Leon Theremin was born in St. Petersburg in 1895. An inventor, he created the theremin while trying to fix local oscillations in a radio--around 1918! The theremin is the first electronic music instrument, regarded as the ancestor of the keyboard synthesizer. The theremin is unique because it is not touched-- the musician waves hands near a pair of antennas to alter pitch and volume.
View the original patent on Google, or browse a machine-readable version.
To learn more about MouSing, a
sound-creation program for Windows inspired by the theremin, click here: 
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey is a must-see movie, information at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108323/
The Theremin Enthusiasts Club International is at http://theremin.ca/
Cult of the Theremin at http://www.zzounds.com/edu--thecultofthetheremin
Subscribe to the Internet news group alt.music.makers.theremin .