Underwater acoustics – timeline
This timeline gives key dates relating to the key developments in underwater acoustics.
1490 – First reports
Leonardo da Vinci writes the first reports of listening to sound under water. “If you cause your ship to stop and place the head of a long tube in the water and place the outer extremity to your ear, you will hear ships at a great distance from you.”
1687 – Sound and mathematics
Sir Isaac Newton first describes sound in mathematical terms.
Statue of Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1726) entered Cambridge University in 1661. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1667 and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. He remained at the university, lecturing in most years, until 1696.
1829 – Underwater measurements
Physicist Jean-Daniel Colladon and mathematician Jacques Charles François Sturm make the first measurements of the speed of sound under water.
1850 – Helmholtz resonator
German physician and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz designs the first Helmholtz resonator.
Helmholtz resonator
This is a brass, spherical helmholtz resonator based on Hermann von Helmholtz original design, circa 1890–1900.
1857 – Hertz born
The birth of German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz – a founder of the field of electromagnetic theory and namesake for the hertz unit.
1912 – Submarines
Technology for listening for submarines under water is developed and deployed for the first time.
1919 – First scientific paper
The first scientific paper on underwater acoustics is published.
1923 – Bel
The transmission unit (TU) is renamed the ‘bel’ in honour of the founder of Bell Laboratories, Alexander Graham Bell.
1946 – Physics of sound
The book Physics of Sound in the Sea is published as a summary of advances in the field during World War II.
1946 – Oscilloscope
Americans Howard Vollum and Jack Murdock develop the triggered oscilloscope – the forerunner to the modern oscilloscope.
1958 – Underwater recording station
The New Zealand Navy places a permanent underwater recording station on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.
1960 – Hertz becomes standard unit
The General Conference on Weights and Measures adopts the hertz as the standard unit for measuring the frequency of sound, replacing cycles per second (CPS).
1962 – Evening chorus
New Zealand scientists identify the ‘evening chorus’ and propose kina as the source of the increase in underwater reef sound at dusk.
New Zealand kina
An intact kina (or New Zealand sea urchin), still with spikes, meaning that is alive. Kina are some of the noisiest species found on New Zealand reefs.
2008 – Kina and noise
Researchers from the Leigh Marine Laboratory conclusively show the role of kina in the production of reef noise.
2010 – Crab larvae and noise
Researchers from the Leigh Marine Laboratory publish their studies on the settlement and metamorphosis of crab larvae in response to reef noise.
Settlement of crabs on reef habitats
Auckland University PhD student Jenni Stanley talks about her research with crab larvae and sound. She talks about where she got the idea to look at this phenomenon and why crab larvae might use sound to navigate.
Point of interest: Jenni’s research relied on a serendipitous discovery made almost by accident. These sorts of discoveries are very important in science and often show phenomena that are entirely new.
Settlement of crabs on reef habitats
Auckland University PhD student Jenni Stanley talks about her research with crab larvae and sound. She talks about where she got the idea to look at this phenomenon and why crab larvae might use sound to navigate.
Point of interest: Jenni’s research relied on a serendipitous discovery made almost by accident. These sorts of discoveries are very important in science and often show phenomena that are entirely new.
