Leo Leroy Beranek
| Leo Beranek | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leo Leroy Beranek September 15, 1914 Solon, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | October 10, 2016 (aged 102) Westwood, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Acoustics Electrical engineering |
| Institutions |
Bolt, Beranek and Newman Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| Alma mater |
Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | Frederick Vinton Hunt |
| Doctoral students |
Kenneth N. Stevens James L. Flanagan |
| Known for |
Acoustics Music, Acoustics, and Architecture |
| Notable awards |
Wallace Clement Sabine Medal (1961) ASA Gold Medal (1975) National Medal of Science in Engineering (2002) |
Leo Leroy Beranek (September 15, 1914 – October 10, 2016) was an American acoustics expert, former MIT professor, and a founder and former president of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies). He authored Acoustics, considered a classic textbook in this field, and its updated and extended version published in 2012 under the title Acoustics: Sound Fields and Transducers. He was also an expert in the design and evaluation of concert halls and opera houses, and authored the classic textbook Music, Acoustics, and Architecture, revised and extended in 2004 under the title Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture.
Beranek was born in 1914 in Solon, Iowa. His father was a farmer whose ancestors came from Bohemia (in what is now the Czech Republic) and his mother, previously a schoolteacher, had become a farmwife. Beranek first started school in a one-room schoolhouse in Tipton, Iowa. After his first year, he rode in a horse-drawn school bus on a two-hour trip to a somewhat larger school. In 1922 his family moved back to Solon, where he was soon skipped over third grade and moved directly into fourth grade classes. Around that time, a baby brother was born, named Lyle Edward Beranek.
In 1924 Beranek's father brought home a battery-powered radio containing a single vacuum tube. His eldest son became fascinated with both the technology and the musical aspects of radio. In the harsh winter of January 1926, Beranek's mother died suddenly, leaving his father with huge debts and forcing his father to sell the farm within two months. In junior high school Beranek earned his first independent money by selling silk and fabric. Beranek's father remarried and moved the family to the nearby town of Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he became co-owner of a hardware store. At his father's suggestion, Beranek learned radio repair via a correspondence course, and apprenticed to an older repairman. The younger Beranek quickly learned the trade, and was soon able to buy a Model T automobile. He also earned some spare cash by playing trap drums in a 6-person dance band. He continued to excel in his studies, including a typing class (rarely studied by boys) where he was the top performer.
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