The Sounds of Silence - an historical insight into the development of ultrasonics

Over the last three centuries, science has become such an important part of our society that no historian can afford to ignore its development. The scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is recognised as a decisive turning point in world history. Science has influenced society just as much as society has influenced science; future progress might be accelerated and become surer if the lessons of the past are re-read and re-learned. This paper goes back to the beginnings of ultrasonics in the hope that this research of the past will reveal hitherto unrecognised facets of the subject which will prove helpful to present-day readers.