Galileo first conceived of and made permanent sound recordings

Evidence

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) may have been the first person to record sound and have a perfectly clear understanding that it was indeed a permanent record. We quote from the dialog in The Two New Sciences, 1638, which exudes a deeper understanding of sound and hearing than his contemporaries were prepared to accept. Galileo speaks first of water waves excited when a wet finger is run around the rim of a full glass and then notes that if the tone jumps an octave, which it sometimes does, so too the waves reduce their wavelength by half. Galileo writes about the possibility of a permanent sound recording, speaking though his imaginary interlocutors Salviati and Sagredo: Salviati: This is a beautiful experiment enabling us to distinguish individually the waves which are produced by the vibrations of a sonorous body, which spread through the air, bringing to the tympanum of the ear a stimulus which the mind translates into sound. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader history of sound reproduction and acoustics that later chapters may develop — and to the general history of recording technology predating Edison.