John Bowen worked as an Engineering Assistant at RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc Operations on Rockville Road in Indianapolis.

John Bowen and Timothy Farley received the first Technical Excellence Awards of SelectaVision VideoDisc Operations. On June 23, 1981, the awards were presented at a luncheon by Dr. Jay J. Brandinger, Division Vice-President and General Manager of SelectaVision VideoDisc Operations. Those attending the luncheon included the winners' management, members of Dr. Brandinger's staff, and members of the Technical Excellence Committee.

Mr. Bowen and Mr. Farley were each recognized "by virtue of his outstanding creativity, resourcefulness, and proficiency in developing analytical techniques relating to disc performance and defect analysis".

Although prior efforts had been made to establish a defect analysis function, John and Tim were the first to develop the skills and methods to dissect defects, analyze them optically and chemically, and categorize them by sources. The methods John and Tim developed became the key in the quantification of new carbons and other compound ingredients and process parameters in terms of micro-defect sizes and quantities. Such information has been extremely important in the CED Engineering and Manufacturing groups' achievement over the past two years of a significant reduction (by a factor of 20) in the quantity of disc surface defects.

The analytical techniques John and Tim have developed will become even more important in the near future. Stereo disc development and introduction impose stringent new requirements for low disc defect levels, and the characterizations of disc defects will be an integral part of these development and introduction efforts.
- Jan/Feb 1982 RCA Engineer

See John Bowen on slide 296 from Memories of VideoDisc.

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