Francis F. Lee

Life & Legacy

Francis Fan Lee (李凡, January 28, 1927 – January 12, 2024) was a Chinese-American inventor, businessman, and professor emeritus of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Lee was the founder of Lexicon (company) (originally American Data Sciences). He is best known for three inventions: the Digital Cardiac Monitor (1969), the Digital Audio Signal Processor (1971), and the Digital Time Compression System (1972). In 1984, Lexicon won an Emmy Award for Engineering Excellence for the Model 1200 Audio Time Compressor and Expander, widely used in the television industry.