Ungar’s family leaves Vienna for St. Louis fleeing the Nazis. College at Washington University is interrupted by Army service in postwar Europe. Takes up mechanical engineering on return to Washington University. Master’s degree while employed at Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. PhD at New York University where he briefly teaches. Joins Bolt, Beranek and Newman in late 1950s. Also joins the Acoustical Society of America rising to the presidency. Family and leisure activities.
Concentrates on oil-drop experiment. Family background and early education; undergraduate at Brigham Young University (physics); graduate at University of Chicago, Robert Millikan and Albert A. Michelson as physicists and teachers. Extensive coverage of the work and relationship with Millikan on the "oil-drop" technique with two versions of the nature of the collaboration presented by Vern Knudsen, one from Millikan's autobiography and Fletcher's own account. Work on modification of Stokes' law and Brownian motion. Impact of electric charge measurement. Teaching at Brigham Young 1911-1916; acoustics work at Western Electric Co.(later Bell Labs) on the determination of the critical bands of hearing; dynamics of the cochlea; development of stereophonic sound. Role in formation of Acoustical Society of America. Interests in electronic reproduction of musical tones. Successful effort to develop a school of engineering at Brigham Young. Discussion of Millikan's Nobel Prize, comments by Knudsen. Achievements of son. Also prominently mentioned are: Louis Begeman; Science (journal), and United States Bureau of Standards.
In this interview Warren Blazier discusses topics such as: his childhood and family background; undergraduate work at the University of Kansas and graduate work at the University of Wichita; Foundation for Industrial Research; working at Boeing Aerospace Company; acoutical vibration standards in buildings; Acoustical Society of America; Preston Schmitz; Ted Schultz; working at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN); Bill Galloway; Red Wetherall; Jack Purcell; George Wilson; Ken Oliphant; Lou Goodfriend; American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc (ASHRAE); Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE); Charles Ebbing; Peter Baade; Brian Gunther.
In this interview Leo Beranek discusses topics such as: his family; Acoustical Society of America; being president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Harvard University; working as acoustic consultant to the Japanese government for their opera houses and concert halls; getting his autobiography published; G. W. Pierce; Ted Hunt; his work in acoustics; Philip Morse; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Bell Laboratories; Harvey Fletcher; Dick Bolt; Sam Labate; William Lang; Harold Marshall; Manfred Schroeder; Bill Cavanaugh; George Maling; Gary Seabine; Tim Mellow; his acoustical consulting businesses.
Educational background -- Cornell College, Iowa (1932-1936), Harvard University (1936-1940) with Frederick V. Hunt as thesis advisor; acoustics research at Harvard; teaching position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (from 1947); formation of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (1948); research on electro-acoustics, architectural acoustics, acoustical impedance, aircraft acoustics, high altitude acoustics; community noise and noise control for aircraft; consulting projects including U. N. General Assembly room acoustics design (1950), Cleveland wind tunnel (1950-1951), Lincoln Center concert hall, San Diego concert hall; review of historical and modern concert hall designs; outdoor amphitheaters; president of Channel 5 television in Boston (1972-1983).
