Phonautogram - Thomas Edison - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Voices from the 19th Century: Tennyson, Gladstone, Whitman & Tchaikovsky. Edison's Files Reveal the Only Known Voice Recording of Someone Born in the 18th Century. Many of the most significant moments of the 20th century are written in our brains not as naked text but as audio files. Who can think of Neil Armstrong words upon moon landing or Kennedy's exhortation to ask what we can do for our country without hearing the crackly recordings of their voices?
Who can look at pictures of Nazi rallies without hearing the clipped German of Hitler? The soundtrack of history goes silent sometime in the late 19th century. We have no sound to attach to the great figures of those earlier times. Cylinder 93952, which silently preserved the sound of Bismarck's voice for more than a century. The Otto von Bismarck Foundation of Germany has a record of a Bismarck recording, but, having searched for it for years, had given up hope of finding it.
Wangemann postcard to Edison, from Berlin, 1890. It wasn't until last year that Feaster and Puille figured out that one of the cylinders contained the lost Bismarck recording. Mr. Theo Wangemann's phonograph. Earliest Voices: Thomas Edison. In this speech, given in 1908 at an electrical exhibition, Edison reflects upon the rapid progress made in technological development in the late turn of the century.
The Atlantic Cable, according to Edison, signals the beginninng of the "incredible rapidity of development of electrical arts," for it allowed us to "extend our control over the forces of nature," to keep the "old world moored alongside the new. " The cables of copper and steel are thus "the family ties of the civilized world,"symbols of an enhanced and integrated society. At the close of this speech, Edison calls upon the younger generation of scientists and electrical innovators to follow in the footsteps of 19th century innovators and to rise up to the height of their responsibilities in this day of electricity.
Voice of Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale, pioneer of nursing and health care reform, has strong links with Hampshire. Her family home was located near Romsey, she made regular trips back to Hampshire after the Crimean War and she is buried at St Margaret’s Church, East Wellow in the Test Valley. Florence helped influence the siting of the Royal County Hospital in Winchester and was keen to be involved in the design of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley near Southampton, which became a training centre for the new Nursing Service and the largest military hospital of its time. Florence Nightingale remembers 'dear old comrades at Balaclava' in a very short recording made just to capture her voice for posterity. Recorded on wax cylinder, 30 July 1890. Transcript Edison employee: 'At Florence Nightingale House, July the thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety.' Florence Nightingale: 'When I am no longer even a memory, just a name, I hope my voice may perpetuate the great work of my life.
We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now.