Leo Leroy Beranek (September 15, 1914 – October 10, 2016) was an American acoustician, 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.
Early life and education Beranek was born in 1914, in Solon, Iowa. His father Edward Fred Beranek was a farmer whose ancestors came from Bohemia (in what is now the Czech Republic) and his mother Beatrice Stahle, previously a schoolteacher, had become a farmwife. Edward's paternal grandparents Josef Beránek and Anna Šimandlová were from Nynice and Jarov respectively. 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 stockings 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. Beranek applied for and was accepted at nearby Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, money was tight, but he had managed to save $500. Worried about the shaky financial situation, he went to his bank and managed to withdraw $400 to pay his college tuition in advance. The bank failed the next day, and Beranek lost the remaining $100. During freshman year at college, Beranek was told by his father that he could not expect any family money and that he was on his own. In the summers of 1932 and 1933, Beranek worked as a field hand on local farms, to earn tuition money and to improve his physical condition. Beranek moved into two rooms above a bakery, shared with three other students to save money. He also continued to repair radios and played in a dance band, but falling income forced him to consider dropping down to a single class (in mathematics) during the next academic year. In August 1933, Beranek was invited to accompany the family of a local dentist to the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago. This was his first trip to a big city and it was a revelation. He attended concert performances by the Chicago Symphony and Detroit Symphony daily, was dazzled by the displays of industrial products and technology, and fascinated by the international pavilions. He lived on a shoestring, spending a total of $12 for four days, but felt compelled to make a return trip the following summer. In college, Beranek became friends with a fellow student who had an amateur radio setup, inspiring him to study Morse Code and to earn his own amateur radio license. In fall of 1933, he bought an early disc sound recorder to earn a modest fee by recording students before and after taking a speech training class. This was his first hands-on experience with the developing science of acoustics. By early 1934 he was forced to drop out of college and work full-time to earn more tuition money. He found a position at the fledgling Collins Radio Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he studied German in his spare time. While there, he also met and dated Florence "Floss" Martin, a business school student. He was able to save enough money to attend the Spring 1935 semester at Cornell College, then returned to Collins Radio for the summer. In August 1935, Beranek had a chance encounter with a stranger whose car had developed a flat tire while passing through Mount Vernon. While helping the stranger (who turned out to be Glenn Browning), he learned that the passing motorist had written a technical paper on radio technology. When Beranek mentioned plans for graduate school, Browning encouraged him to apply to Harvard University, a possibility he had regarded as financially out of reach. Beranek was very busy in his final year at Cornell, running a radio repair and sales business and then transitioning to house wiring for electricity, while carrying a full course load. He managed three major wiring jobs for Cornell, including designing and installing a master antenna system in a new men's dormitory then under construction. He also continued to date his girlfriend Floss. Beranek graduated from Cornell College in summer 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts. He continued studies at Harvard University, where he received a doctorate in 1940.
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