DOCSLIB.ORG

The Hologram and Its Antecedents 1891-1965: the Illusory History of a Three-Dimensional Illusion

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Hologram and Its Antecedents 1891-1965: the Illusory History of a Three-Dimensional Illusion The Hologram and its Antecedents 1891-1965: The Illusory History of a Three-Dimensional Illusion Susan A. Gamble, Wolfson College This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Cambridge, 2004 ©2005 Susan Gamble ii Contents List of illustrations ....................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................... vi Preface........................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 4 The link between a nineteenth-century photograph and the twentieth-century hologram....................... 4 Where and how did the ‘Lippmann-to-Gabor’ history originate?............................................................ 6 What advantages are gained in citing the Lippmann-to-Gabor narrative?............................................... 7 Did Gabor cite Lippmann’s work?........................................................................................................... 8 Did Leith and Upatnieks invent the three-dimensional laser hologram? ................................................11 What effect did military secrecy have on the development of the discipline’s history?........................ 14 The role of the Lippmann-to-Gabor history within the discipline of holography.................................. 15 The role of the image in scientific and popular displays........................................................................ 18 The structure and contents of this thesis ................................................................................................ 23 Chapter One Lippmann’s La photographie des couleurs ......................................................................... 28 Lippmann’s theory of 1891.................................................................................................................... 30 Lippmann’s spectra on display in London ............................................................................................. 37 The Conversazione, 1891, spectra by Charles Piazzi Smyth ................................................................. 41 The assistance of the Lumière Brothers ................................................................................................. 46 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 49 Chapter Two Popular pictorial Lippmann photographs: the producers, the critics, the Nobel Prize, and the three-dimensional image ............................................................................................................................. 51 The first images ……………………………………………………………………………………... 53 The American Frederic Ives and his three-dimensional colour invention.............................................. 58 Photography and historical memory....................................................................................................... 62 Humbug theory: Frederic Ives the American critic................................................................................ 65 A successful public display of Lippmann photographs by the Lumière Brothers.................................. 69 The corporate versus the independent inventor: the Lumière Brothers and Frederic Ives..................... 71 Modernising Lippmann’s process in 1908, an American review by Herbert Ives................................. 75 A new use and discipline for Lippmann photography............................................................................ 78 Lippmann’s Nobel Prize and his proposal for a three-dimensional virtual image................................. 80 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 89 Chapter Three Dennis Gabor’s Hologram of 1949.................................................................................... 92 Technology and modernity..................................................................................................................... 93 The fate of the untrusted researcher in Germany and Britain ................................................................ 95 Three-dimensional cinema and its relationship to Gabor, Lippmann and Herbert Ives......................... 99 Promoting technology in 1950s Britain................................................................................................ 101 Gabor’s hologram: an imaging solution for electron microscopy........................................................ 105 Other experimenters and the Gabor hologram ......................................................................................115 Gabor’s attempt to build an instrument.................................................................................................119 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 122 Chapter Four Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks and the three-dimensional hologram......................... 124 Introduction: Researching Cold War classified science....................................................................... 124 Gabor’s ‘wave-front reconstruction’ and the Willow Run Research Laboratories.............................. 127 Lensless photography: a press release in 1963..................................................................................... 135 The re-introduction of the Lippmann emulsion.................................................................................... 139 The first public display of the three-dimensional laser hologram........................................................ 141 Science in the popular press ................................................................................................................. 142 The three-dimensional hologram as featured in two popular colour publications............................... 144 iii Locating Dennis Gabor, the inventor, in 1963..................................................................................... 