Hugh Le Caine
Hugh Le Caine (May 27, 1914 – July 3, 1977) was a
Canadian physicist,
composer, and instrument builder.
Le Caine was brought up in
Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) in northwestern
Ontario. After completing his Master of Science degree from
Queen's University in 1939, Le Caine was awarded a
National Research Council of Canada (NRC) fellowship to continue his work on
atomic physics measuring devices at Queen's. He worked with the NRC in
Ottawa from 1940 to 1974. During
World War II, he assisted in the development of the first
radar systems. On an NRC grant he studied
nuclear physics from 1948 to 1952 in England.
At home he pursued a life-long interest in
electronic music and sound generation. In 1937, Le Caine designed an electronic free reed organ, and in the mid 1940s, he built the
Electronic Sackbut,
now recognised to be one of the first synthesizers. After the success of public demonstrations of his instruments, he was permitted to move his musical activities to the NRC and to work on them full time in 1954. Over the next twenty years, he built over twenty-two different new instruments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Le_Caine