View source for Leon Theremin

{{short description|Russian inventor (1896–1993)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Leon Theremin
| native_name_lang   = ru
| native_name        = Лев Термен
| image              = [[File:Lev Termen playing - cropped.jpg|200px]]
| alt                = 
| caption            = Lev Termen demonstrating the [[theremin]], {{nobr|December 1927}}
| birth_name         = Lev Sergeyevich Termen
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1896|8|27|df=y}}
| birth_place        = Saint Petersburg, Russia<!--see MOS:GEOLINK-->
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1993|11|03|1896|08|27|df=yes}}
| death_place        = Moscow, Russia
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Katia Konstantinova|1924|end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Lavinia Williams]]|end=separated}}
* {{marriage|Maria Guschina|1947}}
}}
| children           = 2, including [[Natasha Theremin|Natalia]]
| relatives          = [[Peter Theremin]] (grandson)
| nationality        = 
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = {{hlist|Engineer|physicist}}
| known_for          = [[Theremin]], [[The Thing (listening device)|The Thing]]
}}

'''Lev Sergeyevich Termen'''{{family name footnote|Sergeyevich|Termen|lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{efn|{{langx|ru|Лев Сергеевич Термен|{{transliteration|ru|Lev Sergeyevich Termen}}}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈlʲef sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ tʲɪrˈmʲen|IPA}}}} ({{OldStyleDateNY|27 August|15 August}} 1896{{spnd}}3 November 1993), better known as '''Leon Theremin''', was a Russian inventor, most famous for his invention of the [[theremin]], one of the first [[electronic musical instrument]]s and the first to be [[mass-produced]]. He also worked on early television research. His secret listening device, "[[The Thing (listening device)|The Thing]]", hung for seven years in plain view in the [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Russia|United States ambassador]]'s [[Embassy of the United States, Moscow|Moscow office]] and enabled Soviet agents to secretly [[Eavesdropping|eavesdrop]] on conversations.

==Early life==
Leon Theremin was born in Saint Petersburg, [[Russian Empire]] in 1896. His father was Sergei Emilievich Theremin, of French [[Huguenot]] descent. His mother was Yevgenia Antonova Orzhinskaya<ref>{{cite book | author=Albert Glinsky | year=2000 | title=Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage | publisher=University of Illinois Press | url=https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin/page/10 10] | quote=theremin family huguenot. | access-date=2013-12-28| isbn=9780252025822 }}</ref> and of German ancestry.<ref name="galeyev LMJ6"/> He had a sister named Helena.<ref name="ima19"/>

In the seventh grade of his high school, in front of an audience of students and parents, he demonstrated various optical effects using electricity.<ref name="ima55">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Erstes Treffen mit A. F. Joffe |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=55&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013531/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=55&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref>

By the age of 17 he was in his last year of high school, had his own laboratory at home for experimenting with high-frequency circuits, optics and magnetic fields. His cousin, Kirill Fedorovich Nesturkh, then a young physicist, invited him to attend the defense of the dissertation of [[Abram Ioffe|Abram Fedorovich Ioffe]]. Physics lecturer Vladimir Konstantinovich Lebedinskiy had explained to Theremin the dispute over Ioffe's work on the [[electron]]. On 9 May 1913 Theremin and his cousin attended Ioffe's dissertation defense. Ioffe's subject was on the elementary photoelectric effect, the magnetic field of cathode rays and related investigations. In 1917 Theremin wrote that Ioffe talked of electrons, the photoelectric effect and magnetic fields as parts of an objective reality that surrounds us every day, unlike others that talked more of somewhat abstract formulae and symbols. Theremin wrote that he found this explanation revelatory and that it fit a scientific – not abstract – view of the world, different [[Order of magnitude|scales of magnitude]], and matter.<ref name="ima19">{{cite web |title=Termens Kindheit |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=19&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013506/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=19&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref> From then on Theremin endeavoured to study the [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]], in the same way he had studied the macrocosm with his hand-built telescope.<ref name="ima55"/> Later, Kyrill introduced Theremin to Ioffe as a young experimenter and physicist, and future student of the university.

