Sound

Interview with Malcolm Crocker, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Auburn University. Crocker recounts his childhood in England during World War II where he was inspired by the aircraft industry in the UK at the time. He describes attending University of Southampton for his undergraduate and master’s degrees in the aeronautical engineering program. Crocker then worked at Wyle Labs in Huntsville Alabama before returning to England to complete his graduate studies at Liverpool. He describes accepting an offer to join the faculty at Purdue University as an associate professor, where he stayed for many years. Crocker then was offered a position as department head at Auburn. Crocker describes his involvement in the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) and his role as a founding director of INCE International. He also details his activity within the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), where he has served on the Noise Committee and the History Committee.

Interview with Patricia Kuhl, Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences and co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington. Kuhl describes joining the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) while a grad student at the University of Minnesota and discusses her over 50 years of membership. She served on the Executive Council of the ASA and was the first female President of the society in 1999 and 2000. Kuhl discusses her research in language acquisition and the neurobiology of language, and she explains the support and mentorship she has received over the years from the ASA and her mentors within. Kuhl also recounts her childhood in South Dakota and Minnesota, and her early interests in philosophy and math. She describes her time as an undergraduate at Saint Cloud University where she studied speech science and psychology, before pursuing a master’s and PhD at the University of Minnesota. Kuhl also speaks about her experiences as a postdoctoral researcher at the Central Institute for the Deaf. She shares fond memories of her time in the ASA and describes the society as being like a family. 

In this interview Norman Ramsey discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, magnetic moments, Edward Purcell, parity, John F. Kennedy assassination, Mark Weiss, Ernest Aschkenasy, Luis Alvarez, Nobel Prize, National Academy of Sciences, Paul Horowitz, acoustics.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.

In this interview Jonathan Katz discusses topics such as: Richard Garwin, JASON, acoustics.This interview is part of a collection of interviews on the life and work of Richard Garwin. To see all associated interviews, click here.

In this interview, Floyd Dunn discusses topics such as: the Acoustical Society of America (ASA); biomedical ultrasound; graduate school and working at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; working at the University of Arizona Department of Radiology; advised by Bill Fry; physical acoustics; Henning von Gierke; American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM); his family background; serving in the Army in World War II; acoustic radiation; Bill O'Brien; Leon Frizzell; becoming a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

In this interview Wayne Wright discusses topics such as: Acoustical Society of America (ASA); acoustics; University of Texas at Austin Applied Research Laboratory (ARL); graduate school at Harvard University; advised by Ted Hunt; working at Kalamazoo College; David Blackstock; ultrasonic acoustics; underwater acoustics with Herman Medwin; his family background; Bowdoin College for undergraduate education; Myron Jeppesen; working at Raytheon.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1924; University-based high school offered an excellent education in math. Attended University of Toronto for an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics in 1945 and completed a Master’s thesis on servomechanisms in 1948. Employed as an Instructor for the Canadian Version of the GI Bill, came to MIT in 1948. Worked with L. Beranek in Acoustics lab and completed doctorate in 1952 with a dissertation about the perception of sounds shaped by resonant circuits. A research staff member of MIT from 1952-1954, he accepted a faculty position at MIT in 1955. Promoted to Associate Professor in 1957. Worked with G. Fant while on sabbatical in Sweden in 1962 and brought back x-ray films that formed the basis for early work with J. Perkell. Promoted to professor in 1963. Collaborated with D. Klatt on pioneering speech synthesis project, Klattalk, that formed the basis for DECtalk and many of speech synthesizers in use today. Traveled to England as visiting professor at University College, London 1969-1970. Served as President of the Acoustical Society of America 1976-1977. Awarded Clarence J. LeBel professorship in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT in 1977. Received Gold medal from the Acoustical Society of America in 1995. Published an acclaimed book, Acoustic Phonetics, in 1998 that uses techniques of circuit analysis and signal processing to elucidate how a discrete linguistic representation is translated into articulatory movements so that their acoustic effects produce speech communication.

Slater leaves Harvard University for Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1930 (Karl Compton) to build up Physics Department there; work on quantum electrodynamics. Growth of MIT Physics Department in the 1930s and 1940s, relations between experimentalists and theorists; discussion of works and publications during the 1930s. Changes in U.S. physics; overview of post-World War II physics to 1951, and reasons for establishing own research group; establishment of the Radiation Lab, 1940; magnetron work; Bell Labs visits, 1941-1942 and 1943-1945. Planning of postwar development in MIT Physics Department; transition from Radiation Lab to Research Lab of Electronics; formation of laboratories of nuclear science, acoustics, and spectroscopy; the Lincoln Laboratory, the Instrumental Lab; growth of nuclear branch of Physics Department; physics activity in general in postwar years, Solid State and Molecular Theory Group; the Compton Lab.; Materials Science Center established ca. 1958; interdepartmental and interdisciplinary work; visits to Brookhaven National Laboratory; Slater and Per Olov Lowdin’s Florida Group. Also prominently mentioned are: John Bardeen, W. Buechner, Arthur Holly Compton, Edward Uhler Condon, Jens Dahl, Robley Dunglison Evans, James Brown Fisk, George Harrison, Douglas Rayner Hartree, Raymond George Herb, Milton Stanley Livingston, Millard Manning, Jacob Millman, Wayne B. Nottingham, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Schafer, William Shockley, R. A. Smith, Julius Stratton, Robert Jamison Van de Graaff, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Eugene Paul Wigner; American Physical Society, California Institute of Technology, Florida State University, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Princeton University, University of Bristol, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Chicago.

In this interview F. Douglas Shields discusses topics such as: Acoustical Society of America (ASA); physical acoustics; absorption of gases; family background and education; going to Tennessee Tech for school; joining the Air Force; Vanderbilt University for graduate school; Francis Slack; teaching at Middle Tennessee State University; Robert Lagemann; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; isotopes; University of Mississippi.

Topics discussed include: Harvey Hubbard's association with the Acoustical Society of America, family background, his time at the University of Vermont majoring in electrical engineering, his work in the corona lab at the Westinghouse Company, his time at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and his published works.