Description
Book SynopsisIf a single life exemplifies the inner drive that fires a great inventor, it is the life of Edwin Land. The major innovations that he was able to achieve in photography, optics, industry, and science policy carry priceless lessons for readers today.Insisting on the Impossible is the first full-scale biography of this Magellan of modern technology. Victor McElheny reveals the startling scope and dating spirit of Land''s scientific and entrepreneurial genius. Second only to Edison in the number of patents he received (535), Land build a modest enterprise into a gigantic invention factory, turning out not only polarizers and the first instant cameras, but also high-speed and X-ray film, identification systems, 3-D and instant movies, and military devices for night vision and aerial reconnaissance. As a scientist, Land developed a new theory of colour vision as a science advisor to Eisenhower during the Cold War he spearheaded the development of the U-2 spyplane and helped design NASA.Behi
Table of ContentsAn Inventor Is Born * Noontime * Self-Taught Boyhood * First Happiest Moment: Polarizer * Start-Up * Going Public Detroit And Hollywood * Headlight Glare * Three Dimensions World War II * The Best Damn Goggles in the World * Who Can Object to Such Monopolies? New Photography, New Science * Sepia in a Minute * A Whole New Industry * Black-and-White: Mero Morse * Instant Color: Howard Rogers * Color Vision Secret Statesman: Cold War * U-2 Spy Plane * The Shock of Sputnik * Spy Satellites Grand Scale: SX-70 * Demonstrating a New Medium * Collaborators * Selling SX-70 Exit From Polaroid * Crisis * Instant Movies * Too Late Evening * Polaroid vs. Kodak * Prosperos Island
