Polaroid Camera or the instant picture camera was invented by Edwin Land. He was an American inventor and physicist. He introduced a one-step process for developing and printing photographs. Hence he brought about a revolution in photography. The Polaroid Camera allows the photographer to remove a developing print after taking a picture.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, in 1990, he studied at Harvard University where he became interested in research on Polaroid light. He developed a new kind of polarizer, which he called Polaroid, by aligning and embedding crystals in a plastic sheet. Along with other scientists, he used this principle in light and optical devices.
Prior to that he set up the Land – Wheelwright Laboratories at Boston in 1932, with his Harvard physics instructor George Wheelwright III. The team of scientist established the Polaroid cooperation with Edwin Land as the President in 1937. The company did lot of research work in infrared filters, goggles which could be used in the dark, and target finders, during World War II between 1939 and 1947.
In 1943, Land’s three – year old daughter Jennifer asked him why she could not immediately see a picture of her which he had taken on a holiday. Her question was to result in the invention of the first instant camera after three years on intense research. The one step dry photographic process used the same principle of polarization of light. In 1947 Land made a practical display of an instant camera to the American Optical Society.
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