I was referring to a device called a "phonautograph." The phonautograph recorded what is now "the earliest clearly recognizable record of the human voice yet recovered": Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (most probably) singing "Au Clair de la Lune" on April 9, 1860. An 1859 recording of somebody (probably Scott himself) striking a 435 Hz tuning fork has also been recovered. Scott started using his phonautograph invention in 1853 or 1854, but it hasn't been possible yet (and may never be) to recover his earliest recordings.
Abraham Lincoln was alive for more than 10 years after Scott's invention of the phonautograph, but sadly there's no evidence Lincoln ever spoke (or sang!) into the device. Thomas Edison started making phonograph recordings in 1877. Currently, the earliest recovered Edison phonograph recording is from June 22, 1878. Unlike Scott, Edison could play his recordings back in his own era. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, zEnterprise Industry Solutions, AP/GCG/MEA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
