Wallace Clement Sabine founded the science of architectural acoustics in 1895

Evidence

In 1895, Eliott asked assistant professor Wallace Clement Sabine to see what he could do to fix the problem. He wanted Sabine to develop some quantitative measure of quality in a sound space, and figure out why the Fogg was so terrible, especially compared to the wonderful acoustics of Sanders Theatre not far away. Thus began Sabine’s acoustical career. He is now widely acknowledged as the father of modern architectural acoustics. He did indeed discover the essential principles of good and bad acoustical design and applied them in practice as an acoustical consultant, a profession that he originated, starting with Boston’s Symphony Hall. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2446

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s soundscape/silence reading — Sabine’s uniform-decay concept parallels how soundscape theory treats rooms as shaping sound fields.
• SEED: Angle: the accidental origin of a scientific discipline from a single professor asked to fix one bad lecture hall.