Harold Eugene Edgerton

For police officer, see Harry Edgerton.
Harold Eugene Edgerton
Born April 6, 1903 (1903-04-06)
Fremont, Nebraska
Died January 4, 1990(1990-01-04) (aged 86)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Fields Engineering/photography
Institutions Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1925)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.S., Electrical Engineering, 1927; Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, 1931)
Known for Stroboscope
Notable awards SPIE Gold Medal (1981)
Spouse Esther May Garrett
Children Robert Frank Edgerton
William Eugene Edgerton
Mary Louise Edgerton

Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton also known as Papa Flash (April 6, 1903 – January 4, 1990) was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1] He is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep-sea photography, and his equipment was used by Jacques Cousteau in searches for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness monster.[2]

Biography

Early years

Edgerton was born in Fremont, Nebraska, on April 6, 1903, the son of Mary Nettie Coe and Frank Eugene Edgerton,[3][4] a descendant of Richard Edgerton, one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut and a descendant of Governor William Bradford (1590–1657) of the Plymouth Colony and a passenger on the Mayflower. His father was a lawyer, journalist, author and orator and served as the assistant attorney general of Nebraska from 1911 to 1915. Harold grew up in Aurora, Nebraska. He also spent some of his childhood years in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln, Nebraska.

Education

In 1925 Edgerton received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he became a member of Acacia Fraternity.[5] He earned an S.M. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1927. Edgerton used stroboscopes to study synchronous motors for his Sc.D. thesis in electrical engineering at MIT, awarded in 1931. He credited Charles Stark Draper with inspiring him to photograph everyday objects using electronic flash; the first was a stream of water coming out of a faucet.

Career

Nuclear explosion captured by Edgerton's Rapatronic camera
Shadowgraph of bullet in flight using Edgerton's equipment and stroboscope

In 1937 Edgerton began a lifelong association with photographer Gjon Mili, who used stroboscopic equipment, in particular, multiple studio electronic flash units, to produce strikingly beautiful photographs, many of which appeared in Life Magazine. When taking multiflash photographs this strobe light equipment could flash up to 120 times a second. Edgerton was a pioneer in using short duration electronic flash in photographing fast events photography, subsequently using the technique to capture images of balloons at different stages of their bursting, a bullet during its impact with an apple, or using multiflash to track the motion of a devil stick, for example. He was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Photographic Society in 1934, the Howard N. Potts Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1941,[6] the David Richardson Medal by the Optical Society of America in 1968,[7] the Albert A. Michelson Medal from the same Franklin Institute in 1969,[8] and the National Medal of Science in 1973.[9]

Edgerton teamed up with Kenneth J. Germeshausen to do consulting work with different industrial clients. Later Herbert Grier joined them. The company name "Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier" was changed to EG&G in 1947. EG&G became a prime contractor for the Atomic Energy Commission and had a major role in photographing and recording nuclear tests for the United States through the fifties and sixties. For this role Edgerton and Charles Wykoff and others at EG&G developed and manufactured the Rapatronic camera

His work was instrumental in the development of side-scan sonar technology, used to scan the sea floor for wrecks. Edgerton worked with the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, by first providing him with custom designed underwater photographic equipment featuring electronic flash, and then by developing sonar techniques used to discover the Britannic. Edgerton participated in the discovery of the American Civil War battleship USS Monitor. While working with Cousteau, he acquired the nickname he is still known by in photographic circles, "Papa Flash".

In addition to having the scientific and engineering acumen to perfect strobe lighting commercially, Edgerton is equally recognized for his visual aesthetic: many of the striking images he created in illuminating phenomena that occurred too fast for the naked eye adorn art museums worldwide. In 1940, his high speed stroboscopic short film Quicker'n a Wink won an Oscar.[10]

Edgerton was appointed a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1934.[11] In 1956, Edgerton was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[12] He was especially loved by MIT students for his willingness to teach and his kindness: "The trick to education", he said, "is to teach people in such a way that they don't realize they're learning until it's too late". His last undergraduate class, taught during fall semester 1977, was a freshman seminar titled "Bird and Insect Photography". One of the graduate student dormitories at MIT carries his name.

