Caption: Book - Century of Physics (1973)
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12 IjeStlons and "foi t he very good time spent in mi excellent company of ma* • it«. M Professor K u m wai himself a very human and engaging Floyd Rove Watson member of the faculty in this period who made a spec appiied physics was Floyd Watson. ecous re i contribul 1 refer to his work in architectural which he began in 1908 and which he continued long after his lent to California in 1939*. His interest in acoustics began when the University Auditorium was completed, and the Physics Department was asked what could be done about its atrocious acoustics. You may think that the Auditorium's acoustics are not very good now, but listen to Professor Watson's description the situation in 1908: "If an observer stood on the platform and clapped his hands, a eritable chaos of sound resulted. Echoes were heard from every direction and before all was still again. reverberations continued for a number of seconds oeakers found their utterances thrown back at them, and auditors all over the house experienced difficulty in understanding what was said. On one occasion the University band played a piece which featured a xylophone solo with accompaniment by the other instruments. It so happened that the leader eard the echo more strongly than the direct sound and beat time with it. Players near the xylophone kept time to the direct sound, while those farther away followed the echo. The confusion may well be imagined. "Thus it seemed that the Auditorium was doomed to be an acoustical orror; that speakers and singers would avoid it. and that auditors would attend entert* iments in it only under protest. But the apparent misfortune was in cs one way a benefit since it provided an opportunity to study defect ve e unde .eptional ly good conditions and led to conclusions that not or. f allowed the Auditorium to be improved but also indicated some oi the pi falls to be avoided in future construction of other hall In 1908, Professor Watson began a avstrm.it propi Lei of t a audi >rium and th< ir improvement Investigation of the a* He had no pre> o t Sp< ti cal ' itsot Watson t yad his iOoth. birthday on April 23, 1972.
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