or to Kock with his acoustics research leading to the development of electronic organ as well as of sonar. It therefore cannot come as a surprise that some of those music engineers of the 1930s, Termen, Kock and others were engaged in radar research during the Second World War. Although there is no direct link between these fields -but they were both concerned with vibration studies and the differential equations involved are similar – it was because of their expertise in (applied) physics that the military expected those physicists and engineers to do excellent work in radar technology as well. As to Homer Dudley and the vocoder – a case with I don’t investigate here – this started with civil applications in mind; during the Second World War the military supported the project because of its expected uses in military communication technology. This reflects a typical course of events in technological development: starting with ’civil’ objectives in mind, technical know how is often considerably pushed further because of military demand during a war or in times of political crisis.³⁴ This goes for the development of radar, jet engines and the rocket, nuclear energy, the computer and high performance engineering materials, all key technologies of our time. Although war is not ‘the father of all things technical’, it often accelerates the development of innovations or enhances the possibilities of mass production, as can be seen in the case of vacuum tubes manufactured during the First World War.³⁵

Instead of only looking towards military technology as a key technology in electrical engineering and electronics and a spin off to musical instruments, it is well worth trying to turn the perspective round: what about regarding (electrical and electronic) music technology as a key technology which could also lead to military applications? Even if there are no direct links, merely the fact that those physicists and engineers were engaged in advanced ‘high tech’ applied research on musical instruments suggests that they also had the ability to advance related fields, including military applications.

Another point regards the type of persons involved: my thesis is that although one does not have to be a musician – or a painter, sculptor etc. – in order to do pathbreaking physics or engineering research which might lead to military applications, being one certainly helps. The creative talents exhibited in physicists and engineers like Termen or Kock can, of course, be also found in scientists and engineers with little interest in music, but, it can at least be assumed that their strong musical interest also advanced their inventive technological activities. For work of this kind, not so much economic ‘demand push’ and military sponsorship is the driving force, but the objective to create something new. Besides, those ‘music engineers’ were surely no ‘war hawks’, no ‘mad scientists’, whose inventions and electronic devices furthered the destructive potential of the aggressor. On the contrary, they were generally engaged in developing ‘defensive’ technologies, like sonar, radar or other anti-aircraft devices. The same goes for signal and sensor technology. But of course, this argument, which has to do with the nature of the