Life and career to 1965. Childhood and high school years, 1905-1920; undergraduate life and education at Ohio State University, 1920-1925; graduate work at Harvard University, 1925-1932; realization of his place in physics; research and problems with doctoral thesis; research on architectural acoustics and reflections on his teaching at Harvard, 1932-1945; cascade and frequency meter, relations in department, conflicts between teaching and research function, development of slight weight pickup and side wall support; war work on Navy acoustic mine sweeping project, National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) underwater sound projectr︣ecruitment, management problems, and dismantlement; instigating Navy postwar research in underwater sound; creation of the Engineering Science and Applied Physics department at Harvard, 1946-1965; development of the Acoustical Society of America since 1930s; assessment of his contributions; place of acoustics as a field of study. Also prominently mentioned are: Leo Beranek, John Bouyouvos, Percy Williams Bridgman, Emory Leon Chaffee, James Bryant Conant, Chris Engleman, Harvey Fletcher, William H. Klofan, Theodore Lyman, Philip McCord Morse, G. W. Pierce, Jack A. Pierce, Tim Shea, Alpheus Wilson Smith; Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Undersea Warfare Committee, and United States Navy.