Max Mathews

The father of computer music, pioneering researcher Max Mathews (born Nov. 13, 1926, Columbus, Nebraska, USA, died April 21, 2011) programmed the first-ever computer-generated sounds, setting into motion a technological and creative revolution which continues to this day. A telecommunications engineer and amateur violinist working in Bell Telephone Laboratories' acoustic and behavioral research department during the mid-'50s, Mathews was originally assigned to explore the digital transmission and recording of speech patterns, a process he realized could be easily adapted to the composition and playback of music as well. In 1957, he created the first music-synthesizing program, MUSIC 1, effectively transforming the computer into a new kind of instrument, one theoretically capable of generating any sound transmitted through a loudspeaker.