Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville (1817-1879)
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (25 April 1817 – 26 April 1879) was a French printer, bookseller, and inventor who invented the "phonoautograph" in 1857, the first device for visually recording sound.
Louis Figuier , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The phonoautograph was a device that visually recorded sound waves on paper and was designed to study the physical properties of sound. Although the device could not directly reproduce sound, it did allow for the visual recording of sound waves.
In 2008, researchers successfully digitally recovered Scott's 1860 recording, making it the oldest surviving recording of the human voice.
Scott's work has made an enormous contribution to the development of acoustics and recording technology. His phonoautograph laid the foundations for the visual analysis of sound and influenced later developments in recording technology.
His recordings have also been included in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in recognition of their cultural and historical significance.
