Norman C. Pickering
| Norman C. Pickering | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Norman Charles Pickering July 9, 1916 Brooklyn, NY |
| Died | November 18, 2015 (aged 99) East Hampton, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Newark College of Engineering Juilliard School |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Pickering pickup |
Norman C. Pickering (July 9, 1916 – November 18, 2015) was an American engineer, musical instrument designer, inventor and co-founder of the Audio Engineering Society. His most famous inventions are the modern Pickering cartridge, a high-fidelity, jewel-tipped phonographic cartridge, and the Pickering pickup. After leaving the audio technology company he founded, Pickering & Company, he developed ultrasound diagnostic techniques, studied violin acoustics, and constructed 37 violins.
Norman Pickering was born on Long Island on July 9, 1916 in Brooklyn to Herbert Pickering and Elsie Elliott Pickering. His father was a marine engineer, and his mother was a pianist. Norman learned to read music at an early age while sitting at his mothers side, and began playing violin at the age of 7 He was injured while playing baseball, which caused him to switch from violin to French horn. He wanted to study music, but his father, who thought music "was for sissies" asserted that he should study engineering. He graduated from Newark College of Engineering in 1936 with an electrical engineering degree. He then turned back to music, attending Juilliard School on a graduate scholarship. In 1937 he joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as a French horn player, and was employed there until 1940.
While in Indianapolis he started a recording studio as he was interested in the technical aspects. This work caused the C.G. Conn company to hire him in 1940, where he researched the acoustic properties of their musical instruments. At the beginning of World War II, the Conn facility was converted from manufacturing musical instruments to aircraft instruments for the Sperry Gyroscope Company. Sperry offered Pickering a position which allowed him to return to Long Island. He held this position from 1942 until 1945. While there he played French horn with the Sperry Symphony, but it also generated in Pickering an interest in aircraft, which led him to develop a design for vibration control in Boeing aircraft.
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