Social Studies

Social Studies Connection:

Ernst Chladni's discovery was during the 18th century and although it was past the accepted time frame of the Renaissance (a period of increased interest for art, music, and science), such an epoch of artistry does not truly have a specific cut off date; i.e. after the 15th-17th century everyone dropped their instruments and paintbrushes in utter disinterest and never looked upon them again. Rather there was still growing interest in music and many people were concerned with increasing the quality of sound in buildings. Chaldni's insight into the movement of sound improved knowledge of acoustics during this time and in turn proved a boon for the making of better instruments.

The so called "Father of Acoustics", Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni of Saxony was a musician, physicist, and

instrument constructor who greatly improved his field of interest and not only that he also contributed to research concerning tuning force and the study of meteorites and their origin in outer space. His studies impacted how instruments were created during the time (which was also related to the Age of Enlightenment) , which bolstered interest in music and intellectualism.

Chladni improved the lot of scientific and musical instruments, he even invented some of his own, such as the clavicylinder which was a type of keyboard instrument. Many famous European composers were accompanied on their tours by Chladni with his clavicylinder, though it was eclipsed in popularity by Benjamin Franklin's harmonica. Although Chladni plates were well known after the Renaissance, it more closely correlates to the Age of Enlightenment or simply the Enlightenment that swept throughout the world in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and was a movement not regulated to only one school of thought, but transcended many boundaries of intellectualism, science, and reason.