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| Article Type: | Obituary |
| Subject: | Electrical engineers (Biography) |
| Pub Date: | 03/01/2012 |
| Publication: | Name: Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness Publisher: American Foundation for the Blind Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Health Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 American Foundation for the Blind ISSN: 0145-482X |
| Issue: | Date: March, 2012 Source Volume: 106 Source Issue: 3 |
| Topic: | Event Code: 540 Executive changes & profiles |
| Product: | Product Code: 8527030 Electrical Engineers NAICS Code: 54133 Engineering Services |
| Organization: | Organization: Stanford University |
| Persons: | Biographee: Bliss, James C. |
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| Accession Number: | 284552286 |
| Full Text: |
James C. Bliss, a pioneer in the development of technology for
people who are visually impaired and cofounder of Telesensory Systems,
died recently. Hailing from Texas, Dr. Bliss spent his formative years
studying electrical engineering; he earned a bachelor's degree from
Northwestern University, a master's degree from Stanford
University, and a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He began his engineering career at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo
Park, California. While working as an associate professor at Stanford
University, he collaborated with colleague and Professor John Linviii to
develop a reading machine for Dr. Linvill's daughter, Candy, who
was blind. After several years of development, the result was a portable
reading system called the Optacon, which used a camera to scan printed
text and generate tactile images of the print letters with an array of
rods. In 1971, Dr. Bliss cofounded Telesensory Systems to manufacture and disseminate the Optacon, as well as other products and technologies, including speech synthesis, for people with visual impairments. He served as President of Telesensory for over 20 years. He was also instrumental in founding several other Silicon Valley companies, as well as his own, JBliss Imaging, which he founded and ran for 5 years after leaving Telesensory. In 2007 he received the Migel Medal, the highest honor in the blindness field, from the American Foundation for the Blind. In retirement, Dr. Bliss served on the Santa Clara County Advisory Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Los Altos Hills Pathway Committee. JVIB invites readers to submit information for possible publication in a future edition of From the Field to Rebecca Burrichter, senior editor, JVIB, AFB Press, American Foundation for the Blind, 2 Penn Plaza, Suite 1102, New York, NY 10121; fax: 917-210-3979; e-mail: |
| Gale Copyright: | Copyright 2012 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. |
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