● POSTPONED: History and Philosophy of Science Seminar

Seminar Title: High Fidelity: Radio Broadcasting and the Trautonium in Berlin in the 1920s and '30s

Abstract: This talk analyzes the collaborations between radio engineers, physicists, physiologists, and musicians in Berlin during the 1920s and '30s. The skills, practices, and techniques relevant to the improvement in the fidelity of radio broadcasting were relevant to the invention of the most important German electronic musical instrument, the Trautonium. This instrument was initially popular since it could replace a myriad of more traditional musical instruments due to its ability to alter its tone color. After the War, it became an important instrument for sound effects in Hollywood and West German films.