Theremin recalled that while still in his last year of school, he had built a million-volt [[Tesla coil]] and noticed a strong glow associated with his attempts to ionize the air. He then wished to further investigate the effects using university resources. A chance meeting with Abram Fedorovich Ioffe led to a recommendation to see Karl Karlovich Baumgart, who was in charge of the physics laboratory equipment. Karl then reserved a room and equipment for Theremin's experiments. Abram Fedorovich suggested Theremin also look at methods of creating gas fluorescence under different conditions and of examining the resulting [[Fluorescence spectroscopy|light's spectrum]]. However, during these investigations Theremin was called up for [[World War I]] military service.<ref name="ima54">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Erste Experimente am Physikalischen Institut bei Joffe |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=54&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-03-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013526/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=54&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref>

==World War I and Russian Civil War==
Although only in his second academic year, the deanery of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy recommended that Theremin go to the Nikolayevska Military Engineering School in [[Petrograd]] (previously Saint Petersburg), which usually only accepted students in their fourth year. Theremin recalled that Ioffe reassured him that the war would not last long and that military experience would be useful for scientific applications.<ref name="ima53">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Der erste Weltkrieg |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=53&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013521/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=53&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref>

Beginning his military service in 1916, Theremin finished the Military Engineering School in six months, progressed through the Graduate Electronic School for Officers, and attained the military radio-engineer diploma in the same year.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} In the course of the next three and a half years he oversaw the construction of a radio station in [[Saratov]] to connect the Volga area with Moscow, graduated from Petrograd University, became deputy leader of the new Military Radiotechnical Laboratory in Moscow, and finished as the broadcast supervisor of the radio transmitter at ''[[Tsarskoye Selo]]'' near Petrograd (then renamed ''Detskoye Selo'').<ref name="ima53"/>

During the [[Russian Civil War]], in October 1919 [[White movement|White Army]] commander [[Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich]] advanced on Petrograd from the side of ''Detskoye Selo'', apparently intending to capture the radio station to announce a victory over the Bolsheviks. Theremin and others evacuated the station, sending equipment east on rail cars. Theremin then detonated explosives to destroy the 120-meter-high antenna mast before traveling to Petrograd to set up an international listening station. There he also trained radio specialists but reported difficulties obtaining food and working with foreign experts whom he described as narrow-minded pessimists.<ref name="ima52">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Die Evakuierung der Radiostation |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=52&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013516/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=52&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref>

Theremin recalled that on an evening when his hopes of overcoming these obstructing experts reached a low ebb, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe telephoned him.<ref name="ima51"/> Ioffe asked Theremin to come to his newly founded [[Ioffe Institute|Physical Technical Institute]] in Petrograd, and the next day he invited him to start work at developing measuring methods for high-frequency electrical oscillations.<ref name="ima51">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Die Physikalisch Technische Hochschule unter der Leitung von Joffe |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=51&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511013511/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=51&cat=1 |archive-date=2009-05-11 }}</ref>

==Under Ioffe==
The day after Ioffe's invitation, Theremin started at the institute. He worked in diverse fields: applying the [[Max Laue|Laue effect]] to the new field of [[X-ray crystallography#X-ray analysis of crystals|X-ray analysis of crystals]], using hypnosis to improve measurement-reading accuracy, working with [[Ivan Pavlov]]'s laboratory, and using gas-filled lamps as measuring devices.<ref name="ima44">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Erhöhung der Sinneswahrnehmung durch Hypnose |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=44&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093827/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=44&cat=1 |archive-date=2011-07-06 }}</ref> He built a high-frequency oscillator to measure the dielectric constant of gases with high precision; Ioffe then urged him to look for other applications using this method, and shortly made the first motion detector for use as a [[burglar alarm|"radio watchman"]].<ref group="note" name="G">Theremin recalled he made the dielectric device first followed by the radio alarm, although Glinsky ([[#G|p.&nbsp;23]]) writes Theremin made the alarm first and then the dielectric device.</ref><ref name="ima43">{{cite web |author=L. S. Termen |year=1970 |title=Die Erfindung des Theremins |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=43&cat=1 |work=Erinnerungen an A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Joffe |language=de |access-date=2009-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093827/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/?page_id=43&cat=1 |archive-date=2011-07-06 }}</ref><ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;41]], "patent ... radio watchman and the Termenvox ... By December 8, 1924, Len had two [[German Empire]] patent applications pending".</ref>

