DOCSLIB.ORG

IEEE History Center

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
IEEE History Center IEEE History Center ISSUEI 109, March 2019 FOOTSTEPS: IEEE’S COMMEMORATION OFSuch eorts address both goals one HUMAN SPACE TRAVEL a This activity was part o Signals from the Director . 2 History Committee Activities. 3 This eort com- History Committee Chair Column p The administrative and finan- c A Masters Class in Ingenuity . 4 IEEE Members Share TheirOur Stories new platform, Working on Space Technologies IEEE has t t Center Activities . I am . 5 g Footsteps: IEEE’s Commemoration of Human Space Travel Gowen, for his l A Brief Timeline of Human Space Travel Now, we have a new Chair, Dr. Michael The Race Against Time: An Interview with W Digital Content Specialist Nathan Brewer Spaceflight Movie estivalF In addition, t Meet Our New Research Assistants . 8 The second goal makes ThingsWith to the See assistance and Do: of this leader- c s Space Activities . 8 Tech History on the Web: Recent Staff Favorites . 9 IEEE Foundation .. 9 Unprecidented Success: Dual IEEE MilesetoneThis Dedication special print newsletter, By focusing our eorts on w In Memoriam . 9 s In Memoriam John Meredith IEEE Celebrates the contributions of its members to the technologies of space travel. It is these gifts that, at t IEEE History Center SIGNALS FROM THE DIRECTOR The newsletter reports on the activities of the IEEE History Center By Michael N . Geselowitz, PhD for the project, which we gladly undertook . and on new resources and projects in The contest was completed, and a website, electrical and computer history. It is In 1999, the U S. ’. National Academy of Engi- published three times each year— http://www.greatachievements.org/, creat- once in hard copy (March) and twice neering (NAE) approached its partner profes- ed (the website is still maintained and can electronically ( July and November) sional engineering societies about a project be visited) . The popularity of the web proj- by the IEEE History Center. to poll their memberships . The idea was, ect led NAE to commis- IEEE History Center in observance of the change of the centu- sion a book, which was at Stevens Institute of Technology ry/millennium, to identify the “top twen- published by their Joseph Samuel C. Williams Library 3rd Floor ty” engineering achievements that trans- 1 Castle Point on Hudson Henry Press imprint in Hoboken, NJ 07030-5991 formed 20th century society . It soon became 2003 as A Century of Inno- Telephone +1 732 562 5450 clear—because the other societies lacked vation: Twenty Engineer- Fax +1 732 562 6020 full-time historical staff— that the IEEE His- E-mail: [email protected] ing Achievements That www.ieee.org/about/history-center/index.html tory Center would be the main staff support Transformed Our Lives by IEEE History Committee 2019 HOW CAN THE HISTORY CENTER HELP YOU? Robert Dent, Chair A Handy Guide to Some of Our Programs and Contacts Martin Bastiaans Amy Bix Engineering & Technology History Wiki: https://ethw.org/Main_Page Elizabeth Bruton List of dedicated IEEE Milestones: https://ethw.org/Milestones:List_of_Milestones Jason Hui Allison Marsh How to Propose an IEEE Milestone: http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone_Guidelines_and_ How_to_Propose_a_Milestone Janina Mazierska Michael Polis Milestone proposals in process: http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestones_Status_Report Antonio Savini Oral History Collection: https://ethw.org/Oral-History:List_of_all_Oral_Histories Corinna Schlombs Enrique Tejera REACH Program (free online materials for teaching the history of technology): https://reach.ieee.org/ John Vardalas Support for scholars: Fellowship in the History of Electrical and Computing Technologies: IEEE History Center Staff https://www.ieee.org/about/history-center/fellowship.html Michael Geselowitz, Senior Director Pugh Young Scholar in Residence: [email protected] https://www.ieee.org/about/history-center/internship.html Nathan Brewer, Archival and Middleton History Prize (awarded to a book in the history of technology): Digital Content Specialist https://www.ieee.org/about/history-center/middleton-award.html [email protected] Mary Ann Hellrigel, Archivist/ Institutional Historian WAYS YOU CAN HELP HISTORY Contributing a First-Hand History—Written [email protected] and oral histories help us chronicle important in- As you read this newsletter, you will see the many novators and innovations