This entry is actually about the incredible life of sheer adventure of its creator of genius, the Russian/Soviet engineer-inventor Lev Sergeevich Theremin (1896-1993). Having the word "spies" in it means, of course, that very little, if anything, can be learned about the particular circumstances of his life and about the real scope of his adventures. What is known, though, is that he was, perhaps, the most prolific engineer-inventor of the twentieth century, whose creative genius seemed to know no bounds.
He was born to a noble and wealthy Russian Orthodox family, with French and German roots, revealing his insatiable curiosity and appetite for learning, generously encouraged by his parents, from early on. His first independent experiments in electrical engineering started in secondary school. At the age of twenty he was a graduate of the Saint Petersburg [Russified as Petrograd during World War I] Conservatory of Music (cello), and at the same time studied physics and astronomy at the University of Petrograd. Remarkably, he also managed to see combat action in World War I. His ebullient genius was noticed and appreciated by the new Bolshevik regime, and he was soon head of a special laboratory at the Petrograd Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1919-1920 he invented the first electro-musical instrument Thereminvox, which would gain him an international acclaim. In March 1922 he met at the Kremlin with one of his biggest fans: Lenin, who was so excited about the new musical instrument that he started playing it himself.
Being unable to slow down, Theremin kept inventing amazing gadgets, such as automatic doors and lighting systems, and in 1925-1926 he came up with perhaps the earliest ever television system, Dalnovidenie.
The Soviet government then decided to use his growing international fame, and he became a secret agent. In In 1928 he was sent on a secret mission to the United States (mind you, there were no diplomatic relations then between the two countries!), where he seemingly settled down as a world-renowned entrepreneur and inventor, obtaining numerous patents and licenses for his inventions, which included highly sophisticated security systems. His fame brought him many friends and acquaintances, including Albert Einstein, John Rockefeller, and even the future General and President Dwight Eisenhower. He displayed the miraculous qualities of his revolutionary new musical instrument in sold-out concerts with the best orchestras around the country. In the meantime, he leased, for ninety-nine years, a six-story building in New York City, where he organized his studio, many of whose employees were… undercover Soviet intelligence agents.
In 1938 he was called back to Moscow creating an impression that he was being “repressed,” which allowed the people he had left behind to continue their undercover activities. Most of his subsequent life is shrouded in secrecy, and the subsequent story about him being jailed was probably nothing but his continuing cover. His several areas of sub-rosa activity are however credible, and even documented. They included some very original designs of the first Soviet cruise missiles developed with the participation of Robert Bartini (see my entry Father Of Sputnik) and Sergei Korolev, and especially his mysterious electronic surveillance gadgets. One of his incredible bugging devices, codeworded “things,” found its way into the office of the American Ambassador in Moscow Averell Harriman, where it could not be detected for a long time, and even when it was, its operational principle could not be understood.
There is a story, which is true, of how in 1946 Theremin’s name was proposed for the Stalin Prize 2nd Degree, and how Stalin learning about it became furious and personally corrected 2nd to 1st Degree, which Theremin went on to receive in 1947.
In 1991, as the USSR was falling apart, Theremin, at the good ripe age of ninety-five, surprised everybody by joining the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union], which was then just about to be disbanded. When asked why he was doing so, Theremin replied that he was thus keeping his personal promise to Lenin. Apparently, considering the secret nature of his activities up until then, joining the Communist Party before 1991 would not have been such a good idea. Ironically, having seen his party going up in smoke soon thereafter, he lived long enough to see it reborn as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in February 1993. Luckily for him, he would not live long enough after that, to find out that this reinvented Communist Party was not exactly the party Comrade Lenin had wanted him to join.
Theremin died in 1993 at the age of ninety-seven, taking most of his secrets to the grave with him. One thing however is a secret no longer. He was a true patriot of his country, in the best sense of the word.
He was born to a noble and wealthy Russian Orthodox family, with French and German roots, revealing his insatiable curiosity and appetite for learning, generously encouraged by his parents, from early on. His first independent experiments in electrical engineering started in secondary school. At the age of twenty he was a graduate of the Saint Petersburg [Russified as Petrograd during World War I] Conservatory of Music (cello), and at the same time studied physics and astronomy at the University of Petrograd. Remarkably, he also managed to see combat action in World War I. His ebullient genius was noticed and appreciated by the new Bolshevik regime, and he was soon head of a special laboratory at the Petrograd Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1919-1920 he invented the first electro-musical instrument Thereminvox, which would gain him an international acclaim. In March 1922 he met at the Kremlin with one of his biggest fans: Lenin, who was so excited about the new musical instrument that he started playing it himself.
Being unable to slow down, Theremin kept inventing amazing gadgets, such as automatic doors and lighting systems, and in 1925-1926 he came up with perhaps the earliest ever television system, Dalnovidenie.
The Soviet government then decided to use his growing international fame, and he became a secret agent. In In 1928 he was sent on a secret mission to the United States (mind you, there were no diplomatic relations then between the two countries!), where he seemingly settled down as a world-renowned entrepreneur and inventor, obtaining numerous patents and licenses for his inventions, which included highly sophisticated security systems. His fame brought him many friends and acquaintances, including Albert Einstein, John Rockefeller, and even the future General and President Dwight Eisenhower. He displayed the miraculous qualities of his revolutionary new musical instrument in sold-out concerts with the best orchestras around the country. In the meantime, he leased, for ninety-nine years, a six-story building in New York City, where he organized his studio, many of whose employees were… undercover Soviet intelligence agents.
In 1938 he was called back to Moscow creating an impression that he was being “repressed,” which allowed the people he had left behind to continue their undercover activities. Most of his subsequent life is shrouded in secrecy, and the subsequent story about him being jailed was probably nothing but his continuing cover. His several areas of sub-rosa activity are however credible, and even documented. They included some very original designs of the first Soviet cruise missiles developed with the participation of Robert Bartini (see my entry Father Of Sputnik) and Sergei Korolev, and especially his mysterious electronic surveillance gadgets. One of his incredible bugging devices, codeworded “things,” found its way into the office of the American Ambassador in Moscow Averell Harriman, where it could not be detected for a long time, and even when it was, its operational principle could not be understood.
There is a story, which is true, of how in 1946 Theremin’s name was proposed for the Stalin Prize 2nd Degree, and how Stalin learning about it became furious and personally corrected 2nd to 1st Degree, which Theremin went on to receive in 1947.
In 1991, as the USSR was falling apart, Theremin, at the good ripe age of ninety-five, surprised everybody by joining the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union], which was then just about to be disbanded. When asked why he was doing so, Theremin replied that he was thus keeping his personal promise to Lenin. Apparently, considering the secret nature of his activities up until then, joining the Communist Party before 1991 would not have been such a good idea. Ironically, having seen his party going up in smoke soon thereafter, he lived long enough to see it reborn as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in February 1993. Luckily for him, he would not live long enough after that, to find out that this reinvented Communist Party was not exactly the party Comrade Lenin had wanted him to join.
Theremin died in 1993 at the age of ninety-seven, taking most of his secrets to the grave with him. One thing however is a secret no longer. He was a true patriot of his country, in the best sense of the word.
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