While adapting the dielectric device by adding circuitry to generate an audio tone, Theremin noticed that the pitch changed when his hand moved around.<ref name="G24">[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;24]].</ref> In October 1920<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;26]]; but Theremin in 1983 recalled it was September.</ref> he first demonstrated this to Ioffe who called in other professors and students to hear.<ref name="1983 memoir"/> Theremin recalled trying to find the notes for tunes he remembered from when he played the cello, such as [[Le Cygne (Saint-Saëns)|The Swan]], by Saint-Saëns.<ref name="ima43"/><ref name="G24"/> By November 1920, Theremin had given his first public concert with the instrument, now modified with a horizontal volume antenna replacing the earlier foot-operated volume control.<ref name="1983 memoir"/><ref name="G26">[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;26]].</ref> He named it the ''etherphone'',<ref name="G26"/> but it was known in the Soviet Union as the {{Langx|ru|Терменвокс|translit=Termenvox}} or {{Transliteration|ru|BGN/PCGN|Termenvoks}}, in Germany as the {{lang|de|Thereminvox}}<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;53]],</ref> and later, in the USA, as the ''[[theremin]].''

On 24 May 1924 Theremin married 20-year-old Katia ({{Transliteration|ru|BGN/PCGN|Yekaterina Pavlovna|italic=no}}) Konstantinova, and they lived together in his parents' apartment on Marat street.<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;36]].</ref> In 1925 Theremin went to Germany to sell both the radio watchman and Termenvox patents to the German firm Goldberg and Sons. According to Glinsky, this was the Soviet's "decoy for capitalists" to obtain both Western profits from sales and technical knowledge.<ref name="G4344">Glinsky pp.&nbsp;[[iarchive:thereminethermus00glin/page/43/mode/2up|43–44]].</ref>

During that time Theremin was also working on a wireless [[History of television#Mechanical television|television]] with 16 scan lines in 1925, improving to 32 scan lines and then 64 using [[Interlaced video|interlacing]] in 1926, and he demonstrated moving, if blurry, images on 7 June 1927.<ref name="G4344" /> His device was the first functioning television apparatus in Russia.<ref name="G45">Glinsky pp.&nbsp;[[iarchive:thereminethermus00glin/page/45/mode/2up|45]].</ref>

==United States==
[[File:Rockmore and Termen.jpg|thumb|[[Clara Rockmore]] on her 18th birthday and Leon Theremin, 1929]]
After being sent on a lengthy tour of Europe starting 1927–including London, Paris, and towns in Germany<ref name="1983 memoir">[http://www.oddmusic.com/theremin/theremin_bio.html Leon Theremin – a short memoir] Lev Termen, 1983-01-12.</ref><ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;340]].</ref> – during which he demonstrated his invention to full audiences, Theremin went to the United States arriving on 30 December 1927 with his first wife Katia.<ref name="mattis1989">Mattis 1989</ref> He performed the theremin with the [[New York Philharmonic]] in 1928. He patented his invention in the United States in 1928<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;346]].</ref><ref>{{US patent|1661058}}.</ref> and then granted commercial production rights to [[RCA Corporation|RCA]].

Theremin set up a laboratory in New York in the 1930s, where he further refined the theremin and experimented with other inventions and new electronic musical instruments. These included the [[Rhythmicon]] commissioned by the composer [[Henry Cowell]].

