Ikutaro Kakehashi

Engineer; father of the drum machine and co-inventor, with Dave Smith, the MIDI standard; founder of electronic equipment giant Roland -- via the New York Times. His contributions to music can't be overestimated. In particular, his insistence on standardization in the electronic music industry is a key philosophical concept in modern technology -- the idea of open networks and interconnectedness, versus closed systems, a debate that drags on today.