154 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 158 Chapter Five Dennis Gabor’s Nobel Prize for physics, 1971 ................................................................. 161 Disputes and new authors at the University of Michigan .................................................................... 162 Two teams seek the attention of the press............................................................................................ 167 Dennis Gabor re-positions himself in the new discipline..................................................................... 170 Can military-funded research function in the academy?...................................................................... 173 Gabor’s 1971 Nobel Lecture: an account of his invention................................................................... 177 Claiming the popular three-dimensional image as his own ................................................................. 182 A virtual inventor: the holographic portrait of Dennis Gabor.............................................................. 185 Searching for a three-dimensional hologram by Gabor ....................................................................... 189 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 192 Conclusion................................................................................................................................................. 196 A Cold War technology with a revivalist history...................................................................................... 196 Three-dimensional imagery: Gabor, H. Ives, Lippmann, and the Lumière Brothers........................... 203 Bibliography.............................................................................................................................................. 209 iv List of illustrations Fig.1.1. Newton’s Rings reproduced from the 1979 Dover edition of Opticks...................................28 Fig.1.2. Lippmann Solar Spectrum, circa. 1891 size approximately 60mm x 40mm, attributed to Gabriel Lippmann. Silver-halide emulsion on glass. Reproduced with permission from the Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, Switzerland. ......................................................................................31 Fig.1.3. A Solar Spectrum by Charles Piazzi Smyth, photographic print on paper mounted on inscribed board. Reproduced with the permission of Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. ..............................43 Fig.1.4. Illustration from The Orthographic Beauty of the Parthenon..............................................45 Fig.1.5. Sketch by Charles Piazzi Smyth in a notebook, February-November 1874. Reproduced with permission from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh ............................................................46
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Comparison Between Digital Fresnel Holography and Digital Image-Plane Holography: the Role of the Imaging Aperture M
    Comparison between Digital Fresnel Holography and Digital Image-Plane Holography: The Role of the Imaging Aperture M. Karray, Pierre Slangen, Pascal Picart To cite this version: M. Karray, Pierre Slangen, Pascal Picart. Comparison between Digital Fresnel Holography and Digital Image-Plane Holography: The Role of the Imaging Aperture. Experimental Mechanics, Society for Experimental Mechanics, 2012, 52 (9), pp.1275-1286. 10.1007/s11340-012-9604-6. hal-02012133 HAL Id: hal-02012133 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02012133 Submitted on 26 Feb 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Comparison between Digital Fresnel Holography and Digital Image-Plane Holography: The Role of the Imaging Aperture M. Karray & P. Slangen & P. Picart Abstract Optical techniques are now broadly used in the experimental analysis. Particularly, a theoretical analysis field of experimental mechanics. The main advantages are of the influence of the aperture and lens in the case of they are non intrusive and no contact. Moreover optical image-plane holography is proposed. Optimal filtering techniques lead to full spatial resolution displacement maps and image recovering conditions are thus established. enabling the computing of mechanical value also in high Experimental results show the appropriateness of the spatial resolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Holography Using a Laser Pointer and Consumer Digital Camera Report Date: June 22Nd, 2004
    Digital Holography using a Laser Pointer and Consumer Digital Camera Report date: June 22nd, 2004 by David Garber, M.E. undergraduate, Johns Hopkins University, [email protected] Available online at http://pegasus.me.jhu.edu/~lefd/shc/LPholo/lphindex.htm Acknowledgements Faculty sponsor: Prof. Joseph Katz, [email protected] Project idea and direction: Dr. Edwin Malkiel, [email protected] Digital holography reconstruction: Jian Sheng, [email protected] Abstract The point of this project was to examine the feasibility of low-cost holography. Can viable holograms be recorded using an ordinary diode laser pointer and a consumer digital camera? How much does it cost? What are the major difficulties? I set up an in-line holographic system and recorded both still images and movies using a $600 Fujifilm Finepix S602Z digital camera and a $10 laser pointer by Lazerpro. Reconstruction of the stills shows clearly that successful holograms can be created with a low-cost optical setup. The movies did not reconstruct, due to compression and very low image resolution. Garber 2 Theoretical Background What is a hologram? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hologram as, “a three-dimensional image reproduced from a pattern of interference produced by a split coherent beam of radiation (as a laser).” Holograms can produce a three-dimensional image, but it is more helpful for our purposes to think of a hologram as a photograph that can be refocused at any depth. So while a photograph taken of two people standing far apart would have one in focus and one blurry, a hologram taken of the same scene could be reconstructed to bring either person into focus.
