1738

Vaucanson's flute player and its description

Kingdom of France · Humanoid

In 1738, Jacques de Vaucanson presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences a human-shaped automaton that played the flute, and published its description, Le mécanisme du fluteur automate. In its record of 30 April 1738, the Academy praised how the machine imitated the player's fingers, breath and lips. [1][2]

Sources

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Jacques de Vaucanson
2. Vaucanson: Le mécanisme du fluteur automate (1738), text on hist-math.fr

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