In 1930, ten thereminists performed on stage at [[Carnegie Hall]]. Two years later, Theremin conducted the first-ever electronic orchestra, featuring the theremin and other electronic instruments including a "[[fingerboard]]" theremin which resembled a [[cello]] in use (Theremin was a cellist<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076nqv|title=Good Vibrations: The Story of the Theremin - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC}}</ref>). In 1931, he worked with composer [[Henry Cowell]] to build an instrument called the [[rhythmicon]]. They were lucky to have gotten it to market as quickly as they did as brothers [[Otto Miessner|Otto]] and [[Benjamin Miessner]] had almost completed a similar instrument with the same name.<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/page/rhythmicon|title=Rhythmicon|dictionary=Oxford Music Online|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801234100/http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/page/rhythmicon|archive-date=2017-08-01}}</ref>

Theremin's mentors during this time were some of society's foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists including composer [[Joseph Schillinger]] and physicist (and amateur violinist) [[Albert Einstein]].{{Clarify|date=March 2008}} <!-- didn't Glinsky show Theremin confused or made up the Einstein collaboration? See Glinsky prelude page 5. -->At the time, Theremin worked closely with fellow Soviet émigré and theremin [[virtuoso]] [[Clara Rockmore]] (née Reisenberg). Theremin had several times 
proposed to her, but she chose to marry attorney Robert Rockmore, and thereafter used his name professionally.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nadiareisenberg-clararockmore.org/clara_biography.htm|title=The Nadia Reisenberg & Clara Rockmore Foundation|access-date=2011-05-18|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085547/http://www.nadiareisenberg-clararockmore.org/clara_biography.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] hired Theremin to build a metal detector for [[Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fischer |first=Benjamin B. |title=Leon Theremin – CIA nemesis |url=https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/thing/files/theremin_cia.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/22/invisible-instrument-theremin|title=The invisible instrument: the theremin|first=Sean|last=Michaels|date=22 August 2015|website=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-leon-theremin-1506371.html|title=Obituary: Leon Theremin|website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=24 November 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-theremins-story-is-stranger-than-fiction/Content?oid=4192744|title=The theremin's story is stranger than fiction|first=Brian|last=Howe}}</ref> He was interested in a role for the theremin in dance music. He developed performance locations that could automatically react to dancers' movements with varied patterns of sound and light.

The Soviet consulate had apparently demanded he divorce Katia{{Citation Needed|date=November 2024}}. Afterwards, while working with the [[American Negro Ballet Company]], the inventor married a young [[African-American]] [[prima ballerina]] [[Lavinia Williams]].<ref name="mattis1989"/> Their marriage caused shock and disapproval in his social circles, but the ostracized couple remained together.<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;177]].</ref>

==Return to the Soviet Union==
Theremin abruptly returned to the [[Soviet Union]] in 1938. At the time, the reasons for his return were unclear; some claimed that he was homesick, while others believed that he had been kidnapped by Soviet officials. Beryl Campbell, one of Theremin's dancers, said his wife Lavinia "called to say that he had been kidnapped from his studio" and that "some Russians had come in" and that she felt that he was going to be spirited out of the country.<ref name="t">''[[Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey]]'', written, directed and produced by Steven M. Martin. Orion/MGM, 1994: 26mins Beryl Campbell reports Lavinia's call; 50mins Lydia Kavina reports Stalin's award</ref>

Many years later, it was revealed that Theremin had returned to his native land due to tax and financial difficulties in the United States.<ref>[[#G|Glinsky]].</ref> However, Theremin himself once told Bulat Galeyev that he decided to leave himself because he was anxious about the approaching war.<ref name="galeyev LMJ6">Bulat M. Galeyev, ''LMJ'' '''6'''.</ref> Shortly after he returned he was imprisoned in the [[Butyrka prison]] and later sent to work in the [[Kolyma]] gold mines. Although rumors of his execution were widely circulated and published, Theremin was put to work in a ''[[sharashka]]'' (a secret laboratory in the [[Gulag]] camp system), together with [[Andrei Tupolev]], [[Sergei Korolev]] and other well-known scientists and engineers.<ref name="mattis1989"/> The Soviet Union said he was [[Rehabilitation (Soviet)|rehabilitated]], closing its case against him in 1956.