    [Show full text]
  • The Royal Society Medals and Awards
    The Royal Society Medals and Awards Table of contents Overview and timeline – Page 1 Eligibility – Page 2 Medals open for nominations – Page 8 Nomination process – Page 9 Guidance notes for submitting nominations – Page 10 Enquiries – Page 20 Overview The Royal Society has a broad range of medals including the Premier Awards, subject specific awards and medals celebrating the communication and promotion of science. All of these are awarded to recognise and celebrate excellence in science. The following document provides guidance on the timeline and eligibility criteria for the awards, the nomination process and our online nomination system Flexi-Grant. Timeline • Call for nominations opens 30 November 2020 • Call for nominations closes on 15 February 2021 • Royal Society contacts suggested referees from February to March if required. • Premier Awards, Physical and Biological Committees shortlist and seek independent referees from March to May • All other Committees score and recommend winners to the Premier Awards Committee by April • Premier Awards, Physical and Biological Committees score shortlisted nominations, review recommended winners from other Committees and recommend final winners of all awards by June • Council reviews and approves winners from Committees in July • Winners announced by August Eligibility Full details of eligibility can be found in the table. Nominees cannot be members of the Royal Society Council, Premier Awards Committee, or selection Committees overseeing the medal in question. More information about the selection committees for individual medals can be found in the table below. If the award is externally funded, nominees cannot be employed by the organisation funding the medal. Self-nominations are not accepted.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction 1
    1 1 Introduction . ex arte calcinati, et illuminato aeri [ . properly calcinated, and illuminated seu solis radiis, seu fl ammae either by sunlight or fl ames, they conceive fulgoribus expositi, lucem inde sine light from themselves without heat; . ] calore concipiunt in sese; . Licetus, 1640 (about the Bologna stone) 1.1 What Is Luminescence? The word luminescence, which comes from the Latin (lumen = light) was fi rst introduced as luminescenz by the physicist and science historian Eilhardt Wiede- mann in 1888, to describe “ all those phenomena of light which are not solely conditioned by the rise in temperature,” as opposed to incandescence. Lumines- cence is often considered as cold light whereas incandescence is hot light. Luminescence is more precisely defi ned as follows: spontaneous emission of radia- tion from an electronically excited species or from a vibrationally excited species not in thermal equilibrium with its environment. 1) The various types of lumines- cence are classifi ed according to the mode of excitation (see Table 1.1 ). Luminescent compounds can be of very different kinds: • Organic compounds : aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene, anthracene, phenan- threne, pyrene, perylene, porphyrins, phtalocyanins, etc.) and derivatives, dyes (fl uorescein, rhodamines, coumarins, oxazines), polyenes, diphenylpolyenes, some amino acids (tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine), etc. + 3 + 3 + • Inorganic compounds : uranyl ion (UO 2 ), lanthanide ions (e.g., Eu , Tb ), doped glasses (e.g., with Nd, Mn, Ce, Sn, Cu, Ag), crystals (ZnS, CdS, ZnSe, CdSe, 3 + GaS, GaP, Al 2 O3 /Cr (ruby)), semiconductor nanocrystals (e.g., CdSe), metal clusters, carbon nanotubes and some fullerenes, etc. 1) Braslavsky , S. et al . ( 2007 ) Glossary of terms used in photochemistry , Pure Appl.
