Edgerton, Harold Eugene (1903-1990), an American engineer and inventor, revolutionized high-speed photography with his electronic stroboscope, an instrument that can produce single or rapidly repeating flashes of light. Edgerton used this device to produce famous stop-action photographs of such subjects as a bullet tearing through a playing card. See Ballistics.
Edgerton also used the stroboscope in motion-picture photography, enabling him to show high-speed processes in slow motion. This technique was used in the film short Quicker ‘n a Wink, which won an Academy Award in 1940. His other inventions include the first electronic flash equipment used to take aerial photographs at night, deep-sea cameras, and sonar systems. See Sonar.
Edgerton was born on April 6, 1903, in Fremont, Nebraska. He received a Doctor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1931. He became an assistant professor at MIT in 1932, and remained on the MIT faculty until his death on Jan. 4, 1990.
