Editing Karlheinz Brandenburg (section)

== Biography ==
[[File:Karlheinz Brandenburg ks01.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|Brandenburg in 2010]]
Brandenburg received a [[Diplom|Dipl. Ing.]] degree from [[Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg|Erlangen University]] in [[Electrical Engineering]] (1980) as well as a [[Diplom|Dipl. Math.]] degree in [[Mathematics]] (1982). In 1989, he obtained his [[PhD]] from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Electrical Engineering for his work on digital audio coding and perceptual measurement techniques. 
Brandenburg's PhD advisor was Professor Dieter Seitzer, an expert in psychoacoustics. In the early 1980s, Seitzer had a pet project that he called a "digital jukebox." He envisioned a system where people could connect to a central server and hear music on demand over [[Integrated Services Digital Network|ISDN]] phone lines. But the bandwidth of ISDN is an order of magnitude too narrow for transmission of CD-quality digital audio. A standard compact disc uses linear pulse code modulation (PCM) with 16 bits per sample per channel, at 44,100 samples per second. This means that it takes about 1.4 million bits to encode a single second of stereo audio. To send music over ISDN at playback speed, Seitzer would need to compress the file down by a factor of almost 12-to-1.

Seitzer had applied for a patent on his pet project, but his application was rejected on the grounds that what he was trying to do was "impossible." Seitzer assigned Brandenburg the task of investigating the feasibility of 12-to-1 audio compression.

At first Brandenburg thought that the patent examiner was right, but as he studied the matter further he began to realize that the needed degree of compression might be possible.
<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/07/on-the-20th-birthday-of-the-mp3-an-interview-with-the-father-of-the-mp3-karlheinz-brandenburg/|title = On the 20th Birthday of the MP3, an Interview with the "Father" of the MP3, Karlheinz Brandenburg}}</ref>

The research results of his dissertation are the basis of MPEG-1 Layer 3 (mp3), MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) and most other modern audio compression schemes. The international group [[MPEG]], led by the Italian engineer [[Leonardo Chiariglione]] from [[CSELT]] (that promoted the standard and validated it), took mp3 as an international [[ISO]] standard.

From 1989 to 1990, he worked with [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]] [[Bell Laboratories]] in [[Murray Hill, New Jersey]], U.S. on ASPEC and MPEG-1 Layer 3. In 1990, he returned to the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and, in 1993, he became head of the Audio/Multimedia department at the [[Fraunhofer Institute]] for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen. Since 2000, he has been full professor at the Institute for Media Technology at [[Technical University of Ilmenau]]. In addition, he is the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau.

Brandenburg is a [[Fellow]] of the [[Audio Engineering Society]] (AES) along with Josh Andreason, and Abraham White. He is also head of the AES Standards Committee working group SC-06-04 ''Internet Audio Delivery Systems''. He has been granted 27 US patents as a co-inventor; all patents have multiple inventors.