Special Issue: Edwin LAND

In 1964, having just finishing my oblig­at ion w i t h the A i r Force Strategic A i r Command, I was contacted by a manage­ment f irm that arranged an interview for me at Po la ro id . I was inv i ted to C a m ­bridge, Mass. and early in the morn ing met John J. McCann , a young scientist of the Vision Research Laboratory, who pro­ceeded to show me astonishing demon­strations of the retinex theory through slides, projectors, and Mondr ian displays. In the basement of the famed 730 M a i n St. bui lding, I was shown a d im but exciting demonstration of a two-color cathode ray tube displaying a multicolored stil l scene. On ly then d id I meet Edw in Land , who conducted a fleeting interview in the hal lway maze just outside one of his laboratories. There were no questions about my technical work but rather what I had just seen in his labs. Cou ld I discern the color of the material in the vials? What co lors were there? H o w c o u l d that be poss ib le? Already he was using my senses in an experiment, p iquing my curiosity, creating the beginning of a need to satisfy a sci­entific quest in me, and probably enjoying my confusion in what I saw and could not understand. He wou ld continue to do this every so often for the next 20 or so years, removing me completely from the engineering wor ld and into his labs for a fascinating exploration into the scientific environment.

What I had just seen was perplexing. I was given sever­al articles on the retinex theory and placed on a plane back to Los Angeles. I spent the next few hours reading and was so impressed wi th what I had just seen and read that I am sure I annoyed the person seated next to me, who probably had no idea why I was so worked up about a few colors.

A question by the management consultant seemed a lit­tle confusing. H e asked if I w o u l d have the patience and tenacity to work enthusiastically on a project for a long peri­od of time when it seemed that the achievement of a success­ful conclusion was not apparent. I d id not realize the real impact of that question at that time and how much it reflect­ed the persona l i t y of the project 's sponsor . I accepted Polaroid's offer. In early February I arr ived in Cambr idge late Friday night and went to work on Saturday in the base­ment of 730 M a i n St. activating an electron gun of a new cathode ray tube. What I discovered in that basement was typical of Dr. Land's persistent need to f ind out for himself. This group of about eight scientists, engineers, and techni­c ians, unde r the d i rec t i on of Dexter Coope r , w h o had worked in Edw in Land's laboratories since his undergradu­ate days, succeeded in demonstrating Land's retinex theory in red and white color television. Whi le not trained in cath­ode ray tube construction, they had become adequately pro­ficient in the settling and layering of phosphor plates, but not very successful i n sealing and activating tubes. Their work supported the decision to br ing in a group of technical­ly trained and qualified personnel to take the color T V pro­ject, now code-named Cyclops, out of the research mode and into a development operation. Interestingly, Dr. Land had filed his first disclosures and patents on two-color television in early 1955, some 10 years before this group was formed.

This television group w o u l d eventual ly become Polaro id 's Opt ica l Engineer ing Department.

The basement of 730 Ma in St. was cer­tainly not very conducive to the settling of phosphors. I remember that the entrance was through a storm door and the offices as a split- level f loor above the laborato­ries, wh i ch was below the ground. The subway was not very far away and the trains created vibration that was not help­ing the phosphor to settle in nice even lay­ers. Persistence, patience, and long hours

were the byword of the group. Upon commitment of funds and the potential influx of some 30 to 40 people to the project, we were moved to a larger bui ld ing at 38 Henry St.—lots of space, h igh cei l ings, and expansive w indows w i th lots of light. A model shop and a mechanical group were added to furnish us wi th anything we needed. Land knew that a good mode l shop was basic to any research and development effort.

W h i l e th is g roup w a s b e i n g f o r m e d i n late 1964, Polaroid entered into a development agreement w i th Texas Instruments (TI) to share in format ion and goals toward bu i ld ing a prototype two-color T V set. The August agree­ment gave both companies broad objectives wi th very little definit ion of what each company wou ld contribute in fund­ing or personnel . A t the complet ion of the program, the companies could undertake a joint effort or go their sepa­rate ways. It was typically a Land-type concept of not h in­dering research and development yet hopeful ly being able to benefit in any fashion on the outcome of such an under­taking. Not only was the development of a possible product being undertaken, but also the opportunity was available for L a n d and Patr ick E. Hagger ty of TI to discuss other aspects of the two very rapidly growing companies.

