Sounds of Our Times: Two Hundred Years of Acoustics

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near. Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) In writing this book, I acknowledge two important predecessors. In 1930, Professor Dayton C. Miller, of Case Institute, wrote his Anecdotal History of Acoustics, which followed mainly the individual work of a hundred or so acousticians, up to about 1930. And in 1978, Origins in Acoustics by Profes­ sor F.V. ("Ted") Hunt of Harvard appeared. Professor Hunt had not com­ pleted his book at the time of his death in 1972, but portions of it were published posthumously under the editorship of Professor Robert Apfel of Yale. This book begins roughly where the published portions of Hunt's work left off-the period at the beginning of the nineteenth century-and moves forward into the modern era. Because of the vast amount of acoustical research in this period, the personal and anecdotal style of Professor Miller's book did not seem appropriate. On the other hand, my age sug­ gested to me that I might have not have the time for pursuing the intense but time-consuming scholarship of Professor Hunt (note the quotation above). I have therefore tried to steer a middle course between Miller and Hunt, and have also relied more on secondary sources.

Robert T. Beyer is Hazard Professor of Physics Emeritus at Brown University.