Education
He studied the physics of music at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. To pay for his college studies, he graduated from the Columbian (now George Washington University) Law School in 1849.
He studied the physics of music at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. To pay for his college studies, he graduated from the Columbian (now George Washington University) Law School in 1849.
He is widely credited with the invention of the first electromechanical musical instrument, which he dubbed the telharmonium. After working as a clerk for Congress in Washington District of Columbia He became convinced that music could be made with electricity (and also worked on an electric typewriter). He showed his first telharmonium to Lord Kelvin in 1878.
Cahill had tremendous ambitions for his invention.
He wanted telharmonium music to be broadcast into hotels, restaurants, theaters, and even houses via the telephone line. At a starting weight of 7 tons (and up to 200 tons) and a price tag of $200,000 (approx $5,514,000 today), only three telharmoniums were ever built, and Cahill"s great vision was never fully implemented.
His idea proved to be fruitful, nearly a century later, with the advent of streaming media.