Joseph Faber

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Faber (* around 1786 in Freiburg ; † September 2, 1866 in Vienna ) was an Austrian mathematician , astronomer and inventor. His life-size speech machine Euphonia , presented in 1840, was one of the bizarre things in the history of technology in the 19th century. The device consisted of an input keyboard of 16 keys, which controlled an artificial bellows-driven pharyngeal tract, including the larynx and tongue, and thus generated sentences or even singing.

Life

Joseph Faber was born in Freiburg around 1786, but came to Vienna as a child. After graduating from high school , he studied mathematics and astronomy at the Polytechnic in Vienna. He joined the Austrian artillery as a soldier and then worked in the land registry office as an accountant. There, a mental illness emerged that was interpreted as hypochondria . His doctor prescribed "mechanical activities" for him; his land registry employer, General von Fallon, paid him a year 's vacation.

Probably around 1823 Faber came across a publication by the court councilor Wolfgang von Kempelen in which the latter described his chess Turks . This gave rise to the idea of ​​constructing a machine of similar dimensions that could speak. His employer thought Faber's idea, and now himself, to be crazy and cut his salary, whereupon the latter retired to Freiburg to live with his sister, who was well off. At Freiburg University he was given access to the pathological institute of medicine, where he dissected over 100 skulls from corpses in order to get an idea of ​​the human vocal tract. After 12 years the first prototype of the Euphonia was ready. The machine could utter all consonants and vowels of the German language, but not yet the i . After another three years, this also succeeded, and Faber returned to Vienna for the first time in 15 years to present the machine. He met with no interest. In his old homeland he was now thought to be even crazier than before.

Faber's appearances with the Euphonia in Philadelphia in 1845 and London in 1846 brought him some media attention, among other things because the machine God save the Queen could sing, but no commercial success. The US market was also unsuccessful. Joseph Faber probably committed suicide in 1866.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Several sources speak of the suicide in 1850, but without naming the place and date.
  2. ↑ Andrea Harrandt: Euphonia. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .
  3. ↑ The Times of London describes him in their article The Speaking Automaton of August 12, 1846 as a "professor at the ripe old age of 60".
  4. ↑ Friedrich Kaiser: Dead and Living. In: Neues Fremd-Blatt, isidor Heller and Wilhelm Wiener, July 27, 1867
  5. ↑ According to some sources, the premiere in the USA happened after 1845 in the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. Critics noted that the machine spoke American English with a slight German accent.
  6. ^ Hermann Adolf Griesbach: Physico-chemical Propaedeutik with special consideration of the medical sciences: and with historical and biographical information , Volume 2, p. 1287 f. Verlag W. Engelmann, 1915
personal data
SURNAME Faber, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician, astronomer and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg
DATE OF DEATH 1850
Place of death Vienna