    [Show full text]
  • Famous Physicists Himansu Sekhar Fatesingh
    Fun Quiz FAMOUS PHYSICISTS HIMANSU SEKHAR FATESINGH 1. The first woman to 6. He first succeeded in receive the Nobel Prize in producing the nuclear physics was chain reaction. a. Maria G. Mayer a. Otto Hahn b. Irene Curie b. Fritz Strassmann c. Marie Curie c. Robert Oppenheimer d. Lise Meitner d. Enrico Fermi 2. Who first suggested electron 7. The credit for discovering shells around the nucleus? electron microscope is often a. Ernest Rutherford attributed to b. Neils Bohr a. H. Germer c. Erwin Schrödinger b. Ernst Ruska d. Wolfgang Pauli c. George P. Thomson d. Clinton J. Davisson 8. The wave theory of light was 3. He first measured negative first proposed by charge on an electron. a. Christiaan Huygens a. J. J. Thomson b. Isaac Newton b. Clinton Davisson c. Hermann Helmholtz c. Louis de Broglie d. Augustin Fresnel d. Robert A. Millikan 9. He was the first scientist 4. The existence of quarks was to find proof of Einstein’s first suggested by theory of relativity a. Max Planck a. Edwin Hubble b. Sheldon Glasgow b. George Gamow c. Murray Gell-Mann c. S. Chandrasekhar d. Albert Einstein d. Arthur Eddington 10. The credit for development of the cyclotron 5. The phenomenon of goes to: superconductivity was a. Carl Anderson b. Donald Glaser discovered by c. Ernest O. Lawrence d. Charles Wilson a. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes b. Alex Muller c. Brian D. Josephson 11. Who first proposed the use of absolute scale d. John Bardeen of Temperature? a. Anders Celsius b. Lord Kelvin c. Rudolf Clausius d.
    [Show full text]
  • Von Richthofen, Einstein and the AGA Estimating Achievement from Fame
    Von Richthofen, Einstein and the AGA Estimating achievement from fame Every schoolboy has heard of Einstein; fewer have heard of Antoine Becquerel; almost nobody has heard of Nils Dalén. Yet they all won Nobel Prizes for Physics. Can we gauge a scientist’s achievements by his or her fame? If so, how? And how do fighter pilots help? Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury look for the linkages. “It was a famous victory.” We instinctively rank the had published. However, in 2001–2002 popular French achievements of great men and women by how famous TV presenters Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff published they are. But is instinct enough? And how exactly does a great man’s fame relate to the greatness of his achieve- ment? Some achievements are easy to quantify. Such is the case with fighter pilots of the First World War. Their achievements can be easily measured and ranked, in terms of their victories – the number of enemy planes they shot down. These aces achieved varying degrees of fame, which have lasted down to the internet age. A few years ago we compared1 the fame of First World War fighter pilot aces (measured in Google hits) with their achievement (measured in victories); and we found that We can estimate fame grows exponentially with achievement. fame from Google; Is the same true in other areas of excellence? Bagrow et al. have studied the relationship between can this tell us 2 achievement and fame for physicists . The relationship Manfred von Richthofen (in cockpit) with members of his so- about actual they found was linear.
    [Show full text]
  • From Theory to the First Working Laser Laser History—Part I
    I feature_ laser history From theory to the first working laser Laser history—Part I Author_Ingmar Ingenegeren, Germany _The principle of both maser (microwave am- 19 US patents) using a ruby laser. Both were nom- plification by stimulated emission of radiation) inated for the Nobel Prize. Gábor received the 1971 and laser (light amplification by stimulated emis- Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention and devel- sion of radiation) were first described in 1917 by opment of the holographic method. To a friend he Albert Einstein (Fig.1) in “Zur Quantentheorie der wrote that he was ashamed to get this prize for Strahlung”, as the so called ‘stimulated emission’, such a simple invention. He was the owner of more based on Niels Bohr’s quantum theory, postulated than a hundred patents. in 1913, which explains the actions of electrons in- side atoms. Einstein (born in Germany, 14 March In 1954 at the Columbia University in New York, 1879–18 April 1955) received the Nobel Prize for Charles Townes (born in the USA, 28 July 1915–to- physics in 1921, and Bohr (born in Denmark, 7 Oc- day, Fig. 2) and Arthur Schawlow (born in the USA, tober 1885–18 November 1962) in 1922. 5 Mai 1921–28 April 1999, Fig. 3) invented the maser, using ammonia gas and microwaves which In 1947 Dennis Gábor (born in Hungarian, 5 led to the granting of a patent on March 24, 1959. June 1900–8 February 1972) developed the theory The maser was used to amplify radio signals and as of holography, which requires laser light for its re- an ultra sensitive detector for space research.
