A01=Alice Reininger
A01=Peter Waugh
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Author_Alice Reininger
Author_Peter Waugh
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BGT
Category=DNBT
Category=TBY
COP=United States
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eq_biography-true-stories
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Format=BB
Format_Hardback
Language_English
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Price_€20 to €50
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Product details
- ISBN 9780880336918
- Format: Hardback
- Weight: 516g
- Dimensions: 159 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 06 Dec 2011
- Publisher: East European Monographs
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Over the centuries, much has been written about Wolfgang von Kempelen, the inventor of the "speaking machine," and author of Mechanism Of Human Speech (1791) on philology, linguistic technology and phonetics. This book illuminates the life of this very eccentric thinker, his achievements, and even his legendary reputation. Very little was known about his other achievements and the rest of his life. The subject addressed by most was and is what is commonly referred to as the "the Turk" (a chess-playing automaton) which for years has stimulated and still stimulates the fantasy of anyone who sees it. Where studies on von Kempelen have in the past been based on speculation and tall tales, for the first time a complete and exact survey on the facts and dates of Kempelen's life are given. The research for this book concentrated on the facts which were found mainly in the archives in Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava among other institutions.
Alice Reininger is senior lecturer at the University of Applied Art Vienna, Department for Cultural Studies. Peter Waugh is lecturer at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.
