Leonardo is called the father of the MP3 which is an exaggeration but he is a remarkable person. He is actually a co-founder of the Moving Picture Experts Group which created the technology, set the standards and whatever. The standard we now take for granted was developed by the early Nineties too. There’s a 10-year-old interview with him here explaining the original plan.
I find the man’s career intriguing. He graduated with a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Polytechnic Turin in the late Sixties but earned a PhD from the University of Tokyo around 1973. Initially I thought it was a typo, no, other sources verified this.
He went on to have a career with Telecom Italia. By the mid-Eighties, Leonardo established the international organization to develop and promote HDTV. I recall all the discussions over these things in college. Too bad it took a long time to finally get adopted.
Anyway, when you enjoy tunes on your mobile device or watch digital streaming on a big flatscreen, a lesser-known Italian named Leonardo is a major reason why.