(1896-1993) Inventor of the early-20th-century electronic instrument that bears his name. Theremin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He began experimenting with electrical circuits at an early age, and by his university days was working with high-voltage and high-frequency experimental systems. His education was interrupted when he was conscripted into the Russian army to fight during World War I, and this led to his being caught up in the Russian Civil War in 1919. Theremin died in Moscow in 1993.