Talk:Léon Theremin

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Did Theremin therefore invent RFID ? Shyamal 08:32, 26 May 2004 (UTC)

Quote from the RFID article: "Although some people think that the first known device may have been invented by Leon Theremin as an espionage tool for the Russian Government in 1945, the first real usage of RFID devices predates that." I guess he didn't. Jonathan Grynspan 23:13, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Did he spend a good deal of time in France, or is there another reason his name was transliterated in a French way? (Rather than, say 'Leo Termen') Xyzzyva 16:11, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I can only guess but Albert Glinsky's biography (pages 9-10) traces his ancestors to the Albigenses sect in southern France, and a group that escaped the Inquisition were named Théremin (acute accent). From the sixteenth century they spread to several countries, one branch settling in Saint Petersburg. Leon himself also had relatives in France. He, or his attorneys, did spell it Leo (and Thèremin with a grave accent) when registering the 1928 US patent. Oddmusic claims his westernised name is "Leon Theremin" (no accents). What puzzles me is why wikipedia spells it "Léon" as only the French spell it that way as far as I can see. -Wikianon (talk) 06:49, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Lavinia Williams—request for source

Guys, I recently created an article for Lavinia Williams, please see my note at Talk:Lavinia Williams. Does someone have an authoritative source confirming that she and Theremin were married before he was abducted by the KGB? A cursory internet search revealed the following:

  • Pages devoted specifically to Lavinia Williams make no mention of Theremin.
  • Pages about Theremin frequently mention that he was married to an African-American dancer before his abduction.
    • Many of these pages give the dancer's name as Iavana Williams, but these all appear to have plagiarized from one another.
    • Several pages copy the Wikipedia article along with its assertion that her name was "Lavinia Williams".
    • Several pages tell the story and use the name "Lavinia Williams" and are not direct copies of Wikipedia. However, they mention her just for the purpose of telling the star-crossed love story, and I am concerned about the innate propensity for this story to propagate itself as an urban legend, given the remarkable circumstances involved (two people each very prominent in a different field, a marriage socially frowned upon, the KGB putting a stop to it!, both of them living for half a century after that but apparently never communicating).
    • A web search for "Iavana Williams" returns only pages that mention her only because she married Theremin, only in pages that basically are copies of one another. I'm thinking it got mistranscribed somewhere and then plagiarized around.

If someone can get the real story, from a source that is not just the internet, then please contribute the story and reference to both the Theremin and Williams pages. I'd really like to know what actually happened. Thanks!

By the way, I actually never heard of Lavinia Williams until I read the Theremin article; it sparked my interest and now I've started an article on her (and she deserves one independently of this Theremin business). So: writers of this article, nice work!

EsdnePyaJ 14:59, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the 1994 documentary says they got married (I saw it last night). You should watch it if you haven't yet. --Cam 15:45, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
Also in this 1989 interview he says they got married at the Soviet Consulate, though his memory is faulty on other matters so who knows. --Cam 16:57, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abduction

Here in this talk area we talk about his abduction. In the movie documentary, his wife's best friend says that Lavinia told her that he was abducted, and did not leave of his own volition. So, this means that either the people who say he left due to financial reasons are lying, or he staged his own abduction in front of his wife, which I find peculiar and absurd, given the zero evidence presented for the "running away" theory and the direct documentary evidence in the film documentary.

I think some clarification in this regard is in order, and that the article should have a more evenly weighted description.

Hwarwick 21:22 17 August 2007 (UTC)

The information regarding Theremin's return to the Soviet Union is contained in the book, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage, which is cited in the article. The information in the movie interviews is hearsay, and is refuted in the book, which is scrupulously researched.THD3 19:52, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rehabilitation (Soviet)

I deleted the line which read "The Soviet Union rehabilitated him in 1956." Rehabilitated from what, pray tell? His wicked Capitalist ways? Begone, POV! Loundry (talk) 15:50, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

reinstated as per Rehabilitation (Soviet) (section topic here renamed) Artlondon (talk) 17:23, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Albert Glinsky book cites

I have added a few cites to passages from a preview of Albert Glinsky's book, but here is stuff I didn't include:

  • November 1925 Lev gave his address as 50 Marat Street, Leningrad
  • Lev's aunts were Elena Emiliviena Termen and Olga Emiliviena Termen
  • Elena sang and Olga played piano at Lev's lecture concert at the Leningrad Philharmonic Society 1927-04-10
  • at that lecture Lev demonstrated music and color with an "illumovox", no details
  • Early 1927 the Council of Labour and Defence (CTO) directed Lev design a distance vision unit for border patrol
  • 1927 June a secret version of Lev's television was ready for the Kremlin, - the preview frustratingly ends here
  • Page 261: Lev worked on a zsystem to record voices inside a room by beaming low power infrared at a window and extracting the sounds from the disturbed reflection, and Lavrentiy Beria used it to monitor discussions inside American, British and French embassies in Moscow
  • From the notes, chapter 7, pages 167 to 176 covers Lavinia Williams and the American Negro Ballet

-Wikianon (talk) 22:47, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More sources

While looking for verifying sources not from the movie, I came across these possibly useful links, but I did not use them for lack of time:

-Wikianon (talk) 22:47, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Henry Theremin?

I read in a history text and heard from an artist that the inventor of the theremin was named Henry Theremin. Is there any reason for this confusion? Was there another individual named Henry Theremin? Or were these two "resources" just foolishly mistaken...?Twitterpated. (talk) 18:31, 6 January 2008 (UTC)