Edwin Land
| Edwin H. Land | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edwin Herbert Land May 7, 1909 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Died | March 1, 1991 (aged 81) Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Other names | Dr. Land |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for |
Polarizing film Land instant camera |
| Influenced | Steve Jobs |
| Notable awards |
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963) IRI Medal (1965) Perkin Medal (1974) Harold Pender Award (1979) National Medal of Technology Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Spouse | Helen Terre Maislen (m. 1929; 2 children) |
Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS,FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and the retinex theory of color vision, among other things. His Polaroid instant camera went on sale in late 1948 and made it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in 60 seconds or less.
Edwin Land was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Martha (Goldfaden) and Harry Land, owner of a scrap metal yard; both his parents were of Eastern European Jewish descent. Land attended the Norwich Free Academy at Norwich, Connecticut, a semi-private high school, and graduated in the class of 1927. The library there was posthumously named for him, having been funded by grants from his family. He studied chemistry at Harvard University. After his freshman year, he left Harvard for New York City.
In New York City, he invented the first inexpensive filters capable of polarizing light which he called Polaroid film. He was not associated with an educational institution and lacked the tools of a proper laboratory, making this a difficult endeavor, so he would sneak into a laboratory at Columbia University late at night to use their equipment. He also availed himself of the New York Public Library to scour the scientific literature for prior work on polarizing substances. His breakthrough came when he realized that, instead of attempting to grow a large single crystal of a polarizing substance, he could manufacture a film with millions of micron-sized polarizing crystals that were coaxed into perfect alignment with each other.
...
Wikipedia