Research Help
I often hear or overhear interesting anecdotes that, if they stick with me, I later attempt to locate sources for. Well, I am currently in need of two citations, and for the life of me, I can’t find them. I need proper accounts of and sources for these stories:
- When Thomas Edison demonstrated his original recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” a prominent figure heard it and was absolutely appalled. He couldn’t sleep that night for fear that Edison was conjuring the dead with his invention (or some such nonsense).
- It has been said (somewhere) that good architectural engineers put sidewalks in last because then you know where they belong from the trails left by the traffic of feet.
If you have any idea where I can find the original (or secondary) accounts of these stories, let me know. I’d greatly appreciate it.
Further Posting:
Oh, I’m also looking for the story of actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil and their discovery of (a version of) frequency hopping. I read about it in a book completely unrelated to either piano or torpedoes, and I can’t remember — or find — what it was.
Thanks to Josh Gunn and Wally Grotophorst, I have citations for the Edison story and the Lamarr and Antheil story. Thanks so much to you two.
Also, I found a bit about what are called “desire lines” or “desire paths” that hints at the sidewalk anecdote, so that one could be locked soon as well (I’m going to the library proper tomorrow after Josh’s class).
I’ll keep you abreast of this chicken (I know you’re all on the very edge of your seats).
Not sure if this helps, but Stewart Brand mentions the campus pathways story on p.187 of How Buildings Learn:
“PAVE WHERE THE PATH IS. An oft-told story (perhaps apocryphal) tells how a brilliantly lazy college planner built a new campus with now paths built in at all. She waited for the first winter and photographed where people made paths in the snow between the buildings. Next spring, that’s where the paving went. Some design is better if it’s postponed.”
Christopher Alexander also talks about the concept of “desire lines” in The Oregon Experiment.
Thanks, Mark:
Perhaps the story is apocryphal, hence my not being able to find it. The Stewart Brand citation will work nicely. I’m working on the chapter about “space,” and the desire line idea perfectly illustrates the tension between built and native environments.
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I am currently an Assistant Instructor corrupting the youth at The University of Texas at Austin, where I am also pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication Studies. My main interests are figurative language use and the social impacts of technology. My main goal as a writer is to entertain and as a scientist is to find novelty. I’m more of the former than the latter and more of a fan than a critic. This site is where all of these things play out. It’s where I think aloud about all of the above.
I’m an aging BMX/skateboard 'zine kid. That’s where I learned to turn events and interviews into pages with staples. The pages and staples have long since given way to links and scrollbars, but the rest is basically the same. I still ride bikes, and I still skateboard. I do still commit quite a bit to actual pages, too. Read on »
