Lesser-Known Mad Scientists: Leon Termen
========================================

  By George Mandis <george@mand.is>
  https://george.mand.is/2017/02/lesser-known-mad-scientists-leon-termen
  Friday, February 3rd 2017

I'm not aware of any formal metrics for measuring mad-scientists, but any system worth its salt should put Nikola Tesla at the top. I don't think that's even my Balkan heritage bias at work — I mean, look at this picture:

![Nikola Tesla](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Nikola_Tesla%2C_with_his_equipment_Wellcome_M0014782.jpg/1920px-Nikola_Tesla%2C_with_his_equipment_Wellcome_M0014782.jpg)

He even [claimed to invent a death-ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleforce#.22Death_ray.22_misnomer) for crying out loud!

But my *second* favorite mad scientist has to be the oddly similar-in-appearance — maybe it was just the standard 20s mad-scientist look? — [Léon Termen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Theremin).

Why you ask? How many scientists inadvertently invented a [musical instrument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin "Theremin") that would become a staple of [sci-fi soundtracks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still), became a fixture on the 1930s New York art scene before being spirited-away back into the Soviet Union to design a [covert listening device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)) that would be used during the Cold War that was installed in an ambassador's study.

I wrote a paper about him in college. There wasn't much written about Leon at the time, but a few articles have come out since then.

Watch **Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey** for more information and some great interviews with theremin virtuoso [Clara Rockmore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Rockmore):

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