L A T E NIGHTS IN T H E L A B

E d w i n Land ' s presence i n the laboratory w o u l d usua l ly mean long days and nights. A t times, his intense personal involvement w o u l d cause us to make great strides in his hypothesis and experimentation cycle. H e wou ld be in the lab or call two or three times a day. H e could hardly wait for results before ou t l in ing the next experiment. We w o u l d v iew the results in the evening when the best l ive broad­casts were transmitted. There were many evenings of p izza, fr ied chicken, pasta, or Chinese take-out as we watched or wai ted to evaluate the day's run of cathode ray tubes. A t other times we wou ld not see h im for weeks or months at a time. I'm sure that other matters were more important, as he was also the chairman, president, and director of research of Polaroid Corporation.

A s Polaroid grew, it seemed that he wou ld attend to the running of the company dur ing the day and work in the lab at night. Fortunately or unfortunately, 38 Henry St. was not close to the corporate offices or his personal labs, so a routine stop there in the evenings after leaving his office or labs w o u l d seem sensible and appropr ia te . E v e n wh i l e work ing wi th us, as we changed another tube or configured

BY LAWRENCE K.M. TING

38 OPTICS & PHOTONICS N E W S / O C T O B E R 1994

Land's Imaging Experiments

a n e x p e r i m e n t , h e w o u l d pace b a c k a n d f o r t h , c h a l l e n g i n g us w i t h ques t i ons , t h i n k i n g o u t l o u d , h y p o t h e s i z i n g , o r o n the p h o n e w i t h a n e v e r - e n d i n g l i n e o f p e o p l e . H i s e n o r m o u s ene rgy a n d e n t h u s i a s m w o u l d d r a i n u s m e n t a l l y a n d p h y s i ­ca l l y after a f e w w e e k s a n d w e s o m e t i m e s secre t ly w i s h e d that s o m e o ther mat te rs w o u l d requ i re h i s f u l l a t ten t ion so that w e c o u l d r e c u p e r a t e a n d p e r h a p s d i g e s t o r c l e a n u p s o m e of the de ta i l s o f w h a t w e h a d jus t c o m p l e t e d . E v e n w i t h h i s er ra t ic p resence , o n e a l w a y s fe l t that h e w a s i n f u l l con t r o l o f the project .

T h e yea r w e n t b y q u i c k l y a n d it s e e m e d that there w a s

a c o n t i n u o u s ser ies o f v i s i t a t i ons w i t h T I . T h e y w o u l d be at P o l a r o i d f o r a f e w d a y s o n e w e e k a n d w i t h i n a c o u p l e of w e e k s w e w o u l d b e i n D a l l a s . B y the t ime w e h a d f i n i s h e d o u r p r o t o t y p e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o g r a m , w e c o n c l u d e d tha t p e r h a p s w e h a d a n i n d u s t r i a l , ra the r t h a n a c o n s u m e r p r o d ­uc t a n d b o t h c o m p a n i e s ' in terest l essened .

Interest h a d no t l a g g e d o n the pa r t of E d w i n L a n d . H e w a n t e d to b e a b l e to c o m m u n i c a t e r e a d i l y w i t h u s . O u r m o v e f r o m the 730 M a i n St. b a s e m e n t to 38 H e n r y St. w a s n e c e s s a r y fo r the p ro jec t to d e v e l o p a n d f l o u r i s h , b u t n o t c o n v e n i e n t fo r h i m to d r o p i n fo r c o n v e r s a t i o n o r to v i e w the

B Y W I L L I A M T . P L U M M E R

Shortly after the Polavision instant 8-mm color movie product was introduced in the late 1970s, there was a clamor to add sound-recording and playback capa­bility. We were restricted by two technical issues that were unusual in the industry. First, our 8-mm film was kept in a sealed cassette that was never opened during exposure, processing, and projection and offered no apparent access for a recording head. Second, our relatively stiff poly­ester film base would not readily conform to the shape of a magnetic head to pro­vide the tight clearances needed for quali­ty sound reproduction. The work that followed may be a minor classic of Edwin Land's technical management style in its intensive focus on solving the problem.

I was asked one afternoon to find a way to project a movie film without the usual procedure of pausing and jerking the individual frames through the film gate so that the smoothly moving film would be better suited for audio recording, without any change in the cassette. Of course, professional theater projectors manage this feat very well with a spinning polygonal prism, but at a comparatively high f/no. Our lens, made for f/0.92, had no such clearance. Design restraints left only one option, a reciprocating motion of the entire projection lens. With a lens weight of more than 100 grams, however, and the need for something over 40 g's of reversing accelera­tion to accomplish the jump-back during the masking inter­val between frames, the mechanism that produced the needed motion was noisy when we implemented it on a lathe bed in one of the shops.

