George Eastman

File:George eastman stamp.JPG

A 1954 U.S. stamp featuring George Eastman.

George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. The roll film was also the basis for the invention of the motion picture film in 1888 by world's first filmmaker, Louis Le Prince, and a decade later by his followers Léon Bouly, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès.

Biography

Eastman was born in Waterville, Oneida County, New York. He was the fourth and youngest child of George Washington Eastman and Maria Kilbourn, both from the bordering town of Marshall. His third sister died shortly after her birth. In 1854, his father established the Eastman Commercial College in Rochester and the Eastman family moved to Rochester in1860. Two years later, his father died and Eastman left high school to support the family and began working as an office boy by the age of 14.

In 1878, Eastman became intrigued with photography, but was frustrated by the awkward method that required coating a glass plate with a liquid emulsion that had to be used before it dried. After three years of experimentation with British gelatin emulsions, he "developed" a dry photographic plate, patented it in both England and the US, and began a photographic business in 1880.

In 1884, he patented a photographic medium that replaced fragile glass plates with a photo-emulsion coated on paper rolls. The invention of roll film greatly speeded up the process of recording multiple images.

An advertisement for the Kodak camera.

Eastman received a patent in 1888 for his roll film camera. He coined the marketing phrase "You press the button, we do the rest." The camera owner could return it with a processing fee of $10, and the company would develop the film and return 100 pictures, along with a new roll of 100 exposures.

On September 4, 1888 Eastman registered the trademark Kodak. The letter "K" had been a favorite of Eastman's, he is quoted in saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter". He and his mother devised the name Kodak with an anagram set. He said that he used three principal concepts in creating the name: it must be short, you can not mispronounce it, and it could not resemble anything or be associated with anything but Kodak.

By 1896, 100,000 Kodak cameras had been sold. The first Kodak had cost USD $25 and their pocket camera now cost $5. In an effort to bring photography to the masses, Eastman introduced the Brownie in 1900 at a price of just $1. It became a great success.

In 1925, Eastman gave up his daily management of Kodak, becoming chairman of the board. He thereafter concentrated on philanthropic activities. In his final two years Eastman was in intense pain. He had trouble standing and his walking became a slow shuffle that was caused by an (unnamed at the time) degenerative disorder that was affecting his spine. A modern diagnosis would probably cite spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal caused by arthritis in the joints of the back. He grew depressed knowing he would likely be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair, as his mother had done during the last two years of her life.

In 1932, Eastman died by his own hand, leaving a suicide note that read, "My work is done. Why wait?" His funeral was held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester. Eastman, who never married, is buried at Kodak Park in Rochester, New York.

Legacy

During his lifetime, he donated $100 million, mostly to the University of Rochester and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (under the alias "Mr. Smith"). The Rochester Institute of Technology has a building dedicated to Mr. Eastman, in recognition of his support and substantial donations. He endowed the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester.

MIT has a plaque of Eastman (the rubbing of which is traditionally considered by students to bring good luck) in recognition of his donation. Eastman also made substantial gifts to the Tuskegee Institute and the Hampton Institute. Upon his death, his entire estate went to the University of Rochester, where his name can be found on the Eastman Quadrangle of the River Campus. His former home at 900 East Avenue in Rochester, New York was opened as the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in 1949. On the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1954, Eastman was honored with a postage stamp from the United States Post Office.

See also

• Camera
• Photography

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

<<We need at least 3 references here, properly formatted.>>

• Carl W. Ackerman, George Eastman: Founder of Kodak and the Photography Business (1930), Beard Books, ISBN 1-89312299-9.

• Elizabeth Brayer, George Eastman: A Biography (1996), John's Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-5263-3, University of Rochester Press 2006 reprint: ISBN 1-58046247-2.

External links

• George Eastman archive at the University of Rochester

• The George Eastman Memorial

Patents

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• U.S. Patent 226,503 (PDF) "Method and Apparatus for Coating Plates," filed September 1879, issued April 1880
• U.S. Patent 306,594 (PDF) "Photographic Film," filed March 1884, issued October, 1884
• U.S. Patent 317,049 (PDF) "Roll Holder for Photographic Films," filed August 1884, issued May 1885
• U.S. Patent 388,850 (PDF) "Camera," filed March, 1888, issued September, 1888

Credits

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