Semi Joseph Begun (born in Germany in 1905, died 1995), usually referred to as S. Joseph Begun, was a German-American engineer and inventor.In 1943 Begun was Vice President of Research for Brush Development Company, Cleveland, Ohio. Brush’s main business was the production of piezoelectric phonograph pickups, the least expensive and most widely used pickup of the late 1930s. They also, however, produced in cooperation with Western Electric the magnetic tape sound recorders.