http://ethw.org/Oral- Alexander Magoun, Outreach success stories of the IEEE History Center and the History:List_of_all_Oral_Histories Historian ways it nurtures the heritage of the profession . [email protected] Authoring an article for the ETHW—The As successful as the Center is, it relies on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW) Lisa Nocks, Historian support and contributions—financial, intellectual, is an authoritative collection of historical informa- [email protected] and time and effort—of many people . We ask you tion about technology’s contributions to society Kelly McKenna, REACH to help further our work by: ethw.org/create Program Manager Proposing an IEEE Milestone—Milestones Supporting the History Center’s mission [email protected] recognize significant achievements in technology with a donation. Robert Colburn, Research Coordinator ieeemilestones.org However you can help, it is always deeply appreciated. [email protected] IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment and bullying. For more information visit NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION BOX www.ieee.org/nondiscrimination The IEEE History Center Newsletter welcomes submissions of letters to the editor, as well as articles © IEEE information contained in this newsletter may be copied without for its Reminiscences and Relic Hunting departments . “Reminiscences” are accounts of history of permission, provided that copies for direct a technology from the point of view of someone who worked in the technical area or was closely commercial advantage are not made or distributed, and the title of the IEEE connected to someone who did . They may be narrated either in the first person or third person . “Relic publication and its date appear on Hunting” are accounts of finding or tracking down tangible pieces of electrical history in interesting each copy. or unsuspected places (in situ and still operating is of particular interest) . Length: 500–1200 words . Submit to [email protected] . Articles and letters to the editor may be edited for style or length . 2 SIGNALS FROM THE DIRECTOR Issue 109 March 2019 George Constable and Bob Somerville . (The book is out was in some sense THE greatest engineering challenge in all of print, but is available in PDF format on the NAE website: of human history, independent of social influence, and that the https://www.nae.edu/Publications/Reports/25878.aspx .) impact on the human psyche was sufficient to put it on the The book included a “Perspective” essay for each achieve- list . That is why Neil Armstrong—the first person on the moon, ment by a leader in that field, an afterward by—naturally—Ar- an aeronautical engineer as well as an astronaut, and some- thur C . Clarke, and a forward by Neil Armstrong . I had the one dedicated to the education of young people—was asked to immense privilege and honor to meet Armstrong at the book write the introduction . launch, representing the IEEE History Center, as well as, with As you can see from a glance at the cover of this issue, the other dignitaries, IEEE more broadly . IEEE History Center is doing something unusual this year . With- The Number One engineering achievement of the 20th out giving short shrift to other technologies and other achieve- century was judged to be electrification (I promise you, the ments, where possible we are going to orient our programs— IEEE did not “put in a fix”) . Numbers Two and Three were the such as Milestones, Oral Histories, articles—around the 50th automobile and the airplane . Sitting comfortably at Number anniversary of Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind,” which he Twelve was another form of “transportation”—spacecraft . I still undertook on 20 July 1969 . Our focus will be the role of engi- recall the discussions as to whether space travel really had the neers, and particular IEEE members, in this achievement, and impact of these other achievements . In the end, the project in raising the public visibility of the profession and IEEE . As you decided yes, because of the growth of space-based telecom- will see throughout this issue, we will be collaborating with a Engineering & Technology History Wiki: https://ethw.org/Main_Page munications and global positioning . But there was subtext wide array of IEEE organizational units and external entities to List of dedicated IEEE Milestones: https://ethw.org/Milestones:List_of_Milestones to these discussions—a feeling that sending human beings