Sound and Science

The Dynamical Theory of Sound

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On the Production of Currents and Sparks of Electricity from Magnetism

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On the Reflexion and Refraction of Sound

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De la nature des phénomènes auditifs: refutation de la théorie d’Helmholtz

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Upon the production of sound by radiant energy

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Photographic registration of sounds

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Sound waves: their shape and speed

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La Science Vol. 3, no. 27, 1857

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Allgemeine Theorie der Musik auf den Rhythmus der Klangwellenpulse gegründet

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Beschreibung einer Lochsirene für die gleichzeitige Erregung mehrerer Töne

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Sur la Sirène, nouvelle machine d’acoustique destinée à mesurer les vibrations  [...]

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Ueber Combinationstöne

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Ueber die Definition des Tones

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Beobachtungen über einige Bedingungen der Entstehung von Tönen

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Ueber die Empfindlichkeit des Gehörorgans

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Acoustical correction

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Tuning Fork Set

Description This set of tuning forks located in the Physics Department of the University of Alberta. They are described in the university legers as “Beat Boxes.” The Parisian  [...]

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Cherry Bowl Resonance

Description This is a variation of Savart’s  resonance bell where the bell is sounded and the resonator is moved back and forth to resonate with specific frequencies.  [...]

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Opelt’s Siren Disk

Description The earliest siren is attributed to Charles Cagniard de la Tour in 1819 (See the entry for Cagniard de la Tour Siren) Polyphonic sirens, with concentric  [...]

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Cagniard de la Tour- type Siren

Description This type of siren was invented by Charles Cagniard, originally developed to measure the number of vibrations of a body in a given time. Cagniard’s siren  [...]

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Sonometer

Description The Sonometer is a musical and scientific instrument with ancient roots, commonly employed in demonstrations of acoustics to show the effect of length, tension, diameter, and  [...]

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Casavant organ demonstrator

Description This is a demonstration pipe organ made by a well-known Quebec company, Casavant Frères. It was most likely obtained by the Physics department around 1925, when  [...]

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Akustische Briefe für Musiker und Musikfreunde

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Dr. Wallis’s letter to the publisher, concerning a new musical discovery;  [...]

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Mémoires sur différens sujets de mathématiques

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Sylva sylvarum or, A natural history, in ten centuries

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Questions harmoniques

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Les préludes de l’harmonie universelle

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Ueber die höchsten hörbaren und unhörbaren Töne, part 1

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Quelques expériences d’acoustique

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Über die Beobachtung der Luftschwingungen in Orgelpfeifen

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Beschreibung eines Stosstöneapparates für Vorlesungsversuche

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Ueber den Ursprung der Stösse und Stosstöne bei harmonischen Intervallen

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Traité d’acoustique

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Die Akustik

Die Akustik was written by Ernst Chladni in 1801, and is the first comprehensive work on acoustics to appear in German. The first part dealt with  [...]

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Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges

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Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni

Chladni was a physicist whose work focused on experimental acoustics. He invented the “Chladni figure” and various instruments. Until his death, he continued to travel and  [...]

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Jules Antoine Lissajous

Jules Antoine Lissajous was a high-school teacher, then held prestigious administrative posts in the education system of various parts of France. He had trained in physics,  [...]

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NAG ICA (International Commission for Acoustics)

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On rapid variations in the current through the direct-current arc

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Apparatus for singing- and speaking-arc experiments from the Max Kohl catalog

Source: Max Kohl A.G. : Physical Apparatus. Price List No. 50, Vols. II and III. Chemnitz, n.d. [1911], p. 1058.   Description on p. 1057: “Complete Apparatus for Experiments  [...]

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Stimmeinstellungszeichen

The Stimmeinstellungszeichen, literally “voice disposition indicators,” are metal shapes about 10 cm in diameter. Polished brass wire is bent to form abstract curves and lines. The linguist Eduard  [...]

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Ziele und Wege der Schallanalyse. Zwei Vorträge

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Kay Sona-Graph

This photograph shows the sound spectrograph produced by the Kay Electric Company. The device made it possible to create visual representations of the spectrum of audio  [...]

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Brüel & Kjær 2304 level recorder

These pictures show the measuring device Type 2304 produced by the Danish company Brüel & Kjær. Level recorders like this one made it possible to create  [...]

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Der physikalische und musikalische Tonmesser

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Theorie der Luftschwingungen in Röhren mit offenen Enden

Original Publication: Journal für die reine und angewandte Physik 57, no. 1 (1860): 1-72.

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Helmholtz lecture notebook “Mathematische Akustik”

Notebook (title: “Mathematische Akustik”) associated with lecture by Hermann von Helmholtz at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin. 114 pages. Inscription on the inside of the book cover: “Winter  [...]

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Helmholtz lecture notebook “Akustik”

Notebook (title: “Akustik”) associated with lecture by Hermann von Helmholtz at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin. Originally 94 pages, one sheet ripped out. Author not specified.  [...]