    [Show full text]
  • Casco Bay Weekly : 21 September 1989
    Portland Public Library Portland Public Library Digital Commons Casco Bay Weekly (1989) Casco Bay Weekly 9-21-1989 Casco Bay Weekly : 21 September 1989 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1989 Recommended Citation "Casco Bay Weekly : 21 September 1989" (1989). Casco Bay Weekly (1989). 38. http://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1989/38 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the Casco Bay Weekly at Portland Public Library Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Casco Bay Weekly (1989) by an authorized administrator of Portland Public Library Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RECE1VE SEP 22 i989 ascj •. ,'-.' \. .' ~,. .- ~ ~-" . ~ . , . , -~- .. , ~'. -.;;. Greater Portland's news and arts weekly ~i~~ '.} _ ~ - . , ~.' ",. ,I :.... __ SEPT. 21, 1989 An oil spill that never happened left a green stain on me. • On Tuesday, September 12, an imaginary 200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into Casco Bay just off the Eastern Prom so that the Coast Guard could test the readiness of Portland's cleap.up crews. Within 'an hour, local contractors were on the scene to con- tain the peat moss used to simulate the spill; within four hours, Governor John McKernan and a pack of journal- ists were on the scene to soak up the pUblicity. I stayed ashore. I'd seen this act before. While growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, I watched similar demonstra- tions of how well-prepared the oil companies were - just in case oil ever spilled into the then-pristine waters of Prince William Sound. And, yes, the Governor of Alaska showed up ." for many of those demonstrations, too.
    [Show full text]
  • Miniature Golf
    Portland Public Library Portland Public Library Digital Commons Casco Bay Weekly (1989) Casco Bay Weekly 7-6-1989 Casco Bay Weekly : 6 July 1989 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1989 Recommended Citation "Casco Bay Weekly : 6 July 1989" (1989). Casco Bay Weekly (1989). 27. http://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/cbw_1989/27 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the Casco Bay Weekly at Portland Public Library Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Casco Bay Weekly (1989) by an authorized administrator of Portland Public Library Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Greater Portland's news and arts weekly JULY 6, 1989 AND THE ART OF In a pre-game warm-up ritual, Kevin transfers his spiritual energy Into his golf ball. STORY by Mike Quinn of life. And there's no question that PHOTOS by Tonee Harbert How to find it's a discipline directed toward a Stranded on the back nine of life higher meaning. But what's really as I am, it's hard to find the true important is that unlike most paths to enlightenment meaning of things. But, humbling enlightenment, putt-putt requires myself before the unforgiving sun of virtually no talent. summer, I followed my children into That's why it's such a popular on the a labyrinth of confusing symbols and family pursuit. Kids are natural~ at challenges - and I have emerged a losing themselves. We adults need the better person for it. practice. Astroturf I took the family to play putt­ "It's not whether you win or putt.