to celebrate this unique achievement . How to Propose an IEEE Milestone: http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone_Guidelines_and_ walk on the surface of the moon and bringing them back alive How_to_Propose_a_Milestone Milestone proposals in process: http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestones_Status_Report Oral History Collection: https://ethw.org/Oral-History:List_of_all_Oral_Histories REACH Program (free online materials for teaching the history of technology): https://reach.ieee.org/ Support for scholars: HISTORY COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES Fellowship in the History of Electrical and Computing Technologies: https://www.ieee.org/about/history-center/fellowship.html HISTORY COMMITTEE CHAIR’S MESSAGE Pugh Young Scholar in Residence: By Bob Dent the IEEE History Committee, I see many potential
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Xx:2 Dr. Mabuse 1933
    January 19, 2010: XX:2 DAS TESTAMENT DES DR. MABUSE/THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE 1933 (122 minutes) Directed by Fritz Lang Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou Produced by Fritz Lanz and Seymour Nebenzal Original music by Hans Erdmann Cinematography by Karl Vash and Fritz Arno Wagner Edited by Conrad von Molo and Lothar Wolff Art direction by Emil Hasler and Karll Vollbrecht Rudolf Klein-Rogge...Dr. Mabuse Gustav Diessl...Thomas Kent Rudolf Schündler...Hardy Oskar Höcker...Bredow Theo Lingen...Karetzky Camilla Spira...Juwelen-Anna Paul Henckels...Lithographraoger Otto Wernicke...Kriminalkomissar Lohmann / Commissioner Lohmann Theodor Loos...Dr. Kramm Hadrian Maria Netto...Nicolai Griforiew Paul Bernd...Erpresser / Blackmailer Henry Pleß...Bulle Adolf E. Licho...Dr. Hauser Oscar Beregi Sr....Prof. Dr. Baum (as Oscar Beregi) Wera Liessem...Lilli FRITZ LANG (5 December 1890, Vienna, Austria—2 August 1976,Beverly Hills, Los Angeles) directed 47 films, from Halbblut (Half-caste) in 1919 to Die Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse (The Thousand Eye of Dr. Mabuse) in 1960. Some of the others were Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), The Big Heat (1953), Clash by Night (1952), Rancho Notorious (1952), Cloak and Dagger (1946), Scarlet Street (1945). The Woman in the Window (1944), Ministry of Fear (1944), Western Union (1941), The Return of Frank James (1940), Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Crimes of Dr. Mabuse, Dr. Mabuse's Testament, There's a good deal of Lang material on line at the British Film The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse, 1933), M (1931), Metropolis Institute web site: http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/lang/.
    [Show full text]
  • Close-Up on the Robot of Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1926
    Close-up on the robot of Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1926 The robot of Metropolis The Cinémathèque's robot - Description This sculpture, exhibited in the museum of the Cinémathèque française, is a copy of the famous robot from Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, which has since disappeared. It was commissioned from Walter Schulze-Mittendorff, the sculptor of the original robot, in 1970. Presented in walking position on a wooden pedestal, the robot measures 181 x 58 x 50 cm. The artist used a mannequin as the basic support 1, sculpting the shape by sawing and reworking certain parts with wood putty. He next covered it with 'plates of a relatively flexible material (certainly cardboard) attached by nails or glue. Then, small wooden cubes, balls and strips were applied, as well as metal elements: a plate cut out for the ribcage and small springs.’2 To finish, he covered the whole with silver paint. - The automaton: costume or sculpture? The robot in the film was not an automaton but actress Brigitte Helm, wearing a costume made up of rigid pieces that she put on like parts of a suit of armour. For the reproduction, Walter Schulze-Mittendorff preferred making a rigid sculpture that would be more resistant to the risks of damage. He worked solely from memory and with photos from the film as he had made no sketches or drawings of the robot during its creation in 1926. 3 Not having to take into account the morphology or space necessary for the actress's movements, the sculptor gave the new robot a more slender figure: the head, pelvis, hips and arms are thinner than those of the original.
