At just 8 years old, Abby Beranek has received more recognition than most people receive in a lifetime.

It all started with a trip to Lemont Fire Station 1, 15900 New Ave., where Beranek's Daisy Girl Scout troop learned about fire safety and prevention. The presentation was led by Jeff Hawthorne, director of fire safety for the  Lemont Fire Protection District .

Just two days later, a fire broke out in the laundry room of the Beranek's home.

While Abby's mom, Beth Beranek, ran to gather her youngest three children, Abby remained calm. Using lessons from her field trip two days earlier, she made sure her family got out of the house immediately and and that no one else tried to enter.

"During the fire house visit, Abby learned to 'get out and stay out,' and that's exactly what she did," Beth Beranek told Patch in May . "We also had discussed where we would meet in the event of a fire, so she knew to go to the neighbors, and was able to help me get my 18-month-old boys and 3-month-old girl over there, too."

Leo Beranek, an Iowa farm boy who became a Renaissance man—scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, musician, television executive, philanthropist, and author—has lived life in constant motion. His seventy-year career, through the most tumultuous and transformative years of the last century, has always been propelled by the sheer exhilaration of trying something new. In Riding the Waves, Leo Beranek tells his story.

Beranek’s life changed direction on a summer day in 1935 when he stopped to help a motorist with a flat tire. The driver just happened to be a former Harvard professor of engineering, who guided the young Beranek toward a full scholarship at Harvard’s graduate school of engineering. Beranek went on to be one of the world’s leading experts on acoustics. He became Director of Harvard’s Electro-Acoustic Laboratory, where he invented the Hush-A-Phone—a telephone accessory that began the chain of regulatory challenges and lawsuits that led ultimately to the breakup of the Bell Telephone monopoly in the 1980s. Beranek moved to MIT to be a professor and Technical Director of its Acoustics Laboratory, then left academia to manage the acoustical consulting firm Bolt Beranek and Newman. Known for his work in noise control and concert acoustics, Beranek devised the world’s largest muffler to quiet jet noise and served as acoustical consultant for concert halls around the world (including the Tanglewood Music Shed, the storied summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra). As president of BBN, he assembled the software group that invented both the ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, and e-mail.

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