James Tenney, who has been called ‘America's most famous unknown composer’, exerted a lasting influence not only in the artistic fields of music, painting, theatre, and film, but also in the scientific realms of psychology, electroacoustics, and computer technology. The fact that Tenney's active presence can be charted across several areas of study reflects his own multifarious interests and provides an opportunity to examine how individuals in different disciplines reciprocally affected the composer.