Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Paramount Pictures.C. Mayberry, "Par hires Bell to get technical", The Hollywood Reporter, Jan 30, 2007 E. Jacobs, "Paramount's Alan Bell Talks About Their Exclusive HD-DVD Decision", Movieweb, Aug. 22, 2007
In September 2009, Bell co-founded WR Entertainment with six other founders James F. Cardwell, Ryan Wiik, Duane M. Eberlein, Øyvind Holm-Johnsen, Steinar Larsen and Michael Joseph Smith.
Alan Bell is most recognized for his role in the unification of the DVD format,Hyperleap: Alan E. Bell and also led the negotiations that led to the development of DVD copy protection,C. R. Odgers, A. Bell "Method and Apparatus for Uniquely Identifying a Large Number of Film Prints", US Patent 7,308,430, Issued Dec 11, 2007 without which the major studios would not have released content to DVD.
Awards and recognition
In 1975, Bell received an RCA Laboratories Achievement Award.
In 1984, he became a Fellow of the Optical Society of America for his contributions to the DVD format.Optica: list of Fellows: 1985
In 2001, Bell became a fellow of the IEEE "for developments in optical data storage applications and technology".
Bell has authored or coauthored 29 issued US patents and numerous scientific papers.Justia Patents: Alan Edward BellUSPTO search for Bell,-Alan E. or Bell, Alan EdwardDBPL Computer Science Bibliography: Alan E. Bell
References