Max Mathews
Max Vernon Mathews (born November 13, 1926 in Columbus , Nebraska , † April 21, 2011 in San Francisco , California ) was an American electrical engineer and pioneer of computer music .
Mathews studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where he received his PhD in 1954.
In 1957, an IBM 704 computer played a 17-second melody created by his Music I program, which he developed at Bell Laboratories . This is considered to be the founding date of computer music. He then continued to deal with digital audio generation and computer music (from the 1970s with the then advanced technical possibilities also in real time) and their control during live performances, speech synthesis, robotics, physical acoustics, learning and memory and visual communication. From 1962 to 1985 he headed the Acoustical and Behavioral Research Center at Bell Laboratories. Since 1987 he was a professor at Stanford University .
From 1974 to 1980 he was a consultant for the Institute de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique ( IRCAM ) in Paris.
He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the National Academy of Engineering , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , was IEEE Fellow and Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society . He received a silver medal in musical acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America and was a Knight of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres . He was also awarded the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994.
Web links
- Remembering Max- a tribute, csounds
- Obituary at synthopia
- Obituary in the NY Times, April 23, 2011
- Literature by and about Max Mathews in the catalog of the German National Library
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Mathews, Max |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mathews, Max Vernon (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pioneer of computer music |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 13, 1926 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Columbus , Nebraska |
DATE OF DEATH | April 21, 2011 |
Place of death | San Francisco , California |