Harold E. Edgerton in World War II

While Harold Edgerton is best known for his work in high-speed photography, his research in night aerial reconnaissance photography during World War II had several influences on his work after the war. His involvement in the war ultimately expanded the scope of applications for his strobe technology, caused him to take his technology out of the laboratory setting, and introduced him to research in the area of national security after the war ended. In addition, there was a big change in scale and magnitude of the units he built during the war.

The purpose of this site is to give a glimpse into our project history and provide additional related information. 

Final paper 15-Dec-2000: view .pdf (11,417 K)
Slides from the presentation 13-Dec-2000:  view HTML  |  download .ppt (10,116 K)

Edgerton lecturingHarold Edgerton
An introduction to Harold E. Edgerton

project overview
About Edgerton in World War II

project conclusions
How World World II impacted Edgerton's research

pre-Edgerton
Flash photography, photographs of motion, and aerial photography before Edgerton's influence

the stroboscope
Learn how the stroboscope works

research at MIT
Edgerton's research and changes in MIT's research focus in the 1920's to 1950's

more information
Related resources on the Internet and books.  See our paper for more sources.

future work
Related topic ideas for future 6.933 students

acknowledgements
Thanks to those who helped us

Please email us with any questions or comments!

Last updated December 15, 2000.