==Espionage==
[[File:Bugged-great-seal-open.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thing (listening device)|"The Thing"]]]]
During his work at the ''sharashka'', where he was put in charge of other workers, Theremin created the Buran eavesdropping system. A precursor to the modern [[laser microphone]], it worked by using a low-power infrared beam from a distance to detect sound vibrations in glass windows.<ref name="galeyev LMJ6"/><ref name="Glinsky 261">[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;261]].</ref> [[Lavrentiy Beria]], the head of the secret police organization [[NKVD]] (the predecessor of the [[KGB]]), used the Buran device to spy on the British, French and US embassies in Moscow.<ref name="Glinsky 261"/> According to Galeyev, Beria also spied on Stalin; Theremin kept some of the tapes in his flat. In 1947, Theremin was awarded the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin prize]] for inventing this advance in Soviet espionage technology.

Theremin invented another listening device called [[The Thing (listening device)|The Thing]], hidden in a replica of the [[Great Seal of the United States]] carved in wood. In 1945, Soviet school children presented the concealed bug to the U.S. [[Ambassador]] as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's [[Allies of World War II|World War II ally]]. It hung in the ambassador’s residential office in Moscow and intercepted confidential conversations there during the first seven years of the [[Cold War]], until it was accidentally discovered in 1952.<ref>George F. Kennan, ''Memoirs, 1950–1963'', Volume II (Little, Brown & Co., 1972), pp. 155, 156.</ref><ref>
{{cite news
| first = Tim
| last = Harford
| title = The Cold War spy technology which we all use
| work = BBC News
| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48859331
| date = 21 August 2019
| access-date = 17 February 2020}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = The Thing Great Seal Bug
| publisher = Crypto Museum
| url = https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/thing/index.htm
| access-date = 17 February 2020}}</ref>

==Later life==

After his release from the ''sharashka'' in 1947, Theremin volunteered to remain working with the KGB until 1966.<ref name="galeyev LMJ6"/> By 1947 he had remarried, to Maria Guschina, his third wife, and they had two children: Lena and Natalia.<ref name="mattis1989"/>

Theremin worked at the [[Moscow Conservatory|Moscow Conservatory of Music]]<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;341]], "where Lev Sergeyevich had constructed musical instruments"</ref> for 10 years where he taught, and built theremins, [[electric cello|electronic cellos]] and some [[terpsitone]]s (another invention of Theremin).<ref name="t"/> There he was discovered by [[Harold Schonberg]], the chief music critic of ''[[The New York Times]]'', who was visiting the Conservatory. But when an article by Schonberg appeared mentioning Theremin,<ref>{{cite news |first=Harold C. |last=Schonberg |title=Music: Leon Theremin; Inventor of Instrument Bearing His Name Is Interviewed in the Soviet Union |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=40 |date=April 26, 1967 |access-date=2009-08-16 |quote=Remember Leon Theremin, who used to play the theremin and was such a hit in the United States about 35 years back? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/04/26/archives/music-leon-theremin-inventor-of-instrument-bearing-his-name-is.html?sq=Music%3A%2520Leon%2520Theremin&scp=1&st=cse   |format = non-free access}}</ref> the Conservatory's Managing Director declared that "electricity is not good for music; electricity is to be used for electrocution" and had his instruments removed from the Conservatory.<ref name="mattis1989"/> Further electronic music projects were banned, and Theremin was summarily dismissed.<ref>[[#G|Glinsky p.&nbsp;310]].</ref>

In the 1970s, Leon Theremin was a Professor of Physics at Moscow State University (Department of Acoustics) developing his inventions and supervising graduate students.

