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Memorial Tributes Volume 7 (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Edwin Herbert Land
Pages 128-133

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From page 129...
... Land conceived the idea of making in sheet form the optical equivalent of a large, single crystal by suspending submicroscopic polarizing particles in plastic or glass and orienting these polarizing particles in a transparent sheet. Following a leave of absence to pursue his ideas, he returned to Harvard bringing with him his new light polarizer.
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From page 130...
... During World War II, Land turned Polaroid to military research and production. A number of inventions contributed to the war effort, including infrared light polarizers; dark adaptation goggles; variable density goggles; polarizing ring sights, which had no optics and no restriction on aperture or exit pupil; and Vectograph three-dimensional light-polarizing images uniquely suited for aerial reconnaissance.
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From page 131...
... These experiments led him to construct his Retinex theory of color vision, in which it is not the relative amount of red, green, and blue light coming to the eye that determines color, but rather the formation in the retina and the cortex of an image in apparent lightnesses on three or more wavebands and a comparison at each point in this image of the three or more independent lightnesses that determines the color. Lancl was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1965 and was awarded its Founders Award in 1972.
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From page 132...
... Land was a visiting Institute professor of physics at MIT and served as a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers Visiting Committee for physics, astronomy, and chemistry. Land served the federal government in a number of capacities, including membership in the President's Science Advisory Committee and in the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board for many years.
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From page 133...
... Land was survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Helen Maislen Land, and two daughters, Jennifer and Valerie.
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Key Terms

  • light polarizer
  • polarizing particles
  • optical society
  • photographic process
  • land invented

  • numerous scientific
  • continuing education
  • mechanical engineers
  • rewarding work
  • land instant

  • inventors hall
  • issued february
  • nicol prisms
  • succeeding inventions
  • honorary fellow

  • advocated continuing
  • transparent sheet
  • publicly demonstrated
  • industry found
  • actively participated

  • physics colloquium
  • blinding glare
  • density goggles
  • harvard physics
  • determines color

  • using polarizers
  • challenged simultaneously
  • organize polaroid
  • refund programs
  • land served


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