Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture

Leo Leroy Beranek was born in Solon, Iowa on September 14, 1914. He received a degree in physics and mathematics from Cornell College and master's degree and doctorate in physics and communication engineering from Harvard University. He was an assistant professor at Harvard from 1940 until 1946. During World War II, he became the director of Harvard's Electroacoustic Lab, where he worked to improve voice communication with airplanes for the military. After the war, he taught at M.I.T. and helped found Bolt, Beranek & Newman. His company designed the acoustics for the United Nations and concert halls at Lincoln Center and Tanglewood and built the first computer-based network under contract from the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency. His most successful book, Acoustics, was first published in 1954 and remains a textbook for acoustic engineering students. He died on October 10, 2016 at the age of 102.