    [Show full text]
  • Page 1 of 3 Moma | Press | Releases | 1998 | Gallery Exhibition of Rare
    MoMA | press | Releases | 1998 | Gallery Exhibition of Rare and Original Film Posters at ... Page 1 of 3 GALLERY EXHIBITION OF RARE AND ORIGINAL FILM POSTERS AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART SPOTLIGHTS LEGENDARY GERMAN MOVIE STUDIO Ufa Film Posters, 1918-1943 September 17, 1998-January 5, 1999 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 Lobby Exhibition Accompanied by Series of Eight Films from Golden Age of German Cinema From the Archives: Some Ufa Weimar Classics September 17-29, 1998 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 Fifty posters for films produced or distributed by Ufa, Germany's legendary movie studio, will be on display in The Museum of Modern Art's Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 Lobby starting September 17, 1998. Running through January 5, 1999, Ufa Film Posters, 1918-1943 will feature rare and original works, many exhibited for the first time in the United States, created to promote films from Germany's golden age of moviemaking. In conjunction with the opening of the gallery exhibition, the Museum will also present From the Archives: Some Ufa Weimar Classics, an eight-film series that includes some of the studio's more celebrated productions, September 17-29, 1998. Ufa (Universumfilm Aktien Gesellschaft), a consortium of film companies, was established in the waning days of World War I by order of the German High Command, but was privatized with the postwar establishment of the Weimar republic in 1918. Pursuing a program of aggressive expansion in Germany and throughout Europe, Ufa quickly became one of the greatest film companies in the world, with a large and spectacularly equipped studio in Babelsberg, just outside Berlin, and with foreign sales that globalized the market for German film.
    [Show full text]
  • Berkeley Art Museum·Pacific Film Archive W Inte R 2 0 18 – 19
    WINTER 2018–19 BERKELEY ART MUSEUM · PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PROGRAM GUIDE 100 YEARS OF COLLECTING JAPANESE ART ARTHUR JAFA MASAKO MIKI HANS HOFMANN FRITZ LANG & GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM INGMAR BERGMAN JIŘÍ TRNKA MIA HANSEN-LØVE JIA ZHANGKE JAMES IVORY JAPANESE FILM CLASSICS DOCUMENTARY VOICES OUT OF THE VAULT IN FOCUS: WRITING FOR CINEMA 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 CALENDAR DEC 9/SUN 21/FRI JAN 2:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 4:00 The Price of Everything P. 15 Introduction by Jan Pinkava 7:00 Fanny and Alexander BERGMAN P. 15 1/SAT TRNKA P. 12 3/THU 7:00 Full: Home Again—Tapestry 1:00 Making a Performance 1:15 Exhibition Highlights Tour P. 6 4:30 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari P. 5 WORKSHOP P. 6 Reimagined Judith Rosenberg on piano 4–7 Five Tables of the Sea P. 4 5:30 The Good Soldier Švejk TRNKA P. 12 LANG & EXPRESSIONISM P. 16 22/SAT Free First Thursday: Galleries Free All Day 7:30 Persona BERGMAN P. 14 7:00 The Price of Everything P. 15 6:00 The Firemen’s Ball P. 29 5/SAT 2/SUN 12/WED 8:00 The Apartment P. 19 6:00 Future Landscapes WORKSHOP P. 6 12:30 Scenes from a 6:00 Arthur Jafa & Stephen Best 23/SUN Marriage BERGMAN P. 14 CONVERSATION P. 6 9/WED 2:00 Boom for Real: The Late Teenage 2:00 Guided Tour: Old Masters P. 6 7:00 Ugetsu JAPANESE CLASSICS P. 20 Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat P. 15 12:15 Exhibition Highlights Tour P.
