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Bice Devices

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 UVA’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