October 30, 2013
Space Travel and 3D Sound:
My Hobbies Since I Was 12 and
How Princeton Pays Me to Keep Playing
Edgar Choueiri
Director, Princeton University's Program in Engineering Physics and Princeton's Electric Propulsion and
Plasma Dynamics Laboratory
Space Travel and 3D Sound:
My Hobbies Since I Was 12 and
How Princeton Pays Me to Keep Playing
Edgar Choueiri
Director, Princeton University's Program in Engineering Physics and Princeton's Electric Propulsion and
Plasma Dynamics Laboratory
Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the 72nd Year
The meeting in the Friend Center was called to order at 10:15 a.m. by President Ruth Miller. The invocation was led by Joan Fleming. Jock McFarlane read the minutes of the meeting held on October 23rd. There were 94 members present.
Ed Weiss, Chair of the Membership Committee, the proposed the following 10 candidates for election to membership:
Edward D. Thomas,
Julie Denny‑Clark,
Robert L .Pickens,
Henry Von Kohorn,
Jared T. Kieling,
John P. Leavell,
Victor A. Giallella,
Patricia S. Butcher,
Alan J. Dybvig,
David H. Fulmer.
The proposal was seconded and unanimously approved by the members.
Scott McVay introduced the speaker, Professor Edgar Choueiri, who was born in Lebanon and after attending Syracuse and Pisa Universities he received a PHD from Princeton in 1991 in Aerospace Engineering/Plasma Science. He is a Professor of applied physics and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, where he is also Director of the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Laboratory and Director of Princeton's Engineering Physics Program. He is also the director of Princeton's 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics (3D3A) Lab.
Professor Choueiri's talk was based on describing how he translated his boyhood interests in three areas into a professional career in which he still works in those areas. He listed three toys which he had as a boy of 12: A Telescope, A Water Rocket and A Tape Recorder
Respectfully submitted,
Bruno J Walmsley
Ed Weiss, Chair of the Membership Committee, the proposed the following 10 candidates for election to membership:
Edward D. Thomas,
Julie Denny‑Clark,
Robert L .Pickens,
Henry Von Kohorn,
Jared T. Kieling,
John P. Leavell,
Victor A. Giallella,
Patricia S. Butcher,
Alan J. Dybvig,
David H. Fulmer.
The proposal was seconded and unanimously approved by the members.
Scott McVay introduced the speaker, Professor Edgar Choueiri, who was born in Lebanon and after attending Syracuse and Pisa Universities he received a PHD from Princeton in 1991 in Aerospace Engineering/Plasma Science. He is a Professor of applied physics and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, where he is also Director of the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Laboratory and Director of Princeton's Engineering Physics Program. He is also the director of Princeton's 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics (3D3A) Lab.
Professor Choueiri's talk was based on describing how he translated his boyhood interests in three areas into a professional career in which he still works in those areas. He listed three toys which he had as a boy of 12: A Telescope, A Water Rocket and A Tape Recorder
- The Telescope: With this he made a chart or map of the skies, identifying known objects. He pointed out that the Princeton Astronomy Department is now making a Map of the Known Universe and he showed a copy of this map which was in the form of a scroll 14 feet in width. Starting at Princeton it showed the levels of the earth's atmosphere where the satellites roam, the moon, the planets, the sun, the asteroid belt where all the bits of rock left over from the formation of the solar system are in orbit, and the location of Voyager 1 and 2, the American satellites that have been traveling for 36 years and are now at about 12 billion miles from earth. The map continues to the stars, the galaxies and on to the remnants of the Big Bang 13.5 light years distant.
- The Water Rocket: A water rocket uses water and compressed gas and can rise to a height of several hundred meters. It generated Dr. Choueiri’s interest in space travel to such an extent that he now directs a department at Princeton that is developing Plasma Ion Rockets as propulsion devices for space exploration. These engines will be much more efficient than the presently used chemical rockets. Plasma rockets will not have the same lifting power as chemical rockets but will be used for inter space travel. Since they can use water as a fuel and asteroids contain water there would be plenty of fuel in available in space.For lift-off another technique is required. One idea proposed is a space elevator, which would consist of a cable or tower anchored on the earth and stretching up 22,000 miles, made of carbon nanotubes, a material 10,000 times as strong as steel.
- The Tape Recorder: This toy introduced Professor Choueiri to music and later in life he started doing research on the production of 3D sound and presently directs a laboratory at Princeton called 3D Audio Applied Acoustic Laboratory (3D3A). In stereophonic sound the sounds from 2 speakers are mixed in the air as they travel to the ears. With 3D Sound this crosstalk is removed and the listener would experience at each ear sounds from the direction and at the level appropriate to each ear. For instance if a recording was made of a fly flying around one's head, on playback in 3D sound one would hear the buzzing sound circulating around the listener’s head. In listening to music one would hear the sounds of the instruments coming from their specific locations in the orchestra. The electronic device that creates 3D Sound is called the BACCH filter and is being licensed by Princeton University to outside companies. In a simple demonstration provided by the professor with a small stereo speaker and the BACCH filter the listener could identify sounds coming from right and left and also from behind the head.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruno J Walmsley