I timidly suggested the use of a standard audio recording cassette, to be driven by a cap­stan geared to the projection mechanism. That one was dis­missed out of hand as too easy and not sufficiently elegant.

While my effort to recipro­cate the lens was underway, 1 soon learned, another engineer had been asked to find a away to

r e c o r d c o n t i n u o u s s o u n d o n a n i n t e rm i t ­t e n t l y j u m p i n g t a p e , s i n c e e v e r y o n e k n o w s that a m o v i e f i l m has to b e t rans­p o r t e d i n p a u s e s a n d jerks to a l l o w p r o ­jec t i on . H e , too , w a s f o r b i d d e n to m a k e a n y c h a n g e i n the casse t te . H e a c t u a l l y s u c c e e d e d i n p r o d u c i n g r e c o g n i z a b l e c o n t i n u o u s s o u n d b y d i g i t i z a t i o n a n d a k i n d o f sh i f t register.

D u r i n g these p a r a l l e l b u t d i s j o i n t e d e f for ts to p u t s o u n d i n the p r o d u c t , w e w e r e q u i t e s u r e tha t s o m e o n e e l se h a d b e e n a s k e d to c h a n g e the f i l m casse t te " j us t a l i t t l e " to a l l o w for b o t h k i n d s o f

m o t i o n w i t h i n it. W h a t w a s u l t i m a t e l y d e m o n s t r a t e d to the p u b l i c u s e d

n o n e o f these o p t i o n s . Ra the r , a p l y o f m a g n e t i c tape w a s r o l l e d t oge the r w i t h a p l y o f m o v i e f i l m , a n d w a s p u l l e d a w a y f r o m it b y a l i t t le d i s tance fo r pa r t o f i ts p a t h , so that each c o m p o n e n t c o u l d t rave l i n i ts o w n o p t i m u m a n d cha r ­a c t e r i s t i c w a y , a n d the r esu l t w a s 8 - m m m o v i e s o u n d o f u n p r e c e d e n t e d f ide l i ty .

W h a t I h a d e x p e r i e n c e d w a s repeated f r o m t ime to t ime o n o the r pro jects , as E d w i n L a n d m a d e su re that h e u n d e r ­s t o o d t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f e a c h k e y d e c i s i o n . O n c e h e r e m a r k e d that the p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t p rocess w a s m u c h l i k e t r y i n g to reach the roo f o f a h o u s e ; n u m e r o u s l a d d e r s are a v a i l a b l e l e a n i n g aga ins t the eaves , b u t m o s t a re m i s s i n g

a f e w r u n g s . T h e r e is a t e m p t a ­t i o n to a v o i d t h e l a d d e r s w i t h m i s s i n g r u n g s nea r the b o t t o m . B u t s o m e of the o thers are m i s s ­i n g r u n g s near the top.

T h e g o a l o f c o m b i n i n g s o u n d w i t h c o l o r m o v i e s i n a po r t ab le a n d c o n v e n i e n t m a n n e r w a s a c h i e v e d seve ra l yea rs later i n t h e f o r m o f t h e c a m c o r d e r , i t se l f a " l a d d e r " tha t h a d b e e n m i s s i n g m a n y o f its l o w e r r u n g s i n the 1970s.

W I L L I A M T. P L U M M E R , an OSA

Fellow, is director of optical engi­neering at Polaroid Corp., Cam­bridge, Mass. Polavision 8-mm movie cassette showing supply and takeup reels,

reagent chamber, and projection prism.

