The History of Wales

Born on this day 1842 in Dowlais,

Megan Watts Hughes, singer, scientist and philanthropist.

Megan was a talented singer from a young age, performing at local concerts in the Merthyr and Aberdare area and in 1864, was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She then toured North Wales with the renowned composer Joseph Parry who described her as being one of "our greatest vocalists".

In 1885, while experimenting with a device to measure the power of her voice, Megan discovered that when singing through a mouthpiece into a receiving chamber, over which was stretched a rubber membrane sprinkled with sand, geometric patterns were formed from the resonation of her voice. She called these 'voice-figures' or 'voice-flowers' and later substituted the sand and powder with a thin layer of liquid and called the device an eidophone. She is thus recognized by many as the first to experiment with and observe the phenomenon of visualizing resonating sound. She later demonstrated the eidophone at a meeting of the Royal Society, being one of the very first women to make such a presentation and in 1904, published book on the subject entitled The Eidophone Voice Figures: Geometrical and Natural Forms Produced by Vibrations of the Human Voice.

Megan enjoyed a successful career as a soprano singer but also remained devoutly religious. She founded a home for homeless boys at Mountford House in Barnsbury Square, Islington.