Re: [tuning] Digest Number 3297-heaviside

Jeff and Dave--thank you both. I too doubt it was microtonal, but it
might be adaptable. I think some libraries may have Heaviside's
collected works and I suppose that would be the next place to look.

--John

I was only able to find a single reference to music in the Nahin bio I previously cited. Heaviside's uncle was Charles Whetstone (whose name is attached to the "Whetstone Bridge" used in the study of electricity, although he didn't actually invent it, and apparently didn't claim to). From page 19 (the footnote also comes from the book):

"With such a wonderful uncle as this is it no surprise that Oliver soon developed a lifelong interest in music, and learned to play the piano[*] and the aeolian."

[*] O. Heaviside, "Pianoforte touch", Nature, vol. 91, p. 397, June 19, 1913. Heaviside once modestly related to a friend, "I have no technical knowledge [of music] nor am I a pianist, though I once taught myself B.'s Opus 90. I liked it better than anything else."

- Dave

John Chalmers wrote:

>Jeff and Dave--thank you both. I too doubt it was microtonal, but it
>might be adaptable. I think some libraries may have Heaviside's
>collected works and I suppose that would be the next place to look.
>
>--John
> >

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, John Chalmers <JHCHALMERS@U...> wrote:
> Jeff and Dave--thank you both. I too doubt it was microtonal, but it
> might be adaptable. I think some libraries may have Heaviside's
> collected works and I suppose that would be the next place to look.
>
> --John

I'd recomend firing off an email to Paul J. Nahin in the
department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
University of New Hampshire. He seems like a very approachable
guy from his books, and he wrote that he spent years digging through
archives of Heaviside's papers.

--Jeff

Sure, I've been consulting his bio of Heaviside. I live in New Hampshire, too, and I'll try to contact him. I just found his UNH page: http://www.ece.unh.edu/bios/paulj.nahin.html, and I'll send him an email.

- Dave

>I'd recomend firing off an email to Paul J. Nahin in the
>department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
>University of New Hampshire. He seems like a very approachable
>guy from his books, and he wrote that he spent years digging through
>archives of Heaviside's papers.
>
>--Jeff
> >

Correction: it's Charles Wheatstone and "Wheatstone Bridge", not Whetstone.

Manuel