Observability of square membranes by Fourier series methods

Fourier series methods have been successfully applied in control theory for a long time. Some theorems, however, resisted this approach. Some years ago, Mehrenberger succeeded in establishing the boundary observability of vibrating rectangular membranes (and of analogous higher dimensional problems) by developing an ingenious generalization of Ingham's classical theorem on nonharmonic Fourier series. His method turn out to be useful for other applications as well. We improve Mehrenberger's approach by a shorter proof, and we improve and generalize some earlier applications.