OPTICS & PHOTONICS N E W S / O C T O B E R 1994 39

Special Issue: EDWIN L A N D

e x p e r i m e n t s . W e w e r e o n l y a m i l e d o w n the street b u t far e n o u g h a w a y that he c o u l d no t eas i l y w a l k f r o m lab to lab o r b u i l d i n g . Dex te r C o o p e r , L a n d , a n d I a t t emp ted to a l lev ia te th is c o n d i t i o n w i t h a t w o - w a y v i d e o se rv ice of t w o 4.5 M H z b a n d w i d t h channe ls w i t h a u d i o d u p l e x e s b e t w e e n 2 O s b o r n St., 549 T e c h n o l o g y Squa re , a n d 38 H e n r y St. It w a s a n ele­gant s y s t e m , one of the f i rst v i d e o sys tems i ns ta l l ed b y N e w E n g l a n d Te lephone , w i t h repeaters o n street p o l e s a n d n i t ro ­gen f i l l ed cables. W i t h t w o - c o l o r cameras a n d rece ive rs w e c o u l d d i s c u s s , d e m o n s t r a t e , a n d a c t u a l l y v i e w o u r la tes t d e v e l o p m e n t s r e a d i l y w i t h h i m at a cost o f a b o u t $1,000 a m o n t h fo r f i ve years . W i t h m u c h e n t h u s i a s m w e w e r e ab le to c o n s t r u c t o u r p a r t o f the s y s t e m a n d N e w E n g l a n d Te le ­p h o n e & T e l e g r a p h ( N E T ) h a d the t r a n s m i s s i o n s y s t e m w o r k i n g b y the e n d of 1966. It w a s w i t h a sense o f exc i te ­m e n t as w e i ns ta l l ed the e q u i p m e n t u n d e r 2 O s b o r n , fo r i t w a s s o m e w h e r e here that " W a t s o n , c o m e h e r e ! " t ook p lace . Pe rhaps w e c o u l d a d d a "I c a n see y o u i n t w o c o l o r ! " A f t e r a

f e w m o n t h s o f o p e r a t i o n w e g r a d u a l l y los t o u r e n t h u s i a s m for o u r " P h o n e v i s i o n , " as it r e q u i r e d a n i n v o l v e d t ime to set u p l i gh ts , c a m e r a , a n d ac t i on deta i ls . L a n d w o u l d m o r e t han o f ten j u m p i n to h i s L a n d R o v e r a n d be d o w n at H e n r y St. be fo re the cameras a n d rece ivers c o u l d w a r m u p . H o w e v e r , a n o u t g r o w t h of o u r contact w i t h N E T w a s a n i n t r o d u c t i o n to D e a n G i l l e t t e , E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r T r a n s m i s s i o n S y s t e m s a n d E n g i n e e r i n g D i v i s i o n , B e l l Te lephone Labora to r i es .

In 1964, A m e r i c a n Te lephone a n d Te leg raph C o . d e m o n ­strated a See-as-you- ta lk te lephone serv ice . A t ranscon t inen­ta l c a l l w a s m a d e b e t w e e n the B e l l s y s t e m e x h i b i t s at the N e w Y o r k W o r l d ' s F a i r a n d D i s n e y l a n d i n C a l i f o r n i a . T h i s serv ice w a s ca l l ed " P i c t u r e p h o n e " a n d w a s b e i n g o f fered b y the B e l l s y s t e m b e t w e e n C h i c a g o , N e w Y o r k , a n d W a s h i n g ­ton , D . C . In 1967 L a n d felt that p e r h a p s there w o u l d be s o m e s y n e r g i s m b e t w e e n the " P i c t u r e p h o n e " concep t , w h i c h w a s m o n o c h r o m e , a n d o u r d e v e l o p m e n t s of two -co lo r te lev is ion . Scient ists a n d eng ineers f r o m B e l l Te lephone Labora to r i es i n M u r r a y H i l l , N . J . w e r e s o o n v i s i t i n g P o l a r o i d a n d v i e w e d the ret inex expe r imen ts at the V i s i o n Labs . W e v i s i t e d the M u r ­ray H i l l labs severa l t imes to v i e w a n d lea rn about the techn i ­ca l i t ies of " P i c t u r e p h o n e . " S ince a f o r m of t w o - c o l o r te lev i ­s i o n requ i r ed a f i e ld - f rame sequen t ia l s i g n a l p resen ta t ion , the t r a n s m i s s i o n w o u l d l o o k l i k e a m o n o c h r o m e s i g n a l . T h u s w i t h the p r o p e r c a m e r a , receiver , a n d c o d e d f r ame sequen t ia l s i gna l , co lo r c o u l d be sent a l o n g the same ha l f a megaher t z b a n d w i d t h as r equ i r ed b y " P i c t u r e p h o n e . "

