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The Telharmonium ivented by Thaddeus Cahill is patented in 1897. The Telharmonium was the direct precursor to the modern synthesizer.
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Leon Theremin a Russian born genius invents the Etherephone which later comes to be called simply the Theremin. The Theremin is hugely popular.
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Invented by Frenchman Ondes Martenot, The Ondes Martenot was made to be more like a traditional instrument. It was still far more like the Theremin than anything else but iut was housed in a cabinet with a keyboard in addition to the Theremin technology.
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In 1929 Theremin signed a licensing agreement with the American company RCA to manufacture and distribute a commercial version of the instrument. With the great depression hitting at its release date the Theremin was not an immediate success.
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In 1929 an inventor named Laurens Hammond invented the Hammond Organ. The technology was very similar to the Telharmonium.
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In 1958 a descendant of the Telharmonium is invented. It's the RCA Mark II which is a flagship piece of equipment at the Colombia Princeton Electronic Music Center.
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In 1968 Robert Moog introduces the first commercially available synthesizers.
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While Robert Moog was working on his synthesizers on the east coast Donald Buchla was working on his own in San Francisco.
