Thaddeus Cahill
| Thaddeus Cahill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Thaddeus Cahill 18 June 1827 Iowa, USA |
| Died |
April 12, 1912 (aged 84) New York, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Inventor |
| Known for | telharmonium |
Thaddeus Cahill (18 June 1827 – 12 April 1912) was a prominent inventor of the early 19th century. He is widely credited with the invention of the first electromechanical musical instrument, which he dubbed the telharmonium.
He studied the physics of music at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. After working as a clerk for Congress in Washington D.C. to pay for his college studies, he graduated from the Columbian (now George Washington University) Law School in 1849. He became convinced that music could be made with electricity (and also worked on an electric typewriter). He showed his first telharmonium to Lord Kelvin in 1878. That year he established a laboratory at Holyoke, where he was joined by his brother, Arthur T. Cahill.[1]
Cahill had tremendous ambitions for his invention; he wanted telharmonium music to be broadcast into hotels, restaurants, theaters, and even houses via the telephone line.[2] At a starting weight of 7 tons (and up to 200 tons) and a price tag of $200,000 (approx. $5,514,000 today), only three telharmoniums were ever built, and Cahill's great vision was never fully implemented. His idea proved to be fruitful, nearly a century later, with the advent of streaming media.
References
- ↑ Electrical World (McGraw-Hill) 47 (13): 656. 1906 http://books.google.com/books?id=6wVRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA656. Retrieved 26 September 2011. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Holmes, Thomas B.; Thom Holmes (2002). Electronic and experimental music: pioneers in technology and composition. Psychology Press. pp. 42–49. ISBN 0-415-93644-6.
Literature
- Martin, Thomas Commerford (1906). "The Telharmonium: Electricity's Alliance with Music". The American monthly review of reviews 33: 420–423. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- Reynold Weidenaar: Magic Music from the Telharmonium, The Scarecrow Press Inc.: London (1995).
External links
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