Günter Tembrock (1918-2011) was the founder of the first German “Research Center for Animal Psychology” in Berlin in 1948 and is considered the most important researcher in the field of behavioural biology in the GDR. Even though he worked on a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of animal behaviour, his special interest was in mammals. He conducted his first behavioural studies on a female chimpanzee at the Berlin Zoo, which formed the basis for his book “Grundzüge der Schimpansen-Psychologie” (Fundamentals of Chimpanzee Psychology), published in 1949.

Son of a musician and a voice teacher, Pierre Schaeffer received a Catholic education, practiced theater as a boy scout, and learned to play the cello at the conservatory in Nancy. He chose to pursue engineering, gaining admission to the Polytechnique in 1929, where he continued his work in theater, followed by studies at the Supélec (top-ranked graduate school for electrical engineering).

Picture: CC0 | Wikimedia

Friedrichkarl (also spelled Friedrich-Karl) Roedemeyer was born in 1894 and trained as a pharmacist, but later turned to linguistics and radio studies.

Image Source: Dresdner, Albert: Industrielle Vertreter der Industrie und des Handels in Wort und Bild, Berlin, 1899.

Marin Mersenne, often referred to as the father of modern acoustics, lived in Paris for most of his life but was in contact with scholars from all over Europe. Born in 1604, he attended the Jesuit College in La Flèche, one of France’s most prestigious schools for the cultural, political, and ecclesiastical elite. He then studied theology at the Sorbonne and the Collège Royal. In 1611, he abandoned his studies to enter the mendicant Order of Minims. He took up residence at the order’s monastery on the Place Royale, Paris, in 1619.

Inventor of the trumpet automaton, several musical automata, and the harmonichord. Clockmaker, instrument maker and musician in Dresden. Founder of the cabinet of acoustics in Dresden.

The silk manufacturer Johann Heinrich Scheibler invented a method to tune keyboards with unprecedented accuracy, applying principles that he had developed in his textile factory. His technique involved a set of tuning forks called a tonometer, a chronometer, and the counting of beats. It aimed to deskill tuning so that anyone could achieve precise tuning regardless of their musical ear. He explained his invention in Der physikalische und musikalische Tonmesser of 1834.

Jules Antoine Lissajous was a high-school teacher, then held prestigious administrative posts in the education system of various parts of France. He had trained in physics, and defended his dissertation on vibratory phenomena in 1850.