Riding the Waves ─ A Life in Sound, Science, and Industry

Leo Beranek, an Iowa farm boy who became a Renaissance man--scientist, inventor,entrepreneur, musician, television executive, philanthropist, and author--has lived life in constantmotion. His seventy-year career, through the most tumultuous and transformative years of the lastcentury, has always been propelled by the sheer exhilaration of trying something new. In Riding TheWaves, Leo Beranek tells his story. Beranek's life changed direction on a summer day in 1935 when hestopped to help a motorist with a flat tire. The driver just happened to be a former Harvardprofessor of engineering, who guided the young Beranek toward a full scholarship at Harvard'sgraduate school of engineering. Beranek went on to be one of the world's leading experts onacoustics. He became Director of Harvard's Electro-Acoustic Laboratory, where he invented theHush-A-Phone--a telephone accessory that began the chain of regulatory challenges and lawsuits thatled ultimately to the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly in the 1980s. Beranek moved to MIT tobe a professor and Technical Director of its Acoustics Laboratory, then left academia to found theacoustical consulting firm Bolt, Beranek and Newman. Known for his work in noise control and concertacoustics, Beranek devised the world's largest muffler to quiet jet noise and served as acousticalconsultant for concert halls around the world (including the Tanglewood Music Shed, the storiedsummer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra). As president of BBN, he assembled the software groupthat invented both the ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, and e-mail. In the 1970s, Beranekrisked his life savings to secure the license to operate a television station; he turned Channel 5in Boston into one of the country's best, then sold it to Metromedia in 1982 for the highest priceever paid up to that time for a broadcast station. "One central lesson I've learned is thevalue of risk-taking and of moving on when risks turn into busts or odds look betterelsewhere," Beranek writes. Riding The Waves is a testament to the boldness, diligence, andintelligence behind Beranek's lifetime of extraordinary achievement. Leo Beranek is a pioneer inacoustical research, known for his work in noise control and the acoustics of concert halls, and theauthor of twelve books on these topics. The many awards he has received include the PresidentialNational Medal of Science, presented in 2003.

Leo Beranek is a pioneer in acoustical research, known for his work in noise control and the acoustics of concert halls, and the author of twelve books on these topics. The many awards he has received include the Presidential National Medal of Science, presented in 2003.