---

A history of acoustics from the 19th century to the present, written by one of the pre-eminent members of the acoustical community. The book is both a review of the major scientific advances in acoustics as well as an account of famous acousticians and their discoveries, taking in the development of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustics is distinguished by its interdisciplinary nature and the book duly explores the fields development in its relationship to other sciences. In addition to covering the history of acoustics, the book concludes with the future of acoustics. Beautifully illustrated.

---

1 The State of Acoustics in 1800.- 2 Acoustics 1800-1850.- 3 von Helmholtz and Tyndall.- 4 Lord Rayleigh and his Book.- 5 Inventors to the Fore!.- 6 The Last Half of the Nineteenth Century.- 7 The Twentieth Century: The First Quarter.- 8 The Second Quarter of the Twentieth Century.- 9 The Third Quarter: 1950-1975.- 10 Acoustics: 1975-1995 and Beyond. Fin de siècle-Again.- Book Reviews.- Name Index.

---

"No one has ever presented such a large body of materials related to the history of acoustics. The bountiful exposition of experiments, instruments and theory ensures that this book will be a necessary reference for anyone interested in the last two hundred years of acoustics."

--Annals of Science The History of Science and Technology from the Thirteenth Century

"I found this book fascinating to read. The material is well chosen, the writing is clear and elegant, and the book is illustrated with figures taken from the original publications of the people concerned. For those who want to delve deeper, the early chapters have around 100 references each, and the later ones around 200. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the development of our subject - and that should be all of you!"

--Acoustics Australia

---