Bert Praetorius, father of rewind, passes at 90
From a tribute post on Reddit from one of Bert Praetorius' grandchildren:
After the war, he was honorably discharged and returned to New York City to work for NBC as an electrical engineer, often working on broadcasts of Yankees games (he knew and was friends with many of the players, including many who are considered "greats" today). It was here that he developed the technology for rewinding to work properly (think of something like when you're watching tv and you see someone drop an egg on the sidewalk, and then you'll see the entire think in reverse flawlessly, without the lines you would see like when you would try to do the same with a tape in the VCR- and remember, at this time, this was many years before the advent of home video recording). For this, he recieved little recognition, despite the now complete ubiquity of his invention. He was, however, once a guest on the show "I've got a Secret", where his invention was obviously his secret (I have been trying for years now to track down a copy of the show, with no success- if anyone knows where I could find something like that, it would mean a great deal to me and my family, especially now). Ultimately he retired to a home in the middle of New Jersey, where he lived happily for many years, keeping himself busy with ham radio and computers. He was one of the first people to own a pocket calculator and a personal computer. He leaves behind his wife of 57 years, Marcelle, 8 children, and nearly 30 grandchildren.
Dear Reddit: On Tuesday night, my grandfather died. He invented rewinding (seriously). [Reddit]
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You may have been hoxed: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/inventor-of-rew.html
He probably won't be able to find a tape of that "I've Got a Secret" episode. I've heard one of the writers of "The Match Game" complain that the tapes were frequently recorded over because they didn't see value in archiving them. Also, sadly, there are old episodes of "Dr. Who" that have been lost to the same sort of thinking.