Acoustics was physics in the United States—Until it wasn't

This talk surveys the historical fortunes of acoustics as a research topic in American physics departments over the course of the 20th century. Before World War II, nearly a quarter of all PhD granting physics departments employed at least one or two professors who conducted research in musical, architectural, physical, ultrasonic, or electroacoustics. Nevertheless, as early as 1942, Bruce Lindsay felt aggrieved enough to complain that “acoustics has been the stepchild of physics for many years in our universities.” After World War II, a few physics departments took advantage of Navy largesse to build acoustics groups large enough to sustain themselves for some time. Most other physics departments did the opposite. Retiring acousticians were replaced by nuclear or solid state physicists and acoustics instruction was moved out of departments of physics and into departments of applied physics or electrical or mechanical engineering. Today, less than a handful of physics departments maintain a critical mass of professors engaged in acoustics research. A comparison with optics research provides one way to understand the decllining fortunes of acoustics in US physics departments.