Léon Theremin was born in Saint Petersburg. His invention in 1919 of the theremin (also called the thereminvox) came at a time when his country was in the midst of the Russian Civil War. After a lengthy tour of Europe, during which time he demonstrated his invention to packed houses, Theremin found his way to America, playing the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He patented his invention in 1929 (US1661058) and subsequently granted commercial production rights to RCA.
From 1931 to 1938, Theremin was director of Teletouch Inc. At the same time, he developed alarm systems for the Sing Sing and Alcatraz prisons.
In 1964-1967, he worked in the laboratory of the undefined, devoting all his efforts to the development of new electric musical instruments, as well as the restoration of everything that he managed to invent in the 1930s.
In 1992, the undefined was created in Moscow, with its main goal being to support musicians and sound artists working in the field of experimental electroacoustic music. Lev Theremin had nothing to do with the creation of the center named after him.