We’re having a little party in celebration of Edwin Herbert Land’s 100th birthday. He was born on May 7, 1909 – and he lived to the ripe old age of 81. His father owned a scrap-metal yard and he went on to attend Harvard, not a bad progression eh?
Among other things, his fertile imagination gave us the polarizing film that revolutionised the manufacture of sunglasses. Land created the world’s first synthetic polarizing light filter, a film with millions of micrometre-sized polarizing crystals that were perfectly aligned to screen out the horizontally reflected glare that interferes with vision. The vast majority of polarized sunglasses still use a development of this technology today – it’s what makes the sunglasses so special. It has, however, been developed and modified, for instance combined with vision correcting lenses to create prescription sunglasses.
In 1932, he established the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories to give his invention commercial scope. The company was renamed the Polaroid Corporation in 1937. A host of innovations followed. In 1947, Land launched the first instant camera and continued with the development of instant colour photography in the 1970s, the year Polaroid Eyewear became part of the specialist eyewear company, StyleMark. Until he left the Polaroid Corporation in the 1980s, Land continued to be a force for innovation. He employed women and trained them as research scientists, and the company was known for its support of racial equality long before such things were expected.
Land himself was known for his fierce dedication to solving scientific problems and was famous for staying at work for days on end, his meals brought to him because otherwise he would forget to eat. He ran his company on the best scientific principles – and many of his inventions are still in use today. As a prolific innovator, the number of patents filed by Edwin Land is reputed to be second only to Thomas Edison, and Land has justly achieved his place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. So happy birthday Edwin! And thanks. We just love the sunglasses!