    [Show full text]
  • UFA Film Nights Go Digital in Anniversary Year
    PRESS RELEASE Bertelsmann and UFA present: UFA Film Nights Go Digital in Anniversary Year From August 20 to 22, 2020, legendary silent films with exclusive musical accompaniment can be experienced online “Woman in the Moon,” “People on Sunday,” and “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” each accessible free of charge for 24 hours Music contributed by celebrated DJ Jeff Mills, chillout pioneer Raphaël Marionneau and Ensemble Trioglyzerin Berlin, August 5, 2020 – In light of the current situation, the UFA Film Nights will for the first time take place exclusively online and not with thousands of guests on Berlin's Museum Island. So in its tenth year, the silent film festival is open not only to Berliners, but to movie buffs all over the world. From August 20 to 22, 2020, Bertelsmann and UFA will present the anniversary edition of the UFA Film Nights as part of the digital Culture@Bertelsmann series, featuring three early masterpieces of cinema history, each with exclusive musical accompaniment. The films will be live streamed on the company website as well as on Bertelsmann's YouTube and Facebook channels. The event’s curtain-raiser is Fritz Lang's epochal, technically visionary masterpiece Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon) from 1929, with a musical interpretation by the celebrated DJ Jeff Mills. The pairing was a highlight of last year's UFA Film Nights. This will be followed on the second evening by Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday), the legendary homage to Berlin by Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, and Billie Wilder (1929/1930), with DJ Raphaël Marionneau supplying the music.
    [Show full text]
  • Feature Films
    Libraries FEATURE FILMS The Media and Reserve Library, located in the lower level of the west wing, has over 9,000 videotapes, DVDs and audiobooks covering a multitude of subjects. For more information on these titles, consult the Libraries' online catalog. 0.5mm DVD-8746 2012 DVD-4759 10 Things I Hate About You DVD-0812 21 Grams DVD-8358 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse DVD-0048 21 Up South Africa DVD-3691 10th Victim DVD-5591 24 Hour Party People DVD-8359 12 DVD-1200 24 Season 1 (Discs 1-3) DVD-2780 Discs 12 and Holding DVD-5110 25th Hour DVD-2291 12 Angry Men DVD-0850 25th Hour c.2 DVD-2291 c.2 12 Monkeys DVD-8358 25th Hour c.3 DVD-2291 c.3 DVD-3375 27 Dresses DVD-8204 12 Years a Slave DVD-7691 28 Days Later DVD-4333 13 Going on 30 DVD-8704 28 Days Later c.2 DVD-4333 c.2 1776 DVD-0397 28 Days Later c.3 DVD-4333 c.3 1900 DVD-4443 28 Weeks Later c.2 DVD-4805 c.2 1984 (Hurt) DVD-6795 3 Days of the Condor DVD-8360 DVD-4640 3 Women DVD-4850 1984 (O'Brien) DVD-6971 3 Worlds of Gulliver DVD-4239 2 Autumns, 3 Summers DVD-7930 3:10 to Yuma DVD-4340 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her DVD-6091 30 Days of Night DVD-4812 20 Million Miles to Earth DVD-3608 300 DVD-9078 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea DVD-8356 DVD-6064 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD-8357 300: Rise of the Empire DVD-9092 DVD-0260 35 Shots of Rum DVD-4729 2010: The Year We Make Contact DVD-3418 36th Chamber of Shaolin DVD-9181 1/25/2018 39 Steps DVD-0337 About Last Night DVD-0928 39 Steps c.2 DVD-0337 c.2 Abraham (Bible Collection) DVD-0602 4 Films by Virgil Wildrich DVD-8361 Absence of Malice DVD-8243
    [Show full text]
  • 2019 27Th Annual Poets House Showcase Exhibition Catalog
    2019 27th Annual Poets House Showcase Exhibition Catalog Poets House | 10 River Terrace | New York, NY 10282 | poetshouse.org ELCOME to the 2019 Poets House Showcase, our annual, all-inclusive exhibition of the most recent poetry books, chapbooks, broadsides, artists’ books, and multimedia works published in the United States and abroad. This year marks the 27th anniversary of the Poets House Showcase and features over 3,300 books from more than 800 different presses and publishers. For 27 years, the Showcase has helped to keep our collection Wcurrent and relevant, building one of the most extensive collections of poetry in our nation—an expansive record of the poetry of our time, freely available and open to all. Building the Exhibit and the Poets House Library Collection Every year, Poets House invites poets and publishers to participate in the annual Showcase by donating copies of poetry titles released since January