After 51 years in the Soviet Union, Theremin started traveling, first visiting France in June 1989<ref name="galeyev LMJ6"/> and then the United States in 1991, each time accompanied by his daughter Natalia. Theremin was brought to New York by filmmaker Steven M. Martin where he was reunited with [[Clara Rockmore]]. He also made a demonstration concert at the [[Royal Conservatory of The Hague]] in early 1993<ref name="galeyev LMJ6"/> before dying in [[Moscow]] on Wednesday 3 November 1993 at the age of 97.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jolly|first=James|journal=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone Magazine]]|volume=71|issue=848|publisher=General Gramophone Publications Limited|location=Middlesex, UK|date=January 1994|page=17|title=Obituaries|issn=0017-310X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/09/obituaries/leon-theremin-musical-inventor-is-dead-at-97.html|title=Leon Theremin, Musical Inventor, Is Dead at 97|first=William|last=Grimes|work=The New York Times |date=November 9, 1993|access-date=August 9, 2019|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-xpm-2013-feb-06-la-me-paul-tanner-20130207-story.html|title=Paul Tanner dies at 95; trombonist with Glenn Miller Orchestra|date=February 6, 2013|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=August 9, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Theremin|title=Leon Theremin &#124; Russian scientist|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=August 9, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/The-theremin-makes-a-triumphant-return-5932533.php|title=The theremin makes a triumphant return|date=December 3, 2014|website=Houston Chronicle|access-date=August 9, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NOKDQAAQBAJ&q=Theremin&pg=PA268|title=Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture|first1=Erez|last1=Aiden|first2=Jean-Baptiste|last2=Michel|date=August 9, 2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594632907|access-date=August 9, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref>

== Media ==
The feature-length documentary film ''[[Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey]]'' was released in 1993. Theremin's life story and his [[Thing (listening device)|Great Seal bug]] invention were featured in a [[Dark Matters: Twisted But True#Season 2|2012 episode]] of the ''[[Dark Matters: Twisted But True]]''.

In 2000, University of Illinois Press published ''Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage'' by [[Albert Glinsky]], with a foreword by [[Robert Moog]]. In 2014, Canadian writer [[Sean Michaels (writer)|Sean Michaels]] published the novel ''[[Us Conductors]]'', which was inspired by the relationship between Leon Theremin and [[Clara Rockmore]]. The novel won the 2014 [[Scotiabank Giller Prize]]. In 2022, French writer Emmanuel Villin published the novel La Fugue Thérémine (éditions Asphalte), which looks back on the life of Leon Theremin.

==Inventions==
*[[Theremin]] (1920)
*[[Burglar alarm]], or "Signalling Apparatus" which used the Theremin effect (1920s)
<!-- de: has Optical Theremin but no sources: Lichttheremin – reagiert auf Helligkeitsunterschiede (1923) -->
*[[Mechanical television|Electromechanical television]] – [[Nipkow disk]] with mirrors instead of slots (ca. 1925)
*[[Terpsitone]] – platform which converts dance movements into tones (1932)
*Theremin cello – an electronic [[cello]] with no strings and no bow, using a plastic fingerboard, a handle for volume and two knobs for sound shaping (ca. 1930)<ref>{{cite web |author=Peter Pringle |title=The Rebirth of the Theremin Cello |url=http://www.peterpringle.com/cello.html |access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=oddmusic |title=Theremin Cello |url=http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om29000.html |access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/xuRe_H1-Pe0 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081129020623/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRe_H1-Pe0 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite video |people=Bryan (publisher and demonstrator) |date=2007-06-10 |title=Theremin Cello |location=Seattle |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRe_H1-Pe0 |publisher=Bryan |access-date=2009-09-20}}{{cbignore}} (demonstration playing of a theremincello)</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3XhDCI_3Jbw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130226141702/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XhDCI_3Jbw Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite video |people=Bryan (publisher and player) |date=2007-03-03 |title=Theremin's cello meditation |location=Seattle |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XhDCI_3Jbw |publisher=Bryan |access-date=2009-09-20}}{{cbignore}} (slideshow including internal details of a theremincello replica)</ref>
*Keyboard theremin (ca. 1930), a small [[Musical keyboard|keyboard]] "with hornlike tones"<ref>"Radio Squeals turned to Music", ''Popular Science'', June 1932, p. 51, available on [http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=NygDAAAAMBAJ&pg=51 popsci.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916023934/http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=NygDAAAAMBAJ&pg=51 |date=2011-09-16 }}</ref>
*[[Rhythmicon]] – world's first [[drum machine]] (1931)
*The Buran eavesdropping device (1947 or earlier)
*[[The Thing (listening device)|The Great Seal bug]], also known as "The Thing" – one of the first passive covert listening devices; first used by the USSR for spying (1945 or earlier); it is considered a predecessor of [[RFID]] technology<ref>{{cite book |title=Hacking Exposed Linux: Linux Security Secrets & Solutions |publisher=McGraw-Hill Osborne Media |edition=third |year=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hackingexposedli00hatc_0/page/298 298] |isbn=978-0-07-226257-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/hackingexposedli00hatc_0/page/298 }}</ref>
<!-- de: has Polyphones Theremin but no source: * Polyphonic Theremin (ca. 1960) -->
<!-- de: has Harmonium but no source: * [[Harmonium]] (1930s ... 1960s) -->

