One of the best-known Bice Devices, the electronic pseudophone, demonstrates how the brain localizes sound by altering the location from which noise seems to originate. Bice described it best: “It’s what would happen if you could place your right ear on the left side of your head.”
Raymond Bice
During his 46 years at the University, legendary psychology professor Ray Bice entertained and educated more than 27,000 students with his ingenious “Bice Devices.” An inventor and self-described tinkerer, Bice developed a device for every lecture in his “Bice Psych” course because he believed “a demonstration is worth a thousand words.”
Bice’s inventiveness was not limited to classroom demonstrations. Cobbling together parts from an old telephone and a pinball machine that had been confiscated by the Danville, Va., police department, he invented U.Va.’s first computer in 1955. Bice used the computer to keep track of applicants during a stint as director of admission for the College. Another Bice Device took the form of a burglar alarm for the president’s office. Three days after Bice installed the alarm, police apprehended its first victim. The culprit was none other than President Edgar Shannon, who had forgotten to turn off the alarm during a late-night visit to his office.
Now 89, Bice still resides in Charlottesville.
Raymond Bice
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Dean Bice was my academic advisor in my first semester at The University in the Fall of 1961. He was a warm and welcoming individual which made me feel at home in what was a strange environment for a Miami public school product. We continued our friendly relationship and stayed in touch in until just recently. Once my wife and daughter visited Ray at his home and were greeted by his robot “butler”. He was our special guest on two occasions at the South Florida UVA Alumni Club and charmed everyone who encountered him. This was truly a person who made the world a better place, and who began many young college students on the road to success and fulfillment. He was an outstanding feature of the University of Virginia - a person of whom Mr. Jefferson would be very proud. Farewell dear friend, Don Slesnick (College, ‘65)
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