The theremin is the only electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact. It is named after its inventor, Lev Sergeyevich Termen, known in the West as Leon Theremin. The theremin was the product of Soviet government-sponsored research into proximity sensors and was invented in October 1920.
As a Soviet scientist, Theremin surrendered his life and work to the service of State espionage. On assignment in Depression-era America, he became the toast of New York society and worked the engines of capitalist commerce while passing data on U.S. industrial technology to the Soviet apparat.
Using the same technology that lay behind the theremin, he designed bugging devices that eavesdropped on U.S. diplomatic offices and stood at the center of a pivotal cold war confrontation.
Following his sudden disappearance from New York in 1938, Theremin was exiled to a Siberian labour camp and subsequently presumed dead for nearly thirty years.