    [Show full text]
  • New Age and Neopagan Religions in America
    CHAPTER SEVEN The Age of Aquarius Although the idea of a New Age was popularized by Alice Bailey in the early twentieth century, the term had been around at least since the American Rev- olution before it was used self-consciously by Theosophists like her who be- lieved a “master” would come to enlighten humanity and usher us into a new age. The concept picked up relevance as the s counterculture looked to- ward the Age of Aquarius as a utopian future of peace and equality. Move- ments aimed at social and personal transformation that emerged or were given new meaning in the s continue to shape New Age and Neopagan religions. Ideas about the expected new era vary among Neopagans and New Agers, just as they ranged in the s from social revolution to com- munal escape from society. But most agree that it will include a changed dy- namic between men and women, healthy diet, holistic healing practices, and peacefulness. Along with and related to holistic healing and feminist restructuring, en- vironmentalist concerns are seen as key in bringing about the transformation of society. Many New Agers and Neopagans believe that an ecologically vi- able relationship to the natural world will characterize the future age, when humans will live more harmoniously on earth. Some also believe the earth it- self, a living being that has been ill used by humanity, will bring about cata- clysmic changes, while others expect a gradual dawning of enlightened con- sciousness among large numbers of people to usher in the New Age. Goddess religion will emerge from a “Great Purification,” claim some ob- servers, borrowing a phrase from Hopi prophecy: “Look at the freak weather phenomena all around us .
    [Show full text]
  • Einstein and the Early Theory of Superconductivity, 1919–1922
    Einstein and the Early Theory of Superconductivity, 1919–1922 Tilman Sauer Einstein Papers Project California Institute of Technology 20-7 Pasadena, CA 91125, USA [email protected] Abstract Einstein’s early thoughts about superconductivity are discussed as a case study of how theoretical physics reacts to experimental find- ings that are incompatible with established theoretical notions. One such notion that is discussed is the model of electric conductivity implied by Drude’s electron theory of metals, and the derivation of the Wiedemann-Franz law within this framework. After summarizing the experimental knowledge on superconductivity around 1920, the topic is then discussed both on a phenomenological level in terms of implications of Maxwell’s equations for the case of infinite conduc- tivity, and on a microscopic level in terms of suggested models for superconductive charge transport. Analyzing Einstein’s manuscripts and correspondence as well as his own 1922 paper on the subject, it is shown that Einstein had a sustained interest in superconductivity and was well informed about the phenomenon. It is argued that his appointment as special professor in Leiden in 1920 was motivated to a considerable extent by his perception as a leading theoretician of quantum theory and condensed matter physics and the hope that he would contribute to the theoretical direction of the experiments done at Kamerlingh Onnes’ cryogenic laboratory. Einstein tried to live up to these expectations by proposing at least three experiments on the arXiv:physics/0612159v1 [physics.hist-ph] 15 Dec 2006 phenomenon, one of which was carried out twice in Leiden. Com- pared to other theoretical proposals at the time, the prominent role of quantum concepts was characteristic of Einstein’s understanding of the phenomenon.
    [Show full text]
  • Meeting Reports
    AUGUST 2014 MEETING Speaker: Andrew Conacher Topic: Sir Humphry Davy – The Davy Lamp Andrew’s talk on Sir Humphry Davy was most engaging and enjoyable. He firstly spoke on Sir Humphry’s background and life and then focused on the Davy Lamp, its context and importance. Andrew indicated that he has an ancestral family connection to Sir Humphry. The following is a brief extract from Andrew’s paper. Sir Humphry was born on 17 December 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall, England and died 29 May 1829 in Geneva, Switzerland aged 50 years. A statue stands in Penzance with him holding his safety lamp. Andrew Conacher holds up miner’s safety lamps. He was both a chemist and inventor Picture: KIRK GILMOUR, Wollongong Advertiser 6 August 2014 and was also a poet and painter. He enthusiastically turned to science and later became a professor at the Royal Institution and flame (acting as a flame arrestor) presented a series of lectures which were later published. thus preventing the methane gas burning inside the lamp to pass out He worked with a number of scientists of the day (for into the atmosphere. The lamp also example, Sir Joseph Banks, who interviewed Davy for his provided a test for the presence of role at the Royal Institution and Michael Faraday who was gases. If flammable gases were a co-worker with him) and was a popular public figure. present the flame of the lamp He made a number of scientific discoveries (for example, burnt higher and with a blue tinge. electrolysis, sodium, potassium, barium) and was knighted The lamp saved lives and helped in1812 and awarded a baronetcy in 1819.
    [Show full text]