WSJ reviews memoir by 93-year-old Solon native Leo Beranek, a National Medal of Science recipient

Leo Beranek & President Bush

The book is titled Riding the Waves: A Life in Sound, Science, and Industry. From Product Description at Amazon:

As president of BBN, [Leo Beranek] assembled the software group that invented both the ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, and e-mail. ...

From Wall Street Journal:

His father's radio purchase was the first of two life-changing moments of serendipity that Mr. Beranek enjoyed when he was young. As the "radioman" that people in the Solon area sought for help, and as a dance-band drummer, he earned enough during the Depression to put himself through Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. On an August day before the start of his senior year, in 1935, Mr. Beranek stopped to help a well-dressed, crestfallen traveler fix a flat tire on a Cadillac with Massachusetts plates. The chance encounter proved fateful: The driver was a radio manufacturer and former instructor at Harvard's Graduate School of Engineering, and he helped Mr. Beranek secure a scholarship to the school for the following year. ...

If you have an account with Amazon, you can sign in to read excerpts of this book. Here are links (hopefully) to Solon references, Cedar Rapids references, Cornell references.

From Nov. 1, 2003 Gazette archives:

Native of Solon picked to receive medal from BushBy Tom WalshThe GazetteIn a circuitous way, a flat tire on Main Street in Mount Vernon on a hot August day in 1935 is taking Leo Beranek to the White House next week to accept the 2002 National Medal of Science from President Bush.Now 89 and living near Harvard University, the Solon native is among eight of the nation's leading scientists and engineers to be honored Thursday for ground-breaking achievements in their respective fields. Beranek will receive the medal for engineering for his pioneering work in acoustical science."I never expected it," he said of the honor. "I've received other gold medals from professional societies, but this is the closest thing to a Nobel Prize that can be awarded to someone like me."In August 1935, Beranek was a straight-A student at Cornell College, and Mount Vernon's Main Street was part of the Lincoln Highway, the main motor route between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco."I was walking along Main Street, when I came upon a Cadillac sedan, parked at the curb, that had a flat tire," he said."It was hot, and the tire was dirty, so I asked this well-dressed man beside it if I could help."While changing the tire, Beranek learned the car's owner was Glenn Browning, a Harvard graduate who was one of the leading radio engineers in an era when radio was in its infancy.Young Leo Beranek's passion was radio, too. In fact, he was putting himself through Cornell by repairing radios in a room above his father's hardware store.Browning was amazed to hear that Beranek had read one of his papers in a technical journal in the Cornell College library that morning.That chance encounter resulted in Browning persuading Beranek to come to Harvard after he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell College in 1936."I came to Harvard to study radio, and among the professors there was F.V. Hunt, who was the leading acoustics man at Harvard," he said."After my first year at Harvard, I had straight A's, which speaks well for the quality of education I received at Cornell. Hunt needed an assistant, and figured with my grades and the one year of experience that I had working for Arthur Collins, that I was his man."Beranek had taken a year off between his junior and senior years at Cornell to work at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids. "One of things I did at first for them was to install sound systems in funeral homes," he said."Then they made me an assistant in the engineering department.They would make a design or some new radio transmitter and ask me to make a trial version of it."I lived in a rooming house in Marion with three other engineers, and on Sunday evenings we would go to Arthur Collins' house for a meal and then go out to this shack where he had his personal radio transmitter and make amateur radio communication with whoever answered."Not interested in retirement, Beranek just published his seventh book: "Concert Halls & Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics and Architecture."Since 1962, Beranek has been considered a world expert on the acoustic design of performance venues.Beranek plans to attend next week's White House ceremony with his wife, Gabriella, and his two sons, James and Thomas.

The Gazette

In a circuitous way, a flat tire on Main Street in Mount Vernon on a hot August day in 1935 is taking Leo Beranek to the White House next week to accept the 2002 National Medal of Science from President Bush.

Now 89 and living near Harvard University, the Solon native is among eight of the nation's leading scientists and engineers to be honored Thursday for ground-breaking achievements in their respective fields. Beranek will receive the medal for engineering for his pioneering work in acoustical science.

"I never expected it," he said of the honor. "I've received other gold medals from professional societies, but this is the closest thing to a Nobel Prize that can be awarded to someone like me."

In August 1935, Beranek was a straight-A student at Cornell College, and Mount Vernon's Main Street was part of the Lincoln Highway, the main motor route between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

"I was walking along Main Street, when I came upon a Cadillac sedan, parked at the curb, that had a flat tire," he said.

"It was hot, and the tire was dirty, so I asked this well-dressed man beside it if I could help."

While changing the tire, Beranek learned the car's owner was Glenn Browning, a Harvard graduate who was one of the leading radio engineers in an era when radio was in its infancy.

Young Leo Beranek's passion was radio, too. In fact, he was putting himself through Cornell by repairing radios in a room above his father's hardware store.

Browning was amazed to hear that Beranek had read one of his papers in a technical journal in the Cornell College library that morning.

That chance encounter resulted in Browning persuading Beranek to come to Harvard after he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell College in 1936.

"I came to Harvard to study radio, and among the professors there was F.V. Hunt, who was the leading acoustics man at Harvard," he said.

"After my first year at Harvard, I had straight A's, which speaks well for the quality of education I received at Cornell. Hunt needed an assistant, and figured with my grades and the one year of experience that I had working for Arthur Collins, that I was his man."

Beranek had taken a year off between his junior and senior years at Cornell to work at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids. "One of things I did at first for them was to install sound systems in funeral homes," he said.

"Then they made me an assistant in the engineering department.

They would make a design or some new radio transmitter and ask me to make a trial version of it.

"I lived in a rooming house in Marion with three other engineers, and on Sunday evenings we would go to Arthur Collins' house for a meal and then go out to this shack where he had his personal radio transmitter and make amateur radio communication with whoever answered."

Not interested in retirement, Beranek just published his seventh book: "Concert Halls & Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics and Architecture."

Since 1962, Beranek has been considered a world expert on the acoustic design of performance venues.

Beranek plans to attend next week's White House ceremony with his wife, Gabriella, and his two sons, James and Thomas.