Cornell College graduate and Iowa native Leo Beranek ’36, widely considered the pioneer of modern acoustic technology, will receive the 2025 Technical Grammy Award on Feb. 1.
His posthumous award is part of the Special Merit Awards ceremony honoring music industry legends one night prior to the 67th Grammy Awards. The Technical Grammy is given to those who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. Others being honored at the ceremony include Prince, Taj Mahal, The Clash, and Frankie Valli.
Beranek grew up in Solon and Mount Vernon, Iowa, graduating from Cornell College in 1936. He was a renowned acoustician, inventor, professor, and entrepreneur whose expertise laid the foundation for modern acoustical engineering, particularly in noise control and concert hall acoustics.
He died in 2016 at age 102. In its obituary, the New York Times called Beranek “a sought-after acoustics genius.”
Beranek met with fortune at the beginning and end of his Cornell career. Just before enrolling he withdrew his life’s savings from a Solon bank, which closed the following day in the midst of the Great Depression. As an upper-class student, he helped a motorist with a flat tire on Highway 1 in Mount Vernon, who guided him to a full scholarship at Harvard.
Beranek turned that chance encounter into a Harvard Ph.D. and then taught acoustic engineering at Harvard and M.I.T. for more than 30 years. During World War II he was approached by the U.S. Air Force to figure out why pilots of long-range bombers were getting so exhausted in the air and why communication was so difficult in the cockpit. He solved both problems at Harvard’s Electro-Acoustic Laboratory, where his groundbreaking work led to the development of the anechoic chamber, a revolutionary space designed to absorb all reflections of sound and isolate external noise, allowing the gathering of uncompromised acoustic data.
For his efforts in World War II, Beranek won the Presidential Certificate of Merit, and for his lifetime of achievements, he won a National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor for achievements in science and technology.
He authored 12 books, including the classic “Acoustics,” a cornerstone reference for students and professional engineers. Renowned for his expertise, he served as an acoustical consultant for concert halls around the world, including Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Acoustics Today ended its obituary of Beranek by lauding his character: “... he is most reverently remembered by the acoustics community for the tireless support and encouragement he generously gave students and professionals alike. At a special Tribute Session celebrating Leo’s 100th birthday in 2014, speaker after speaker shared tales of how Leo was instrumental in helping his or her career. Leo was infallibly thoughtful, prompt (always on time), well organized, and courteous.”