A short history of physical acoustics at Brown Free

Modern acoustics at Brown began with Bruce Lindsay. Lindsay had been a student of atomic theory, but switched to acoustics during and after WWII. He found strong support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and brought to the department Arthur Williams, Peter Westervelt, Jordan Markham, Bob Morse, Rohn Truell, Wes Nyborg, and many others. Honors in the Society among this group included three presidencies, two gold medals, and several silver awards, as well as Lindsay’s role of 20 years as Editor‐in‐Chief. The author of this paper recently found himself described in a German publication as ‘‘Schatzmeister’’ (look it up) of the Acoustical Society of America. Rohn Truell moved to Applied Mathematics at Brown and developed a second acoustics group there, which included Charles Elbaum and Humphrey Maris. From acoustic filters to nanosecond technology, the subject moved forward. But, we were all following Bruce Lindsay.