caption death_date birth_place article_title birth_date spouse residence image employer name occupation
photo courtesy of todd w. white 21 march 1989 wyndmere , north dakota john kenneth hilliard
 october , 1901 jessamine hilliard los angeles , california ; anaheim , california john k. hilliard.jpg united , j.k.hilliard and associates artists , metro-goldwyn-mayer , altec lansing , ltv john kenneth hilliard engineer , designer , researcher , consultant
john kenneth hilliard

john kenneth hilliard -lrb- october 1901 -- march 21 , 1989 -rrb- was an american acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs .
he helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film , and won an academy award in 1935 .
he designed movie theater sound systems , and he worked on radar as well as submarine detection equipment during world war ii .
hilliard collaborated with james b. `` jim '' lansing in creating the long-lived altec voice of the theatre speaker system .
hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics , vibration , miniaturization and long-line communications for nasa and the air force .
near the end of his career , he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in california , a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the u.s.
