Edwin Herbert Land, who passed away on 1 March 1991, aged 81, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and the retinex theory of color vision, among other things. His Polaroid instant camera went on sale in late 1948 and made it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in 60 seconds or less.
Land received the President Medal
of Freedom in 1963, the IRI Medal in 1965, the Perkin Medal in 1974, the
Harold Pender Award in1979, and the National Medal of Technology in 1988.
He was also renowned outside of his home country, being a member of
England's Royal Photographic Society, Royal Institution, and Royal
Society (receiving Fellowship of the latter).