of the previous year. This year’s exhibit highlights poetry titles published in 2018 and the first part of 2019. Books have been contributed by the entire poetry community, from the publishers who send on their titles as they’re released, to the poets who mail us signed copies of their newest books, to library visitors donating books when they visit us. Every newly published book is welcomed, appreciated, and featured in the Showcase. The Poets House Showcase is the mechanism through which we build our library: a comprehensive, inclusive collection of over 70,000 poetry works, all free and open to the public. To make it as extensive as possible, we reach out to as many poetry communities and producers as we can, bringing together poetic voices of all kinds to meet the different needs and interests of our many library patrons.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Kit (PDF, 2,2
    UFA Film Nights 2019 1 Bertelsmann and UFA presents August 21 to 23, 2019 Kolonnadenhof on Museum Island Presented by UFA Film Nights 2019 2 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Program 3 The Movies EINE TOLLE NACHT – A CRAZY NIGHT (1926/27) 4 FRAU IM MOND – WOMAN IN THE MOON (1929) 5 MADAME DUBARRY (1919) 6 The Musicians 7 The Venue 10 About UFA 11 About Bertelsmann 12 Press Enquiries 13 Partners 14 UFA Film Nights 2019 3 Introduction Pure movie magic on Berlin’s Museum Island: Bertelsmann and UFA present the ninth UFA Film Nights from August 21 to 23, 2019. On three evenings, early masterpieces of cinema history will be screened in the open air, against a spectacular backdrop and accompanied by live music. The UFA Film Nights have become a cinematic-musical highlight of Berlin’s cultural summer, with a dedicated stage orchestra and big screen erected for the occasion in the Kolonnadenhof on Museum Island, a World Cultural Heritage site. Each evening, close to 1,000 guests will get to enjoy select cinematic art from the Weimar period, with live musical accompaniment and in a unique, historic architectural setting. Following a reception at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, Berlin, the silent film festival begins on Wednesday, August 21, with Richard Oswald’s A CRAZY NIGHT (German: Eine tolle Nacht). The movie from 1926/27, long believed lost and re- discovered in the Gosfilmofond Russian state film archive, was digitally restored this year. It will now be screened for the first time in its revised version. Another premiere at the UFA Film Nights 2019 will be the new score by Frido ter Beek and the inter- nationally renowned Dutch pianist Maud Nelissen, commissioned by ZDF/ARTE.
    [Show full text]
  • Moonstruck: How Realistic Is the Moon Depicted in Classic Science Fiction Films?
    MOONSTRUCK: HOW REALISTIC IS THE MOON DEPICTED IN CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION FILMS? DONA A. JALUFKA and CHRISTIAN KOEBERL Institute of Geochemistry, University of Vienna. Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria (E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]) Abstract. Classical science fiction films have been depicting space voyages, aliens, trips to the moon, the sun, Mars, and other planets, known and unknown. While it is difficult to critique the depiction of fantastic places, or planets about which little was known at the time, the situation is different for the moon, about which a lot of facts were known from astronomical observations even at the turn of the century. Here we discuss the grade of realism with which the lunar surface has been depicted in a number of movies, beginning with George Méliès’ 1902 classic Le Voyage dans la lune and ending, just before the first manned landing on the moon, with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Many of the movies present thoughtful details regarding the actual space travel (rockets), but none of the movies discussed here is entirely realistic in its portrayal of the lunar surface. The blunders range from obvious mistakes, such as the presence of a breathable atmosphere, or spiders and other lunar creatures, to the persistent vertical exaggeration of the height and roughness of lunar mountains. This is surprising, as the lunar topography was already well understood even early in the 20th century. 1. Introduction Since the early days of silent movies, the moon has often figured prominently in films, but mainly as a backdrop for a variety of more or (most often) less well thought-out plots.
