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Greater |
Saturday, April 20, 2002 2 PM First Parish in Lincoln 14 Bedford Rd Lincoln Center 781-259-8118 (see map below) |
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A note from Leo Beranek to former colleagues: Dear x-BBN'ers: I just returned from a trip and learned of Dick's death, and am pleased that Bill Corral provided a Boston Globe newsstory about Dick which I would have missed. It is hard to express one's grief at hearing of my partner's death. We worked together hand and glove to build a firm that would contribute to a national need -- indeed a world need. When we started BBN almost nothing was known about practical building acoustics except the transmission loss of various walls, and the acoustical absorption of ceiling tiles, draperies, rugs, chairs, and the like. Our first job of size was the acoustics of the United Nations Permanent Headquarters in New York. We used what was known, but added to acoustical knowledge through research at BBN and at MIT. Then came the jet age. Here we had to learn how to build engine test cells that would reduce the extreme noise of jet engines during test to night-time quiet in neighborhoods. We invented acceptable noise criteria for indoors and outdoors venues. We shoe-horned in the jet age through pioneer work with the Port of New York Authority. We worked on the acoustics of hundred's of auditoriums throughout the world, and in the process had to devise new information that eventually led to reliable construction of concert halls. [Parenthetically, we did not work on the acoustics of Boston Symphony Hall, except to reduce the noise of ventilating systems, nor did we do anything with the Sydney Opera House. {These spaces were mentioned in an article published in the Boston Globe Metro/Region section January 22, 2002} Boston's hall has had no changes since its construction in 1900, except for the addition of some sound defusing panels on the back wall beneath the lower balcony to reduce trumpet echoes.] Then we went on to put together a psycho-acoustics group, and later we converted the company from a pure acoustics company to a software company, with the ARPANET as one of our crowning achievements. And I could go on. The important thing is that Dick was always there to lend help and encouragement to all. He was a master at the use of the English language and was known for his ability to chair conferences toward the production of meaningful results. He was universally liked. I must say how much I missed him after he left the Boston area owing to ill health. I treasure our last meals and evenings together. No finer man ever lived. |
| Leo Beranek. |
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