In 1962, Dr. Edgerton appeared on I've Got a Secret, where he demonstrated strobe flash photography by shooting a bullet into a playing card and photographing the result.

Edgerton's work was featured in an October 1987 National Geographic Magazine article entitled "Doc Edgerton: the man who made time stand still".

Family

After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Edgerton married Esther May Garrett[13] in 1928. She was born in Hamilton County, Nebraska on September 8, 1903 and died on March 9, 2002 in Charlestown, South Carolina. She received a bachelor's degree in mathematics, music and education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A skilled pianist and singer, she attended the New England Conservatory of Music and taught in public schools in Aurora, Nebraska and Boston. During their marriage they had three children: Mary Louise (4/21/1931), William Eugene (8/9/1933), Robert Frank (5/10/1935). His sister, Mary Ellen Edgerton, was the wife of L. Welch Pogue (1899–2003) a pioneering aviation attorney and Chairman of the old Civil Aeronautics Board. David Pogue, a technology writer, journalist and commentator, is his great nephew.

Death

Edgerton remained active throughout his later years, and was seen on the MIT campus many times after his official retirement. He died suddenly on January 4, 1990 at the MIT Faculty Club at the age of 86, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.[14]

Legacy

On July 3, 1990, in an effort to memorialize his accomplishments, several community members in Aurora, Nebraska decided to construct a "Hands-On" science center. It was designated as a "teaching museum," that would preserve Doc's work and artifacts, as well as feature the "Explorit Zone" where people of all ages could participate in hands-on exhibits and interact with live science demonstrations. After five years of private and community-wide fund-raising, as well as individual investments by Doc's surviving family members, the Edgerton Explorit Center was officially dedicated on September 9, 1995.[15]

At MIT, the Edgerton Center, founded in 1992, is a hands-on laboratory resource for undergraduate and graduate students, and also conducts educational outreach programs for high school students and teachers.[16]

Works

Photographs

Some of Edgerton's noted photographs are

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gray, Paul E. (April 1991). "Obituary: Harold E. Edgerton". Physics Today. 44 (4): 126–128. doi:10.1063/1.2810095.
  2. ↑ Project History: Harold Edgerton and Side-Scan Sonar
  3. ↑ Nebraska Genealogy: Frank Eugene Edgerton
  4. ↑ Frank Eugene Edgerton/Mary Nettie Coe - rootsweb
  5. ↑ Acacia Fraternity. "Acacia Fraternity: Notable Acacians". Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  6. ↑ "Franklin Laureate Database - Howard N. Potts Medal Laureates". Franklin Institute. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  7. ↑ "David Richardson Medal". OSA.org. The Optical Society. 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Franklin Laureate Database - Albert A. Michelson Medal Laureates". Franklin Institute. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  9. ↑ National Science Foundation - The President's National Medal of Science
  10. ↑ "Popular Interest: 1932–1941 « Harold "Doc" Edgerton". Doc's Life. 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2009-11-28. External link in |website= (help)
  11. ↑ http://web.mit.edu/museum/exhibitions/edgerton.html
  12. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter E" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  13. ↑ "Esther Edgerton, widow of 'Doc' Edgerton and benefactor of the Institute, dies at 98", MIT News, March 13, 2002
  14. ↑ Grundberg, Andy (January 5, 1990). "H. E. Edgerton, 86, Dies. Invented Electronic Flash.". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-05. Harold E. (Doc) Edgerton, professor emeritus of electrical measurements at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose invention of the electronic flash expanded the scope of photography, died yesterday after a heart attack at the institute faculty club, where he was having lunch. He was 86 years old and lived in Cambridge, Mass.
  15. ↑ Edgerton Explorit Center
  16. ↑ Edgerton Center, MIT
  17. ↑ "Harold Edgerton (United States, 1907 - 1990) : Bullet through Banana, 1964, printed 1985", Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harold Eugene Edgerton.

PBS Nova series: "Edgerton and His Incredible Seeing Machines" NOVA explores the fascinating world of Dr. Harold Edgerton, electronics wizard and inventor extraordinaire, whose invention of the electronic strobe, a "magic lamp," has enabled the human eye to see the unseen." Original broadcast date: 01/15/85


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