![]() ![]() No Americans were transmitting though, which meant there had to be a bug. British broadcasters reported hearing American voices on the their radios in the vicinity of the American embassy. The discovery of the great seal listening device is an interesting one. The device, later known as “The Thing”, would not be discovered until 1952 - roughly seven years later. Harriman hung the plaque in the study of his residence, Spaso House. Unbeknownst to Harriman, the seal contained Theremin’s sophisticated listening device. The seal was given as a gesture of friendship between the US and Soviet Union. Averell Harriman, the US ambassador to the Soviet Union. A group of 10 to 15 year old boys from the Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union arrived at the US embassy carrying a hand carved great seal of the United States of America. The european war was over, and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was only two days away. It was during this time as a prisoner that Theremin designed his listening device. Aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev and missile designer Sergei Korolyov were two of many others who faced a similar fate. He found himself working in a laboratory for the state department. ![]() Upon arrival in Leningrad, Theremin was imprisoned, suspected of crimes against the state. Léon and Lavinia never saw each other again. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case. He expected to send for his wife a few weeks after his arrival. In 1938, with the Nazi threat growing stronger, Theremin returned to Russia. However, the Soviet Consulate did not have a problem with their relationship. Lavinia was African-American and the couple faced ridicule in American social circles due to their mixed race. Theremin eventually remarried, this time to Lavinia Williams, a ballerina. ![]() They couldn’t risk their rising star being associated with the Nazis. The Russian Consulate caught wind of this and summarily divorced Léon from Katia. While at school, Katia became associated with a fascist organization. For much of this time, Léon and Katia lived apart, seeing each other only a couple of times a week. His wife, Katia, had come to America with him and studied medicine at a school about 35 miles from the City. Theremin’s personal life during this period was less successful than his professional endeavors. He began touring with it in the late 1920’s and in 1928, he brought the Theremin to the United States. He set up a lab in New York and worked with RCA to produce the instrument. In November of 1920 Léon gave his first public concert with the instrument. In 1920, while working on his dielectric measurement device, Theremin noticed that an audio oscillator changed frequency when he moved his hand near the circuit. After the war, he worked on experiments as diverse as a device to measure the dielectric constant of gases and hypnosis. World War One saw him enter military engineering school for radio operations. As a young student, Theremin was an aspiring physicist. Theremin, the instrument, uses the player’s hand proximity to a pair of antennas to generate electronic sound. Theremin, the man, was a scientist by training. The creation of Léon Theremin’s bug can be attributed to the success of his instrument. ![]() In the spy business though, he is known as the creator of one of the most successful clandestine listening devices ever used against the American government. You know Theremin for the musical instrument which bears his name. The man in this semi-fictional vignette was Lev Sergeyevich Termen, better known in the western world as Léon Theremin. To fail meant a return to the road work detail, quite possibly a death sentence. One false move, and the device would be ruined. The diaphragm had to be strong enough to support itself, yet flexible enough to be affected by the slightest sound. This was the hardest part, placing a thin silver plated diaphragm over the internal chamber. The man leaned over his creation, carefully assembling the tiny pieces. ![]()
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