Lou Ottens, inventor of cassette tapes, dies at 94

Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer behind the creation of the widely-used audio cassette tapes, passed away at 94 at his home in Duizel in Brabant, Dutch media has reported.

Born in 1926, Ottens had an interest in technology at an early age and built a radio to secretly listen to a programme called “Radio Oranje” during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.

After the war, Ottens studied engineering and joined Philips in 1952 and became the company’s head of product development in 1960.

Ottens sought to provide an answer to the ‘clunky’ reel-to-reel audio tapes, and in 1963, he and his team introduced the cassette tape at the Berlin radio electronics fare.