Beranek was born in 1914, in
Solon, Iowa. His father Edward Fred Beranek was a farmer whose ancestors came from
Bohemia (in what is now the
Czech Republic) and his mother Beatrice Stahle, previously a schoolteacher, had become a farmwife. Edward's paternal grandparents Josef Beránek and Anna Šimandlová were from
Nynice and
Jarov respectively. Beranek first started school in a
one-room schoolhouse in
Tipton, Iowa. After his first year, he rode in a horse-drawn school bus on a two-hour trip to a somewhat larger school. In 1922 his family moved back to Solon, where he was soon skipped over third grade and moved directly into fourth grade classes. Around that time, a baby brother was born, named Lyle Edward Beranek. In 1924, Beranek's father brought home a battery-powered radio containing a single
vacuum tube. His eldest son became fascinated with both the technology and the musical aspects of radio. In the harsh winter of January 1926, Beranek's mother died suddenly, leaving his father with huge debts and forcing his father to sell the farm within two months. In junior high school Beranek earned his first independent money by selling
silk stockings and fabric. Beranek's father remarried and moved the family to the nearby town of
Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he became co-owner of a
hardware store. At his father's suggestion, Beranek learned radio repair via a
correspondence course, and
apprenticed to an older repairman. The younger Beranek quickly learned the trade, and was soon able to buy a
Model T automobile. He also earned some spare cash by playing
trap drums in a 6-person dance band. He continued to excel in his studies, including a typing class (rarely studied by boys) where he was the top performer. Beranek applied for and was accepted at nearby
Cornell College in
Mount Vernon, Iowa. In the aftermath of the
Wall Street Crash of 1929, money was tight, but he had managed to save $500. Worried about the shaky financial situation, he went to his bank and managed to withdraw $400 to pay his college tuition in advance. The
bank failed the next day, and Beranek lost the remaining $100. During freshman year at college, Beranek was told by his father that he could not expect any family money and that he was on his own. In the summers of 1932 and 1933, Beranek worked as a
field hand on local farms, to earn tuition money and to improve his physical condition. Beranek moved into two rooms above a bakery, shared with three other students to save money. He also continued to repair radios and played in a dance band, but falling income forced him to consider dropping down to a single class (in mathematics) during the next academic year. In August 1933, Beranek was invited to accompany the family of a local dentist to the
Century of Progress World's Fair in
Chicago. This was his first trip to a big city and it was a revelation. He attended concert performances by the
Chicago Symphony and
Detroit Symphony daily, was dazzled by the displays of industrial products and technology, and fascinated by the international pavilions. He lived on a shoestring, spending a total of $12 for four days, but felt compelled to make a return trip the following summer. In college, Beranek became friends with a fellow student who had an
amateur radio setup, inspiring him to study
Morse Code and to earn his own
amateur radio license. In fall of 1933, he bought an early
disc sound recorder to earn a modest fee by recording students before and after taking a
speech training class. This was his first hands-on experience with the developing science of
acoustics. By early 1934 he was forced to drop out of college and work full-time to earn more tuition money. He found a position at the fledgling
Collins Radio Company of
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he studied
German in his spare time. While there, he also met and dated Florence "Floss" Martin, a
business school student. He was able to save enough money to attend the Spring 1935 semester at Cornell College, then returned to Collins Radio for the summer. In August 1935, Beranek had a chance encounter with a stranger whose car had developed a
flat tire while passing through Mount Vernon. While helping the stranger (who turned out to be
Glenn Browning), he learned that the passing motorist had written a technical paper on radio technology. When Beranek mentioned plans for graduate school, Browning encouraged him to apply to
Harvard University, a possibility he had regarded as financially out of reach. Beranek was very busy in his final year at Cornell, running a radio repair and sales business and then transitioning to
house wiring for electricity, while carrying a full course load. He managed three major wiring jobs for Cornell, including designing and installing a
master antenna system in a new men's dormitory then under construction. He also continued to date his girlfriend Floss. Beranek graduated from Cornell College in summer 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts. He continued studies at
Harvard University, where he received a doctorate in 1940. ==Career==