 He studied the theories of cosmic rays and cosmology.Although a press release described him as "completely unmusical", Nernst developed an electric piano, the "Neo-Bechstein-Flügel" in 1930 in association with the Bechstein and Siemens companies, replacing the sounding board with vacuum tube amplifiers.The piano used electromagnetic pickups to produce electronically modified and amplified sound in the same way as an electric guitar.