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Hermann von Helmholtz

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand Helmholtz, later von Helmholtz, was born in Potsdam in 1821, the son of Caroline Penne and high school principal August Ferdinand Julius Helmholtz.  [...]

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Professor Gruetzmacher (Braunschweig): Das Teilspektrum der Glocke – Side B

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Professor Gruetzmacher (Braunschweig): Das Teilspektrum der Glocke – Side A

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Wirbelstrom-Drehmomentmesser für kleine Drehmomente

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Lässt sich das Restgehör für tiefe Frequenzen dazu verwenden, dass durch  [...]

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Demonstrations of the „Tonlagenwandler“ – Side B

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Demonstrations of the „Tonlagenwandler“ – Side A

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Herrmann Scherchen (Gravesano): Anwendung elektronischer Musik für den Film von Oskar  [...]

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Herrmann Scherchen (Gravesano): Anwendung elektronischer Musik für den Film von Oskar  [...]

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Set of 8 Large Demonstration Tuning Forks

This specific array of precision tuning forks are highly-specialized experimental forks that relate directly to Koenig’s long-standing disagreement with Helmholtz on the nature of combination tones.  [...]

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Helmholtz Synthesizer

The sound synthesiser was Helmholtz’s clearest instrumental expression of his theory of timbre, or sound quality. Whereas his spherical resonators dissected compound sounds (vowels or musical  [...]

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Stumpf Papers: [Carl Stumpf], [Envelope] 4. Tafeln des Interferenz-Aufbau’s f. gesungene  [...]

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Sound Waves. International Telephone Journal (1900-1910)

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Adriaan Daniël Fokker

Adriaan Daniël Fokker was a prominent Dutch theoretical physicist. He is known in theoretical physics for the Fokker-Planck equation and his work on the theory of  [...]

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Photographic study of sound propagation within convex and concave

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Contact sheet of photographic sound studies

ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image archive / foto: Osswald, Franz Max / Ans_10391-011  [...]

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Photographic study of sound propagation in a cupola space

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Photographic study of sound propagation for an auditorium of variable size  [...]

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Acoustics laboratory, E.T.H. Zürich: Oscillation chart of the adjacent reverberation room

ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image archive, Inventory-number: Ans_10391-100  [...]

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Acoustics laboratory, E.T.H. Zürich

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Photographic study of sound propagation in Semper’s Stadthaus Winterthur auditorium

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Photographic study of sound propagation for rooms with wood coffering

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Cornelis Zwikker

Cornelis Zwikker was a Dutch physicist and one of the initiators of the Dutch Sound Foundation. After studying chemistry, mathematics, and physics in Amsterdam, he worked  [...]

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Photographic study of sound propagation for an elliptic space with coffering

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Photographic study of sound propagation with explanatory line drawings

Inventory number: Ans_10391-050

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Photographic study of sound propagation in the Ear of Dionysius

Inventory number: Ans_10391-091

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Franz Max Osswald

Franz Max Osswald, born in Winterthur, graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1905 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.). In 1924, he installed a  [...]

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Speaking arc and singing arc

The talking bow and the singing bow. The talking bow apparatus consists of a manually adjustable electric arc, a telephone microphone with a small transformer and a  [...]

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Lissajous’s figures, Wheatstone apparatus for compounding two orthogonal oscillations

This video demonstrates the principle of Chladni figures and vibrating plates. Brass plates of different shapes are fixed centrally at the top of wooden columns. Sand is  [...]

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Vibrations of plates, Chladni’s figures

This video demonstrates the principle of Chladni figures and vibrating plates. Brass plates of different shapes are fixed centrally at the top of wooden columns. Sand is  [...]

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Sounds, vibrations, and Marloye’s harp

This video demonstrates the principle of a Marloye’s harp. The masses of four pendulums are backed to the inside of a glass vessel. When an arch rubs  [...]

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Demonstration of a disk siren

This video demonstrates the principle of a disk siren. The device consists of a rotating machine accompanied by a series of cardboard perforated discs and bearing indications  [...]

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Recording the vibrations of tuning forks

This video demonstrates the principle of recording the vibrations of tuning forks. A small glass sheet is covered in a layer of black carbon, using the fumes  [...]

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Manometric capsule, resonance, Koenig sound analyzer

This video demonstrates the principle of the manometric capsule and the Koenig analyzer, which can be used to study sound. The capsule is made of two small  [...]

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The Bell System Technical Journal (1922-1983)

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Tuning fork on resonator

The Case Collection of Physics Instruments (CCPI) has several dozen forks mounted on resonance boxes (see Fig. 1). These were used as frequency standards in research and lecture demonstrations. The  [...]

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The Bell System Technical Journal

The Bell System Technical Journal was a periodical intended for sharing the scientific and engineering developments of the Bell System. It was published between 1922 and 1983. Collecting  [...]

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