Published on: 2026-08-28
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On August 28, the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great Soviet inventor, electromechanical engineer, musician, physicist-acoustician, and graduate of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute Lev Sergeyevich Termen is celebrated.
He was born in Saint Petersburg into a noble Orthodox family. He studied at the First Petersburg Male Gymnasium. Already in the third grade, he became interested in physics, and in the fourth grade, he demonstrated a “Tesla-type resonance.” He graduated from the gymnasium with a silver medal in 1914.
In 1916, he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, specializing in cello. At the same time, he studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Petrograd University, where he attended lectures on physics by Abram Fyodorovich Ioffe.
In 1920, Lev Termen enrolled in the physics and mechanics faculty of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, where he defended his thesis in May 1926. It was then that he invented one of the first television systems — “electrical vision”.
As early as 1919, he became the head of a laboratory at the Physico-Technical Institute, to which he was invited by Abram Ioffe. His first task was to measure the dielectric constant of gases at various pressures and temperatures. Initially, Termen’s measuring setup was a generator of electrical oscillations based on a cathode tube. During work on increasing the sensitivity of the setup, the idea arose to use the phenomenon of interference of high-frequency currents. The relative change in the difference frequency depending on the parameters of the tested gas made it possible to compensate for systematic errors, thereby improving measurement accuracy. Moreover, if the difference frequency fell within the audible range, the signal could be perceived by ear.
Since Lev Termen also had a musical education, he came up with the idea to try controlling the frequency of the sound. He began making hand sweeps near the antenna. This allowed him to play different melodies.
Thus, in 1920, Lev Termen became the creator of the world’s first electronic musical instrument — the theremin, which still remains a unique symbol of the synthesis of physics and art. Playing the theremin involves the musician changing the distance between their hands and the instrument’s antennas, which alters the capacitance of the oscillatory circuit and, as a result, the pitch of the sound.
Lev Termen gave his first public concert on the theremin within the walls of the Polytechnic Institute in November 1920. And it became a real sensation.
In 1927, the scientist participated in the international music exhibition in Frankfurt am Main. Theremin’s report and demonstration of his inventions brought him worldwide fame.
The descendants of Lev Termen continue his work — they play the theremin and teach new generations how to do it. Thus, his great-grandson Pyotr Termen gave a concert at the Polytechnic University in 2025.
Lev Termen’s contribution to science is not limited to musical instruments. He invented many different automatic systems (automatic doors, lighting systems, etc.) and security alarm systems. His developments were decades ahead of their time.
Moreover, Léon Theremin had a significant impact on the intelligence activities of the USSR. He invented the eavesdropping system “Buran,” which read vibrations of glass in the windows of the monitored room using a reflected infrared beam.
Another of his inventions is the endovibrator “Zlatoust.” This is a bugging device without power sources or electronics, based on high-frequency resonance, which operated unnoticed in the office of American ambassadors for seven years. The device was hidden in a wooden panel depicting the Great Seal of the United States. In 1945, it was given as a gift to one of the American ambassadors. He hung the gift in his office. The bug’s design was so clever that during the inspection of the gift, American intelligence services noticed nothing. The “bug” was only discovered in 1952, but its operating principle remained unsolved for several more years.
Today we remember Lev Sergeyevich Termen not only as an outstanding scientist but also as a pride of our university. His legacy is a reminder that here, at St. Petersburg Polytechnic, ideas capable of changing the world have always been born.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It represents an accurate account of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.