Other Issues to Investigate

Milk-Drop Coronet, 1957

Milk-Drop Coronet, 1957

While our research was primarily concerned with the impact of World War II on Harold Edgerton's research, future 6.933 classes might be interested in exploring some of these issues:

Creating Demand

Edgerton approached Kodak with his technology in the 1930's, but they weren't interested in using his flash. As a result, Edgerton set out to gain an audience for his technology by photographing sporting events, entertainers, etc.  Can this be related to the themes in Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma?

Competing Technologies

Around the same time that Edgerton was developing his electronic stroboscope, a French company, Seguin Brothers, was marketing electronic stroboscopes1. Why did they go bankrupt while Edgerton's technology succeeded?

Engineering Paradigms

Edgerton said the human eye is not good for anything that moves fast.  Edgerton's electronic stroboscope made it easy to see and photograph high speed motion.  Could this be described as an anomaly and paradigm shift?

Side Scan Sonar

Edgerton's high speed photography was made possible by quickly discharging energy in the form of light. The principle behind sonar is very similar, making use of acoustic energy instead of light.  How did he apply his strobe technology to side scan sonar?

Edison and Edgerton

There are many similarities between Thomas Edison and Harold Edgerton.  The most obvious similarity is that they both worked on electric lighting systems.  However, their characteristics as innovators are also very similar -- their lab notebooks, demonstrations, ability to apply their technologies to new applications, etc.  Take a look at Paul Israel's A Life of Invention and the Edison papers.  Think about engineering practice during the times of Edison and Edgerton. 

EG&G, Inc.

How was the formation of EG&G influenced by MIT and the Atomic Energy Commission?  How and why has the company's focus changed since its founding in 1947?


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1 Bruce, Roger (ed). Seeing the Unseen: Dr. Harold E. Edgerton and the Wonders of Strobe Alley.  MIT Press: Cambridge, 1994, p. 17.