Inventor
Description: Harold Eugene Edgerton
Image copyright: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/hedgerton.html
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Dr. Harold Edgerton
Inventor Description: Harold Eugene Edgerton Image copyright: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/hedgerton.html |
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| Dr. Harold Edgerton was born Freemont, Nebraska on April 6, 1903. Dr. Harold Edgerton a professor at MIT and inventor of the electronic flash, devoted his career to recording what the unaided eye cannot see. His photographs illustrate such moments as: a bullet seen an instant it explodes through an apple, a perfect coronet formed by a milk-drop splash, and a football dented by the contact of Wes Feslers’ booted foot. These images have become classics of modern art, and science. Dr. Edgerton was the first to take high-speed color photographs and was a pioneer in the multiflash and microsecond imagery, which he used to take detailed photographs of hummingbirds in motion, as well as the progression of an athletes’ movements. These wondrous images have shown us things we have never able to see before, in photographs that are as remarkable for their precision as for their beauty. His use of “speedlight” to stop motion on film. His images have appeal “not simply because they are uncanny revelations of the law of nature but because they arouse profound philosophical speculations about art and reality.” Harold Edgerton collaborated with Jacques – Yves Cousteau to experiment photographing some of the deepest seabed’s in the world. In 1962, he appeared as a contestant on ‘I’ve got a secret”, staring Gray Moore. His secret was that he was going to fire a rifle on stage and capture the 22 caliber bullet on Polaroid film, using a bulky, tripod- mounted strobe flash apparatus triggered by a microphone. Edgerton’s photographs were taken using “standard” camera with electronic flash exposures ranging from 1/50,000 to 1/1,000,00 of a second. Dr. Harold Edgerton died January 4, 1990 at the age of 86. On July 3, 1990 memorialize his accomplishments, several Aurora community members decided to construct a hands-on science center. It was designated as a “teaching museum. | |
