---
title: Lesser-Known Mad Scientists: Leon Termen
author: George Mandis <george@mand.is>
date: 2017-02-03
description: Leon Termen is my second-favorite mad-scientist and could use a little more love.
tags: post, post, random
---

I'm not aware of any formal metrics for measuring mad-scientists, but any system worth its salt should put Nikola Tesla at the top. I don't think that's even my Balkan heritage bias at work — I mean, look at this picture:

![Nikola Tesla](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Nikola_Tesla%2C_with_his_equipment_Wellcome_M0014782.jpg/1920px-Nikola_Tesla%2C_with_his_equipment_Wellcome_M0014782.jpg)

He even [claimed to invent a death-ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleforce#.22Death_ray.22_misnomer) for crying out loud!

But my *second* favorite mad scientist has to be the oddly similar-in-appearance — maybe it was just the standard 20s mad-scientist look? — [Léon Termen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Theremin).

Why you ask? How many scientists inadvertently invented a [musical instrument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin "Theremin") that would become a staple of [sci-fi soundtracks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still), became a fixture on the 1930s New York art scene before being spirited-away back into the Soviet Union to design a [covert listening device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)) that would be used during the Cold War that was installed in an ambassador's study.

I wrote a paper about him in college. There wasn't much written about Leon at the time, but a few articles have come out since then.

Watch **Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey** for more information and some great interviews with theremin virtuoso [Clara Rockmore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Rockmore):

<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Theremin-Electronic-Odyssey-Leon/dp/B00005BKZO/ref=as_li_ss_il?&ascsub&rawdata=%5Br%7Chttps://www.google.com/%5Bks%7Cgoogle%5Bt%7Clink%5Bp%7C392279%5Ba%7CB00005BKZO%5Bau%7C5717795175536518860%5Bb%7Cio9&linkCode=li3&tag=snapwebl-20&linkId=872e9324b0c8396d71df637220efd690" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00005BKZO&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=snapwebl-20" ></a><img src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=snapwebl-20&l=li3&o=1&a=B00005BKZO" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />