Editing Acoustics (section)

=== Age of Enlightenment and onward ===
Substantial progress in acoustics, resting on firmer mathematical and physical concepts, was made during the eighteenth century by [[Leonhard Euler|Euler]] (1707–1783), [[Joseph-Louis Lagrange|Lagrange]] (1736–1813), and [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert|d'Alembert]] (1717–1783). During this era, continuum physics, or field theory, began to receive a definite mathematical structure. The wave equation emerged in a number of contexts, including the propagation of sound in air.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Acoustics : an introduction to its physical principles and applications|last=Pierce, Allan D.|date=1989|publisher=Acoustical Society of America|isbn=0-88318-612-8|edition=1989|location=Woodbury, N.Y.|oclc=21197318}}</ref>

In the nineteenth century the major figures of mathematical acoustics were [[Helmholtz]] in Germany, who consolidated the field of physiological acoustics, and [[John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|Lord Rayleigh]] in England, who combined the previous knowledge with his own copious contributions to the field in his monumental work ''The Theory of Sound'' (1877). Also in the 19th century, Wheatstone, Ohm, and Henry developed the analogy between electricity and acoustics.

The twentieth century saw a burgeoning of technological applications of the large body of scientific knowledge that was by then in place. The first such application was [[Wallace Clement Sabine|Sabine]]'s groundbreaking work in architectural acoustics, and many others followed. Underwater acoustics was used for detecting submarines in the first World War. [[Sound recording]] and the telephone played important roles in a global transformation of society. Sound measurement and analysis reached new levels of accuracy and sophistication through the use of electronics and computing.  The ultrasonic frequency range enabled wholly new kinds of application in medicine and industry. New kinds of transducers (generators and receivers of acoustic energy) were invented and put to use.