B e l l L a b s s c i e n t i s t s d e c i d e d to d u p l i c a t e D r . L a n d ' s M o n d r i a n e x p e r i m e n t s o n a c o m p u t e r a n d d i s p l a y the resu l ts o n a c o l o r C R T . L a n d , J o h n M c C a n n , N a t h a n G o l d , a n d I f l e w d o w n to M u r r a y H i l l to v i e w the i r p resen ta t ion , no t k n o w i n g that it w a s a compu te r -gene ra ted M o n d r i a n . It w a s a d i s a p p o i n t i n g d i sp lay . It d i d no t h a v e the subt le t ies , the v e r v e , o r the range of co lo rs that the p a p e r co l l age M o n ­d r i a n h a d i n h i s V i s i o n Labo ra to r i es expe r imen ts . H i s c o m ­m e n t as w e f l e w b a c k w a s tha t h e w o n d e r e d h o w m u c h i n v e n t i v e p r o g r e s s a n d c u r i o s i t y w a s h a l t e d b y s u c h c o l d u n f e e l i n g h a r d w a r e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f h u m a n n a t u r e a n d m a n ' s w o n d r o u s senses. " S o m e t i m e s i t is bet ter a n d m o r e exc i t i ng to let each l i t t le e x p e r i m e n t l e a d y o u to h y p o t h e s i z e a n d d i rec t y o u to the nex t e x p e r i m e n t or s tep , " h e r e m a r k e d .

C o l o r t e l e v i s i o n w a s the f i r s t o f m a n y p ro jec ts that I w a s f o r t u n a t e to b e d i r e c t l y i n v o l v e d w i t h D r . L a n d . I n e v e r y i n s t a n c e h e w a s t h e i n s p i r a t i o n a l l e a d e r , p a t i e n t teacher, k e e n a n d s p i r i t e d executor , b r i l l i an t i n n o v a t i v e s c i ­ent is t , a n d s k i l l e d m a n a g e r w h o c o u l d b r i n g ou t the best i n d i v e r s e a n d ta len ted c rea t i ve p e o p l e . M e t i c u l o u s i n d e t a i l , a g o n i z i n g o v e r w o r d s y e t a b l e t o g r a s p q u i c k l y b r o a d i n v o l v e d concep ts , h e w a s s u c h a c o m p l e x a n d p r i v a t e i n d i ­v i d u a l that w e as o r d i n a r y h u m a n b e i n g s w o u l d be q u i c k l y left b e h i n d i n h i s t h o u g h t p rocesses . D e t e r m i n e d a n d re lent­less i n p u r s u i t of s o m e t i m e s s e e m i n g l y e l u s i v e goa l s , he h a d the s t a m i n a a n d e n e r g y to a c c o m p l i s h t h i n g s tha t o the rs w o u l d h a v e l o n g p u t as i de or g i v e n u p . M o r e o v e r , he w a s ab le to d e v o t e e q u a l e m p h a s i s to the i m p r o v e m e n t o f the w o r k l i fe a n d w e l l b e i n g of a l l P o l a r o i d e m p l o y e e s . H i s c o n ­t r i b u t i o n s to sc ience , i n d u s t r y , soc ie ty , the n a t i o n , a n d the w o r l d are w e l l d o c u m e n t e d a n d e n d u r i n g .

L A W R E N C E K . M . T I N G is a senior principal engineer with Polaroid Corp., Cambridge, Mass.

Edwin Herbert Land May 7, 1909-March 1, 1991

The passing of Edwin Land requires special note, as there are so few giants among us. He was known to the Optical Society as the Harvard student who dropped out to devel­op sheet polarizers, as the inventor who first demon­strated instant photogra­phy at a Society meeting in 1947, as the Ives medalist of 1967, and for recognizing a new and deeper way of understanding color vision.

Edwin Land was an Honorary Member of the Optical Society. We feel that we are honored, too, that such an individual chose to identify with us.

A listing of Dr. Land's awards, fellowships, and civic activities fills several pages. Below are several of the most notable:

Major fellowships and honorary memberships 15 honorary doctorates Foreign Member, Royal Society, 1986 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow, 1943, President 1951-1953 National Academy of Sciences Fellow, 1953 American Philosophical Society, 1957 Optical Society of America Honorary Member, 1972

Principal Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1963 National Medal of Science, 1967 National Inventors Hall of Fame, 1977 National Medal of Technology, 1988 Cresson Medal, Franklin Institute, 1937 Rumford Medal, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1945 Frederic Ives Medal. OSA, 1967

—Taken from Land's obituary, Optics & Photonics News, May 1991, written by James G. Baker, Stephen D. Fantone,

and William T. Plummer

40 OPTICS & P H O T O N I C S N E W S / O C T O B E R 1994