Despite his accidental death in June 1942 at the age of 38, Alan Dower Blumlein was unquestionably one of the century s most creative engineers and filed some 140 patents. He was the driving force and inspiration behind a vast number of fundamental innovations in the fields of radar, electronics and sound recording, amongst which he held perhaps the landmark patent enabling stereo sound. Surprisingly, until 1999 there had been no biographies of this remarkable man. The IEE is proud to rectify this by publication of this scholarly treatment of Blumlein's life, which includes a foreword by his eldest son.