One of the developers of early sound-on-film recording and sound projection techniques (with Theodore Case in 1923). In 1926, William Fox purchased the patent from Case Research Lab. This made Fox films the first major motion picture studio to record sound films. Sponable joined Fox and assisted in the design of its recording studios in New York and Hollywood. In 1927, Sponable developed the porous projection screen that allowed the placement of theatre speakers behind the screen. This became the standard until the introduction of CinemaScope in the 1950s.  Scientific or Technical Awards (Class I) 1953: For creating, developing and engineering the equipment, processes and techniques known as CinemaScope. Statuettes were presented to Professor Henri Chrétien, Earl Sponable, Sol Halprin, Lorin Grignon, Herbert E. Bragg & Carl Faulkner of 20th Century-Fox Studios Research Department. For more information on CinemaScope, visit The American Widescreen Museum  Scientific or Technical Awards (Class II) 1961: For a system of decompressing and recomposing CinemaScope pictures for conventional aspect ratios. Academy Plaques were presented to the 20th Century-Fox Research Department, E. I. Sponable - Department Head, Herbert E. Bragg of Deluxe Laboratories Inc., F. D. Leslie, R. D. Whitmore, A. A. Alden, Endel Pool & James B. Gordon. 2 Scientific/Technical Awards