First known recording of voice
APR 09, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030939
On this day in 1860 Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made the earliest known recording of a human voice. Scott de Martinville used his own invention, the phonautograph, which converts sound into a two-dimensional trace on a strip of paper coated with soot. Scott de Martinville’s recording was discovered in 2008 and converted digitally into a sound. Back in the 19th century, however, phonautograph recordings were converted into etched metal plates before they could be played back. Click on the link to hear the famous recording, which is of the French song “Au clair de la lune” (By the Light of the Moon).
Date in History: 9 April 1860
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