==See also==
*[[Spharophon]], a Theremin-like instrument made by [[Jörg Mager]] around 1921
*[[Lee de Forest]], inventor of the amplifying vacuum tube
*The [[Trautonium]], an early electronic instrument contemporary with the theremin invented by Friedrich Trautwein and later developed by [[Oskar Sala]]
*[[Maurice Martenot]], inventor of the [[Ondes Martenot]], a keyboard-based instrument using the heterodyning method
*[[Robert Moog]]
*[[Raymond Scott]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
<!-- Please do not remove <cite> tags when they are used to provide anchors for Harvard style notes -->

*{{Cite journal|
 last=Galeyev|
 first=Bulat M.|author2=Translated by Vladimir Chudnovsky |
 year=1996|
 title=Light and Shadows of a Great Life: In Commemoration of the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Leon Theremin, Pioneer of Electronic Art |
 journal=Leonardo Music Journal|
 volume=6|
 url=http://leonardo.info/isast/journal/journal96/LMJ6/galeyevintro.html|
 access-date=2007-11-22}} Linked from [https://web.archive.org/web/20030426143613/http://theremin.info/leon-theremin.shtml ''LMJ'' '''6''']
*{{Cite journal|
 last=Lobanova|
 first=Marina|
 year=1999|
 title=Lew Termen: Erfinder, Tschekist, Spion |
 journal=Neue Zeitschrift für Musik |
 volume=4|
 pages=50–53
|language=de}}
* {{cite book
 | last = Glinsky
 | first = Albert
 | title = Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage
 | location = Urbana, Illinois
 | publisher = University of Illinois Press
 | year = 2000
 | isbn = 0-252-02582-2
 | url = https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin
| url-access = registration
 |ref=G}}
*{{Cite web|
 url=http://www.oddmusic.com/theremin/theremin_interview_1.html|
 title=An Interview with Leon Theremin / Olivia Mattis and Leon Theremin in Bourges, France|
 last=Mattis|
 first=Olivia|
 translator1=Nina Boguslawsky|
 translator2=Alejandro Tkaczevski|
 date=1989-06-16|
 access-date=2007-11-21}} copied here [http://www.thereminvox.com/story/495/ Theremin Vox - An Interview with Leon Theremin]
*{{Cite web |last=Termen |first=Lew |title=Erinnerungen an A.F. Joffe |url=http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/ |publisher=Website of the Institute of Media Archeology, Austria |language=de |access-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511044056/http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/ |archive-date=2009-05-11 }} Sections translated by Felix Eder from the Russian originals in: {{cite book |script-title=ru:Воспоминания об А. Ф. Иоффе |trans-title=Memories of A.F. Joffe |editor1=Жузе, В. П. |year=1973 |publisher=Nauka (Leningrad)}}<!-- don't use location= here; this is the Leningrad branch of Nauka -->
* {{Cite book
 | last = Wright
 | first = Peter
 | author-link = Peter Wright (MI5 officer)
 | title = Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer
 | year = 1987
 | publisher = Viking
 | location = New York
 | isbn = 0-670-82055-5
 }}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030426143613/http://theremin.info/leon-theremin.shtml Andrey Smirnov – theremin sensors workshop]<!-- closest replacement for now-dead link http://asmir.cyberorchestra.com/performance.htm Retrieved 2009-02-25 --> (selected demonstrations of Theremin sensors and laser bugging.) Retrieved 2009-09-11
* [http://theremin.ru/ Theremin Centre, Moscow, holds Lev Sergeivitch Termen archives (Russian only)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theremin, Leon}}
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