Land, Edwin

Land, Edwin (Herbert)

(born May 7, 1909, Bridgeport, Conn., U.S.—died March 1, 1991, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. inventor and physicist. After briefly attending Harvard University, he cofounded the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in Boston in 1932. Interested in light polarization, in 1932 he developed the polarizer (which he called the Polaroid J sheet), for which he envisioned numerous uses. By 1936, Land began to use types of Polaroid material in sunglasses and other optical devices. It was later used in camera filters and other optical equipment. In 1937 Land founded the Polaroid Corp. in Cambridge, Mass. In 1947 he demonstrated the revolutionary Polaroid Land Camera, which produced a finished print in 60 seconds; he introduced colour Polaroid film in 1963. His interest in light and colour resulted in a new theory of colour perception. He received more than 500 patents.

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Land, Edwin (Herbert) (1909–91) inventor; born in Bridgeport, Conn. While an undergraduate at Harvard, he made discoveries in the field of polarized light. He organized the Polaroid Corporation in 1937, producing, among other items, sunglasses with polarized lenses. He also developed optical systems for military use during World War II. In 1947 he announced the invention of a photographic process and camera with which a complete photo could be produced within 60 seconds of exposure. Although he did original research on such fields as color vision, and held over 150 patents, he became most widely known for the giant commercial empire he built based on his original instant-photo camera.