![]() ![]() For example, it is possible to obtain light which a glass or water surface refuses to reflect at a certain angle of incidence. Wood's analysis of light in the book Physical Optics, where Wood writes, “Rays of light exist.which possess a one-sidedness and behave differently when differently oriented. Land had been fascinated with light since his childhood. The problem that so thoroughly fascinated Land was that of polarizing light. The first space they rented was a garage on the corner of Mount Auburn and Dunster Streets in the summer of 1932, although he would later move his laboratory to find more seclusion in which to work. When Land left Harvard he opened up the Land-Wheelright Laboratory with his physics instructor George Wheelright. Later in life, Land would be awarded more than 20 honorary degrees from institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Williams College, Tufts University, Washington University, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, University of Massachusetts, and Brandeis University. He works on it as long as he doesn't understand it, but as soon as he understands it he wants somebody else to do it.” (2) Despite the help of his wife and professors, Land dropped out of Harvard again in 1932, and never completed his degree. Land can't you do something to get him to finish ?” She replied, “Oh, it's the bane of my existence. Land was in the class of a graduate student, George Wheelwright, when Wheelwright called Land's wife asking, “Mrs. To try and ensure Land's success his professors suggested that his wife help type his lab reports at their house at 40 Linnean Street, so that Land would earn credit for the intriguing experiments he was doing. Once Land had solved a problem in his own head, he had no interest in writing it down or explaining it to others. After attending some classes at Columbia and experimenting in the field of polarized light, Land re-enrolled at Harvard, but maintaining his interest was difficult. Writing never satisfied his scientific passions, however, in New York he did meet Helen Maislen (known as Terre), the woman who was to be his wife for the next 61 years. Land asked for a leave of absence from Harvard, and moved to New York City to try his hand at writing the next great American novel. Those he saw around him did not share his passion, and his learning style was not conducive to the academic system. After only one semester, however, he became disillusioned with the academic process. Land came to Cambridge in 1927 to attend Harvard University, and quickly distinguished himself as a brilliant thinker. The impact of his work is immense, yet Edwin Land is perhaps best known for the company he created: Polaroid. Land played a formative role in the study of optics, chemistry, physics, electronics, educational policy, and military strategy during both the Second World War and the Cold War. As his biographer Victor McElheny explains, “Recounting his life is a meditation on the nature of innovation.” (1) He created internationally-known products, established two entire industries, and the company he founded became a household name. Liz Ronk edited this gallery for Land (1909-1991) was an institution of innovation. In the gallery above are pictures made with the first-generation SX-70 by LIFE photographer Co Rentmeester, who experimented with the camera-before it went on sale to the general public-while shooting the cover story on Land for the October 27, 1972, issue of the magazine. Here, pays tribute to Land’s vision and his determination to, as he once put it, “provide an opportunity for creativity that other photography doesn’t allow.” The sheer magnitude of its ambition and innovation dwarfs the Walkman, iPod, and nearly every other consumer-electronics product you can name.” Clarke’s “law” that advanced technology is, at its best, indistinguishable from magic, McCracken wrote that he could not think “of a greater gadget than the SX-70 Land Camera. ![]() Citing the writer and scientist Arthur C. Self-described gadget-nerd Harry McCracken put the camera’s significance in perspective in a tremendous piece on Land and the SX-70 a few years back. Far from a mere consumer product, the SX-70 quickly became associated with, and in a sense helped to define, the early Seventies. ![]() That version of the instant camera fully captured the imagination and the attention of photography buffs, industrial design aficionados and pop culture commentators alike. His real advance came in 1972, when Polaroid unveiled a marvelous (in every sense of the word) device called the SX-70. Land introduced his first “Land Camera” way back in 1947. But the phenomenon has pre-digital roots. Instant photography is now, with smartphones, the law of the land and a defining aspect of our digital age. ![]()
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