| RefNo | EC/1986/45 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXII, 45 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Land, Edwin Herbert: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1985 |
| Description | Certificate of Candidate for Election to Foreign Membership. Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for his inventions and contributions in the fields of polarized light, photography and colour vision, Edwin Land has impacted the lives of millions of people and, through the Polaroid Corp. which he founded, has provided large scale employment in many countries including the U.K. over several decades. He has few peers in the advancement and application of natural knowledge.
In the field of polarized light he was responsible for the invention and commercial production of the first sheet polarizers, for a sequence of subsequent polarizers, and for the theory and practice of many applications of polarized light. Such polarizers are widely used in liquid crystal displays, in sunglasses and in scientific research and the trade name 'Polaroid' has become the accepted generic name for such sheets.
In the field of photography he conceived the cameras and films that gave instantaneous dry pictures directly from the camera, and he carried out the physicochemical investigations that made possible the equipment and processes that give neutral-coloured, continuous-tone, instantaneous photographs. His commercial exploitation of these has led to their wide general use as recording media in photography, science, engineering and medicine. All this work was the background for instantaneous one-step colour photography, for which Land proposed the broad principles and to which he made a number of basic contributions. Novel equipment using these colour systems has also been widely exploited including later versions in which the colour photograph develops in daylight. He has also introduced numerous other innovations such as thin batteries for use in such equipment.
In the field of colour vision Land showed that it is impossible to describe the colour of an object in the world around us in terms of ratios of visible energy, at various wavelengths, coming from the object to the eye. He showed that this major deficiency in the elementary theory cannot be corrected by additional terms in an equation nor by description of the colour of the surrounding area. An elaborate and novel programme of experiments led him to his "retinex" theory of colour vision. Whilst this theory embraces the present Young/Helmholz trichromatic theory, it is much more generally applicable and explains previously inexplicable phenomena such as colour constancy and our multicolour perception of two colour pictures. It is well substantiated by his experiments and has wide applicability eg. In colour television or image analysis.
The substantial numbers and high quality of his publications, and lectures and his 550 patents attest to his productivity as a scientist and the significance of his work is recognisable by the legion of honorary degrees, fellowships, medals and awards it has brought to him. Election to Foreign Membership would be a most appropriate accolade for such a lifetime of scientific endeavour and entrepreneurism and would provide encouragement for others similarly so to strive in the cause of natural knowledge. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA5221 | Land; Edwin Herbert (1909 - 1991) | 1909 - 1991 |