Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium Diepeveen built an error-correcting coder-decoder that was delivered in the summer of 1978. The decoder was included in the CD prototype player that was presented to the international press. To commemorate this breakthrough, Philips received an IEEE Milestone Award on March 6, 2009. This breakthrough was also appreciated by Sony and they started a cooperation with Philips that resulted in June 1980 in a common CD system standard. Philips as a whole took a turn for the worse and by the end of the 1980s bankruptcy seemed a very real possibility. Under research director Kees Bulthuis the position of long-term
Gerard Philips a decade. On 19 March 1896 Philips married Johanna van der Willigen (30 September 1862 – 1942). They had no children. Gerard's father was a first cousin of Karl Marx (his paternal aunt was Marx's mother). Gerard was an uncle of Frits Philips, whom he and his brother brought into the business. Later they brought in his brother's son-in-law, Frans Otten. Gerard and his brother Anton supported education and social programs in Eindhoven, including the Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Association), which they founded. From it the professional football (soccer) department developed into the independent Philips Sport Vereniging N.V. Gerard