Cyril Harris ’38, M.A. ’40

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To music aficionados the world over, Cyril Harris is a hero, even if most of them don’t know his name. The world’s preeminent architectural acoustician, he has served as consultant for more than 100 auditoriums worldwide, designing halls that showcase music as its composers and players intend it to be heard. He first became fascinated with the physics of sound as a mathematics major at UCLA. He went on to earn his master’s degree in physics from UCLA in 1940, studying and sharing authorship of the classic text Acoustical Designing in Architecture with renowned acoustical expert Vern O. Knudsen. He received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1945.

Harris’ distinguished career began at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, which at the time was the nation’s leading acoustical research facility. In 1952, he joined the electrical engineering faculty at Columbia University. Along with his academic career, Harris has pursued a sideline as an acoustical consultant and is credited with designing five of the top concert halls in the world. Because of his expertise, music resounds freely through such auditoriums as the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., delighting audiences and enriching their lives.