Proud of our past... Secure in our future'
Click here to contact us via email at halloffame@plasticsacademy.org
Inductees...  

  Hall of Fame Search:

Edwin H. Land - Hall of Fame Entry
  Author: Plastics Academy Staff
Added: 03/29/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 405 time(s)
[ Not Rated Yet ]

How would you rate this article:    Bad Good    

  
Edwin H. Land - Hall of Fame Entry

 

Edwin H. Land

Birthdate:
1909

Deceased:
1991

Induction:
1996 

Industry Areas:
Material


The founder of the Polaroid Corp. and one of the most celebrated inventors of the Twentieth Century, Edwin Land was also a leader in advancing scientific research and education. He was also a leader in developing technologies for military intelligence, and in promoting and funding civic and philanthropic causes.

The event which gave rise to Land's career was his development during the 1920s of the polarizing sheet, which he introduced in 1932. Less costly and easier to work with than previous refractive or reflective devices, the sheet was transparent plastic whose constituent materials were so oriented that only light waves that vibrate in a particular direction could pass through.

This sheet was tradenamed Polaroid, and in 1937 Land founded Polaroid Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., to develop products based on it. Some of the best-known are sunglasses, window treatments and other anti-reflection screens, and camera filters. In 1948, Polaroid Corp. introduced the camera and special dry film for one-step photography, in which prints developed on the film almost instantly after the picture was snapped.

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Land attended Harvard University. Between 1947 and 1980, he received 15 honorary doctorates. He served as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1951 to 1953, was made a foreign member of the Royal Society in 1986, and held many other fellowhips and honorary memberships. He received 54 honorary awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

For many years he was a benefactor to scientific research, public tele-vision, education innovation at Harvard and MIT, and community programs in health, the arts, and other fields.


Article Pages:  1  


Support Material


There is no support material available for this article.

Related Articles

There are no related articles available for this article.

Related LinksForum Link

This article contains a link to a related forum thread.
Please click here to view the thread.

Related Books

There are no related books available for this article.




  Article Comments   Add Comment | View All (0)
    There are currently no comments for this article.

Bookmark Us!
   Add to Favorites
  Make Home Page
Our Newsletter



Subscribe
Unsubscribe

Recent Forum Posts
Cant connect to forum server