In 1965, he founded Dolby Laboratories in London, England. The company became a leader in audio technology, reducing background hiss in tape recordings and introducing "surround sound".
Forbes magazine estimated Dolby's fortune to be at $2.4 billion.
Created the Dolby NR that pioneered in noise reduction and surround sound which led to the development of many state-of-the-art technologies, for which he held more than 50 U.S. patents.
Attended and graduated from Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California.
Received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in Stanford, California (1957).
Received his Ph.D degree in physics from Cambridge University in Cambridge, England (1961).
Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2004) and the Television Academy Hall of Fame (2014) (posthumously).
He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 22, 2015.
Ray Milton Dolby passed away on September 12, 2013, four months away from what would have been his 81st birthday on January 18, 2014.
The Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak Theatre) was renamed in his honor and has been the venue for The Oscars since 2002 when the 74th Academy Awards was celebrated there.