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Josef Kelinev
Not-very-good violinist son of professional cellist Feodore Kelinev in the short story "The Singing Weapon" from science fiction magazine Amazing Stories vol.2, no.2 (May 1927). His father wants him to be a musician, but he's not so interested. When they accidentally break a vase with sympathetic vibration, he and his father invent the Vibranon, the singing weapon of the title.
This comes in handy when the United Asiatic nations declare war on the U.S., and gas-bomb San Francisco. The Kelinevs develop their Vibranon and convince the U.S. Secretary of War of their invention's effectiveness. The government builds larger ones, and Josef uses a plane mounted Vibranon to sink three enemy aircraft carriers off Sandy Hook, NY.
Josef keeps experimenting to try to develop a Vibranon that can kill people directly, and tests it on an enemy corpse. Ew. Unfortunately, when it works, Josef is paralyzed and killed by his own invention.
