The late-twentieth century resolution of a mid-nineteenth century dilemma generated by the eighteenth-century experiments of Ernst Chladni on the dynamics of rods (Q1205971)

The author describes a controversy between Ernst Chladni and Félix Savart and new experiments the author designed and performed. His conclusion is: ``Except for the vagaries of history, Chladni's experiments in 1787 on the dynamics of rods might have been celebrated no less than the experiments, published that same year, in which he discovered the ``Chladni figures'' that characterize the lateral vibration of thin plates. Given a different sequence of events in the two centuries, a sequence less dominated by preconception, the impetus that the ``Chladni figures'' gave to the nineteenth century theory of plates could have been matched by the impetus of the ``deep tone'' on the theory of rods''.