Gift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation 1996.347
Location
not on view
Harold Eugene Edgerton
Harold Eugene Edgerton American, 1903-1990
Inventor, scientist, and teacher Harold Edgerton became internationally known for his high-speed flash photographs of rapidly moving objects: a bullet ripping through an apple, the beating of a hummingbird's wings, the impact of a baseball on a bat. After receiving his doctorate in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1931), Edgerton pursued pioneering research in stroboscopic photography that led to the development of the modern electronic speed flash and the ability to capture on film events not visible to the unaided human eye. Using various methods of flash synchronization, he was able to visually freeze the movements of birds, athletes in motion, and phenomena such as a drop of milk splashing onto a plate.
Although best known for his many spectacular stop-action photographs, Edgerton was also involved in the development of underwater cameras and strobes, as well as sonar devices for geological research and underwater archaeological exploration. In addition to a distinguished teaching career at mit, Edgerton (born in Fremont, Nebraska) was a founding partner of eg&g, a company specializing in electronic technology. M.M.