In 1937, Land-Wheelwright became a public company named Polaroid Corporation after the trade name for the firm’s polarizing films. The company also invented a new product called a vectograph that combined two still images taken from slightly different positions and printed as oppositely-polarized images using polarized glasses, viewers saw a 3-D image of the subject. 3-D movies were created by applying polarizers to projectors and viewing glasses. The company’s inexpensive polarizers were used in photographic filters, glare-free sunglasses, and stereoscopic products that gave the illusion of three-dimensional (3-D) images. Wheelwright, III (1903–2001), a Harvard colleague, formed Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to manufacture polarizers. Although it took several years to perfect, this method resulted in the commercial production of polarized sheets. By 1930, Land had identified a more promising way to manufacture polarizing sheets: Instead of using electromagnets, he could apply the tiny crystals to a plastic sheet and, by stretching it, achieve parallel alignment of the crystals. He returned to Harvard in the same year but left again before completing his undergraduate degree to focus on his emerging business. In 1929, Land applied for his first patent, a method for producing his polarizing sheets. As the lacquer dried, the crystals retained their orientation, and the result was a polarizing sheet that was thin, transparent, and pliable. He then pulled a sheet of celluloid (a thin, clear plastic) through this solution to make a continuous sheet of crystals. He created fine polarizing crystals, suspended them in liquid lacquer, and aligned them using an electromagnet. Land recognized an alternative, and he worked to arrange a mass of microscopic crystals to produce the same effect. Herapath had sought, with little success, to produce large synthetic crystals that would mimic the natural crystals that were the most useful polarizers available at the time. Land’s experiments built on those of the British chemist and surgeon William Herapath (1820–1868). There, he worked to develop a synthetic polarizer. He moved to New York City, where he studied physical optics independently at the New York Public Library and conducted experiments secretly at Columbia University. In 1926, Land enrolled at Harvard University to study physics, but his desire to conduct research caused him to leave after only a few months in search of more practical opportunities. Moreover, because glare would be eliminated, headlights could be made brighter, thereby increasing the safety of nighttime driving. Almost from the start of his work, around age 13, Land was searching for a product that would improve vehicle safety during nighttime driving: If polarizers could be placed in headlights and windshields, then they could be used to prevent the disturbing glare from oncoming vehicles’ headlights. Land imagined important uses for synthetic polarizers, if they could be produced. Natural polarizers were effective at reducing glare and measuring angles of reflectivity, but they were large and expensive. By doing so, polarizers provide the ability to select light waves with particular orientations. These invisible slats stop all angles of light except those parallel to the openings. A polarizer acts like a slatted screen, with long, thin, parallel openings. As the waves move forward, they vibrate vertically, horizontally, and at all angles in between. Polarization refers to a physical property of light waves. In particular, he was drawn to the natural phenomenon of light polarization. The system soon became a big success.As a boy, Land was fascinated by light. This got Land to think about such possibilities, and early in 1947, the Polaroid Model 95 camera and the related Type 40 Land film producing black-and-white images began to be offered on the market. When in New Mexico in 1944, Land’s three-year-old daughter Jennifer asked him why the camera he used could not immediately produce an image. During World War II, the company developed new kinds of night vision goggles and a system that could reveal enemies in camouflage uniforms. He and a partner formed a company that produced polarized sheets, named Polaroid Corporation in 1937. He returned to Harvard where he concentrated on chemistry and physics. He educated himself at the New York Public Library and experimented after hours at a Columbia University laboratory where he invented the Polaroid J sheet, an arrangement of microscopic crystals on a plastic sheet filtering out certain kinds of polarized light, used for example in sunglasses. He spent one year at Harvard University studying chemistry, dropped out and moved to New York City. He was educated at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, CT, where he graduated with honors. Edwin Land was born on May 7, 1909, in Bridgeport, CT, to Harry and Martha Land.
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