Laurens Hammond was an American engineer and inventor, born on January 11, 1895, in Evanston, Illinois. He was the mind behind the iconic Hammond organ, the Hammond clock, and the Novachord, the world’s first polyphonic musical synthesizer. Hammond’s early life was marked by tragedy when his father, William Andrew, took his own life in 1897. His mother, Idea, an artist, then moved with him to France, where they lived for 11 years, and Hammond became fluent in French and German.

Hammond showed a flair for invention early on, designing an automatic transmission system for automobiles while still in Europe. However, his design was not accepted by the French automaker Renault. His first patent, issued in 1912, was for an affordable barometer. Post-World War I, he worked as a chief engineer at Gray Motor Company in Detroit. In 1919, he invented a silent spring-driven clock, which was successful enough to allow him to start his own venture in New York City.

The turning point in his career came in 1933 when he used a keyboard from a used piano to experiment with sound generation, ultimately creating the tonewheel generator. This led to the production of the Hammond Organ in 1935, an instrument still in use today. He received the Franklin Institute’s John Price Wetherill Medal in 1940 for this invention.

Hammond retired from his company in 1960 and passed away on July 1, 1973, in Cornwall, Connecticut. During his lifetime, he held 91 patents. In 2017, the Laurens Hammond Museum was established in Kielce, Poland, as part of the Museum of Toys and Play.