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Tom Holman Receives Academy Award

IMSC key investigator Tomlinson Holman, a pioneer in the audio field and developer of the Lucasfilm THX Sound System®, has won a 2001 Academy Award for technical achievement for research and systems integration that have improved loudspeaker systems for movies.

Prof. Holman will receive the award at a gala dinner March 2 in Beverly Hills held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor its 21 scientific and technical achievement award winners for 2001.

Prof. Holman, who is Professor of Film Sound in the School of Cinema-Television, has been an IMSC key investigator since the beginning of the Center in 1996.

His research at IMSC's Immersive Audio lab includes work on the 10.2-channel sound system, the next generation of surround sound. He heads TMH Corporation, an IMSC partner, which is pursuing commercialization of the 10.2-channel system.

"IMSC has provided a very collaborative environment in which we can stretch the boundaries of what can be currently commercial with a view to the longer term, and, as such, has already contributed greatly to what I believe will be the future of sound recording and production," he said.

Prof. Holman developed the Lucasfilm THX Sound System® during the 15 years he was at Lucasfilm, Ltd. He is the primary developer and patent holder of the system, which is also known as Tomlinson Holman's eXperiment (hence the "THX"). At Lucasfilm, he spearheaded the conception, design, development and implementation of the technical infrastructure for George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and the Skywalker Sound post-production facility.

For more than 20 years, Prof. Holman has been involved in research in cinema sound systems, including a two-week stint in a multiplex theater in Arkansas during his sabbatical last year, which has resulted in new findings affecting sound systems and acoustics of the latest, stadium-seating theater designs. He is founding editor of Surround Professional magazine, and author of "Sound for Film and Television" and "5.1 Surround Sound Up and Running."

He is an honorary member of the Cinema Audio Society and the Motion Picture Sound Editors group. He is a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.