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Edwin H. Land
Sign in to saveAlso known as Edwin Land, Edwin Herbert Land, E. H. Land
American scientist and inventor (1909–1991)
OverviewAI-generated
Edwin Herbert Land (1909–1991) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, physicist, and photographer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he died in Cambridge. Land was educated at Harvard University and served as a professor. His work focused on optics and crystal optics. He was a member of the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Land received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Frederic Ives Medal, and the Elliott Cresson Medal. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. His works are held in the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Synthesized by Vinony from 45 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, OpenAlex, Open Library, Crossref, MusicBrainz, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA
Known for
- Mr. Polaroid — Self (archive footage)2025
- Instant Dreams — Self - The Visionary (archive footage)2017
via TMDB
Key facts
- Born
- Edwin Herbert Land , May 7, 1909, Bridgeport, Connecticut , U.S.
- Died
- March 1, 1991 (1991-03-01) (aged 81), Cambridge, Massachusetts , U.S.
- Resting place
- Mount Auburn Cemetery , U.S.
- Known for
- Polarizing film Land instant camera
- Spouse
- Helen Maislen, ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1929 )
- Fields
- Optics, polarization, color vision
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Herbert
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Bridgeport
- Place of death
- Cambridge
- Occupation
- photographer
- Educated at
- Harvard University
- Award
- John Scott Award
- Field of work
- crystal optics
- Image
- Edwin H. Land, founder, Polaroid (cropped).jpg
Show 9 more facts
- place of burial
- Mount Auburn Cemetery
- member of
- National Academy of Sciences
- date of death
- 1991-03-01
- date of birth
- 1909-05-07
- Commons category
- Edwin H. Land
- nominated for
- Nobel Prize in Physics
- has works in the collection
- Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
- professorship
- professor
- name in native language
- Edwin Herbert Land
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS, FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and the retinex theory of color vision. His Polaroid instant camera went on sale in 1948 and made it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in one minute or less.
Land received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the IRI Medal in 1965, the Perkin Medal in 1974, the Harold Pender Award in 1979, and the National Medal of Technology in 1988. He was also renowned outside of his home country, being a member of England's Royal Photographic Society, Royal Institution, and Royal Society (receiving Fellowship of the latter).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Edwin H. Land” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.