Edgerton, Harold
American, 1903-1990
Born in Fremont, Nebraska, in 1903, Harold Edgerton received a BS degree (1925) in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska, and his MS (1927) and DSc (1931) in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1931, Edgerton developed the stroboscope, the flash mechanism that revolutionized high-speed and stop-motion photography. The photographs he began taking with this invention have been widely exhibited, published, and collected. An esteemed educator, Edgerton received several honors and awards, including the Medal of Freedom from the War Department (for achievements in nighttime aerial photography), the National Medal of Science, and the Progress Award of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He also worked with Jacques-Yves Cousteau and developed flash equipment for underwater research. Edgerton died in 1990.
Austrian-American, 1899-1968