    [Show full text]
  • Lang, Fritz , 1890–1976, German-American Film Director, B
    Lang, Fritz , 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, such as Metropolis (1926), are marked by brilliant expressionist technique. He gained worldwide acclaim with M (1933), a study of a child molester and murderer. After directing 15 films, Lang fled Nazi Germany (1933) to avoid collaborating with the government and settled in the United States. His 20 Hollywood films continued his exploration of criminality and the cruel fate that can overtake the unwary. His notable American works include Fury (1936), You Only Live Once (1937), Hangmen Also Die (1943), The Big Heat (1953), and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). Born in Vienna, Austria, Fritz Lang’s father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten . After high school he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien, then started to train as a painter. From 1910 to 1914 he traveled in Europe and, he would later claim, also in Asia and North Africa. He studied painting in Paris in 1913-14. At the start of the First World War he returned to Vienna, enlisting in the army in January 1915. Severely injured in June 1916, he wrote some scenarios for films while convalescing. In early 1918 he was sent home shell-shocked and acted briefly in Viennese theater before accepting a job as a writer at Erich Pommer's production company in Berlin, Decla. In Berlin, Lang worked briefly as a writer and then as a director, at UFA and then for Nero-Film, owned by the American Seymour Nebenzahl.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Imagined Sounds of Outer Space' (Wierzbicki)
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Sydney eScholarship You are currently viewing this page at 60% zoom. The page is optimised for 100%: not all elements on the page may look as intended. The Imagined Sounds of Outer Space James Wierzbicki Readers who know that I often write about film music – and that my publications include an article on the use of the electronic instrument called the theremin in depicting alien “Others” in Hollywood films from the 1950s (Wierzbicki 2002), a monograph on the score for the 1956 film Forbidden Planet (Wierzbicki 2005), and a book chapter on music in The Twilight Zone (Wierzbicki 2012) – might well suspect that this essay will focus on the imagined sounds of outer space as realized in the soundtracks of science-fiction films and television. Those imagined sounds are indeed my primary concerns here, but I will frame my thoughts with considerations of the imagined sounds of space as realized in music alone. The core of the essay deals in turn with depictions both literary and cinematic of signals from space, with cinematic sounds that in one way or another are linked to the technology of space exploration, with imagined sounds associated with “heavenly bodies” that might be visited by Earth-based astronauts, and with sounds that represent travel in and through outer space. This last category of sounds is, I think, especially interesting, because at least some of its cinematic exemplars seem to share basic elements with the “space music” of various composers for whom writing for the cinema was perhaps one of the furthest things from their minds.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Abstract First Name:Colton Middle Name:J. Last
    Public Abstract First Name:Colton Middle Name:J. Last Name:Ochsner Adviser's First Name:Jonathan Adviser's Last Name:Sperber Co-Adviser's First Name:John Co-Adviser's Last Name:Frymire Graduation Term:SP 2015 Department:History Degree:MA Title:Technology towards Transcendence: Apocalyptic Spiritualities & the Genesis of Science Fiction in Weimar Germany This thesis seeks to understand how, in the early twentieth century, esoteric schools in German-speaking Europe influenced the proto-science fiction genre, especially the cinema of Weimar Germany. It is inspired by the work of historians such as Suzanne Marchand and Corinna Treitel, but expands their focus to the period after the First World War and into new forms of mass media. It investigates how discoveries in archaeology and philology reshaped the modern European understanding of the technological prestige of ancient Eastern civilizations, as well as the longstanding presumptions about the originality behind Western religious texts and traditions. In the decade leading up to the Great War, the shock of these discoveries inspired a countercultural revival of the occult and Gnosticism, which in turn found an unexpectedly strong expression among writers of pulp fiction and sensationalist literature, especially those of the science fiction and fantasy genres. In particular, this thesis focuses on the screenwriters, directors, and other filmmakers behind Weimar science fiction films. Its conclusions are tentative, pending on further research. Taken collectively, the science fiction films of Weimar Germany merit attention for various reasons. In part, the German film industry deserves special attention because it produced more science fiction features than any other nation in Europe during the 1920s, the decade that witnessed the globalized consumption of the movie industry.
    [Show full text]