Dr. Hopkinson
Scottish
inventor
physician
Biography
Dr. Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, a Scotchman, exhibited a harpsichord constructed with an iron frame, mentioned remotely in a volume of 'American Philosophical Transactions.' Spillane notes he was a medical doctor by profession and, as far as could be learned, an Edinburgh graduate. Spillane speculates the instrument may actually have been a piano rather than a harpsichord, since the published description was misleading and its author apparently could not distinguish between the two instrument types.
Highlights
- Of Philadelphia; exhibited a harpsichord built with an iron frame, an early instance of metal in a keyboard instrument
- Was a medical doctor by profession, believed to be an Edinburgh graduate
Source
Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 29.
Public domain.