Joseph Poliakoff

Joseph Lazarevich Poliakoff (Russian: Ио́сиф Ла́заревич Поляко́в; 24 April 1873 – 24 November 1959) was a Russian-born British telephone and sound engineer and inventor, particularly of hearing aids.[3]

In this Eastern Slavic name, the patronymic is Lazarevich and the family name is Poliakoff.
Joseph Poliakoff
Иосиф Поляков
Born
Iosif Lazarevich Polyakov

24 April 1873[1]
Kremenchuk, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire
Died24 November 1959 (aged 86)[2]
London, England, U.K.
NationalityBritish
OccupationTelephone and sound Engineer and Inventor
Known forFounder of Multitone Electronics
Spouse(s)Flora Shabbat
ChildrenAlexander Poliakoff
Parent(s)Lazar Polyakov
RelativesSir Martyn Poliakoff (grandson)
Stephen Poliakoff (grandson)

Poliakoff was a Russian Jew who experienced first-hand the communist revolution in Russia from the family's Moscow flat across from the Kremlin.[4] Near starvation after the revolution, he was given a government job as a district telephone inspector from an admiring commissar and he helped build Moscow's first automatic telephone exchange.[4] He then fled with his family from the newly Stalinist Soviet Union to the UK in 1924.[5][6]

Poliakoff was a renowned inventor of electrical devices[7] whose many inventions included a selenium photograph telephony shutter in 1899 (US patent 700,083, 13 May 1902),[8][9] which, along with electrical sound amplification, allowed for synchronized audio on film, the radio volume control, a magnetic induction loop that allowed hearing-impaired people to hear in auditoriums or theatres,[10][11] and the paging beeper.[12]

He also founded the Multitone Electric Company of London, England in 1931 that produced hearing aid devices,[13] with their most prestigious client being Winston Churchill.[12] Poliakoff was managing director until 1938.[3]

He married Flora Shabbat, a granddaughter of a textile millionaire.[14] His son, Alexander Poliakoff (1910–1996) was chairman of Multitone Electronics for over 40 years,[14] and his grandsons are the chemist Sir Martyn Poliakoff and the dramatist/director Stephen Poliakoff.

References
  1. 1939 England and Wales Register
  2. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
  3. ProQuest (2 January 1960). "Obituary: JOSEPH POLIAKOFF - ProQuest". Retrieved 12 April 2017 – via ProQuest.
  4. Poliakoff, Stephen (28 May 2008). "Ringside at the revolution" – via The Guardian.
  5. Wroe, Nicholas (27 November 2009). "A life in drama: Stephen Poliakoff" – via The Guardian.
  6. Information, Reed Business (12 January 1978). New Scientist. p. 97. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  7. Periodic Videos (27 October 2016). "Geissler Tubes – Periodic Table of Videos" – via YouTube.
  8. Western Electrician. 1902. p. 382. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  9. The Electrical World and Engineer. 1901. p. 299. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  10. "Induction Loops Around the World Where are we? – Part I–Robert Traynor–Hearing International". Hearinghealthmatters.org. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  11. "Patent US2252641 – Method of and apparatus for the transmission of speech and other sounds - Google Patents". Google.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  12. Garvey, Alison (9 May 2011). "Marketing Content Company: Multitone, the inventor of the first paging system celebrates its 80th birthday today". Mccinternational.blogspot.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  13. "History of T-Coils—General Information". Hearingaidmuseum.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  14. Jeanne Vronskaya (30 July 1996). "Obituary: Alexander Poliakoff". The Independent. Retrieved 11 April 2017.


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