In MMD 990916, Jeffrey Borinsky mentioned that Ray Dolby (of Dolby
noise reduction fame) worked on the design of the first commercially
successful video tape recorder at Ampex. [ It appears that Dolby
Dolby designed much of the electronics for that video recorder, but
not the video heads ], according to a history paper on the Dolby
Laboratories website:

    http://www.dolby.com/company/les-ih.html

Paul West