Charles Denis Mee

Charles Denis Mee
Born	(1927-12-28) 28 December 1927 Loughborough, England
Died	22 May 2023(2023-05-22) (aged 95) Saratoga, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Engineer, physicist, writer
Years active	1951–1993 (IBM career), consultant thereafter
Known for	Magnetic recording and data storage technology development; IBM Fellow

Charles Denis Mee (December 28, 1927 – May 22, 2023) was a distinguished British-American engineer, physicist, and writer, widely recognized for his pioneering work in magnetic recording and data storage technologies related to hard disk drives (HDD). Much of his professional life was spent at IBM's San Jose facility. He authored and edited numerous influential texts on magnetic recording.

Background

Born on December 28, 1927, in Loughborough, England, Charles Denis Mee married Molly (née Orchard) in 1951. The couple relocated to the United States in 1957 and established their residence in Los Gatos, California, by 1965. They had one son, Robert.

Mee completed his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of London in 1948, followed by a PhD from the University of Nottingham in 1951. He later earned a Doctor of Science degree from Nottingham in 1967.

Career

Between 1951 and 1957, Mee was employed at M.S.S. in Colnbrook, UK, where he specialized in magnetics. In 1957, he emigrated to the United States to join the Columbia Broadcasting System Laboratories as Technical Director of their Magnetics Group. His innovations in high-density audio tape recording earned him the IRE Audio Society Award in 1964.

Mee became part of IBM Research at Yorktown Heights in 1962 and transferred to IBM Advanced Technology in San Jose three years later. There, he played key roles in developing and overseeing cutting-edge data storage initiatives such as thin-film heads for HDDs and various optical storage systems.

In 1982, Mee co-established IBM's Magnetic Recording Institute and served as its inaugural director, promoting collaborative efforts in storage technology. He was honored as an IBM Fellow in 1983. After retiring from IBM in 1993, he remained active as a consultant and contributor to magnetic and optical data storage projects involving academia and industry.

During the early 1980s, Mee spearheaded IBM’s initiatives to create university research centers including the Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR) at UC San Diego and the Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC) at Carnegie Mellon University. In 1991, he co-founded and chaired the National Storage Industry Consortium (now known as the Information Storage Industry Consortium, INSIC), aimed at enhancing industry competitiveness through partnerships between universities and corporations. Additionally, he was a founding member and significant contributor to the Storage Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum located in Mountain View, California.

Personal life and death

Charles Denis Mee passed away on May 22, 2023, in Saratoga, California, at the age of 95.

His son, Robert C. Mee, is the founder and CEO of Pivotal Software.

Awards and recognition

In recognition of his exceptional contributions to high-density audio stereo tape recording, Mee received the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) Audio Society Award in 1964. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers named him a Fellow in 1970 for his remarkable achievements. He is listed on the IT History Society Honor Roll as a prominent technologist and computing pioneer. Mee was awarded IBM’s Corporate Recognition Award in 1980 before being appointed an IBM Fellow in 1983. His work on optical, magneto-optical, and magnetic recording design earned him the IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Systems Award in 1994. In 1996, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering for his advancements in magnetic storage technologies and thin-film head development. The IEEE Magnetics Society honored him with their Achievement Award in 2000 for his technical excellence and dedicated service to the magnetics field.

Books and publications

Denis Mee contributed significantly to the field through authoring and editing several influential works, including:

• Physics of Magnetic Recording, published by North Holland in 1964
• The three-volume series Magnetic Recording, released by McGraw-Hill between 1987 and 1988, co-edited with Eric D. Daniel
  • Volume I: Technology
  • Volume II: Computer Data Storage
  • Volume III: Video, Audio & Instrumentation Recording
• Magnetic Recording Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1989, also edited alongside Eric D. Daniel
• Magnetic Recording: The First 100 Years, published by Wiley-IEEE Press in 1998, co-edited with Eric D. Daniel and Mark H. Clark

By 2019, he had authored or contributed to around 58 books and articles, which collectively received over 1400 citations.