Articles / History

Happy Birthday Leon Theremin!

As Lydia Kavina explained on Facebook this morning, Leon Theremin often joked that his name read backwards in Russian meant "not dying". And so, he lives on in our hearts and provides ongoing inspiration to never let the theremin "die". 

The detail oriented reader will also note that in the past, we've celebrated Leon Theremin's birthday on August 15th, not the 28th. Lydia also cleared up that mystery too: he was born on August 15th before the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Russia in 1917. According to Wikipedia:

In Russia the Gregorian calendar was accepted after the October Revolution (so named because it took place in October 1917 in the Julian calendar). On 24 January 1918 the Council of People's Commissars issued a Decree that Wednesday, 31 January 1918, was to be followed by Thursday, 14 February 1918, thus dropping 13 days from the calendar.

Therefore, today is the correct day for us to wish a very happy birthday to Lev Sergeyvich Termen!