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. To make up for the lost income of his father, Eastman took odd jobs while his mother took in boarders. and Eastman left high school to support the family and began working as an office boy at an insurance agency by the age of 14.[1]Because of his superior job performance, his employer helped him get a better paying job at a bank.
Photography
Eastman is said to have encountered photography while preparing for a vacation in the Caribbean. Someone suggested to him that he bring a camera to record the sights. He cancelled his vacation, but purchased the equipment and started taking photgraphs.
In 1878, Eastman became frustrated by the awkward method that required coating a glass plate with a liquid emulsion that had to be used before it dried. He read an article about British inventor Charles Bennett, who had deveoped a dry method of photography. Eastman experimented with his own method, and invented a dry photographic plate, which he patented in both England and the United States. In 1881, he went into a partnership with Henry Alvah Strong, called the Eastman Dry Plate Company.
In 1884, with the help of William H. Walker, he developed, and then 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.[2]
He accordingly changed the name of his company to the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company.
First camera
Eastman then designed a roll film camera, able to capture images more than two inches across, for which he received a patent in 1888. 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.[3]
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.
Wihin a year, business was brisk, and the name of the firm was changed to the Eastman Kodak Company. In 1892, Eastman designed a new medium, celluloid film, to replace the old rolls of paper. He extended the use of his new film for use in Thomas A. Edison's new motion picture camera. By 1896, 100,000 Kodak cameras had been sold. The first Kodak had cost USD $25, but by 1900, Eastman designed and marketed a line of cameras ranging in price from the Bulls Eye for $12 to the Brownie for just $1.
Management philosophy
Probably because of his early experience in the work world, Eastman established a corporate philosophy of taking care of his employees. He provided them with many benefits, including pension plans and health care. He hired women professionals, as well as people with disabilities and former convicts. He paid employees for suggestions to improve the company, and implemented a worker safety program. He also developed a stock ownership plan, and in 1919 distributed $6 million of Kodak shares to his employees.
Eastman kept his company going by investing heavily in research and development, and by hiring expert staff that could lead the company in profitable directions.
Philanthropy
Having achieved his primary corporate goals, Eastman embarked on a program of philanthropy. He made an anonymous donation to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of $3 million in 1912. In 1917, he began establishing dental clinics for children in the city of Rochester, New York, where is company headquarters was located. He expanded this program to include cities both in the United States and abroad where Eastman Kodak had manufacturing facilities.
Eastman built a mansion on 12 acres of land that still stands. He made trips to Africa to conduct safaris, and was fond of camping. He also busied himself in visiting the art galleries of Europe.
In 1928, he developed a spinal condition that left him increasingly debilitated, and in intense pain. He could no longer carry out even simple tasks without assistance, and his conern over people seeing him in this condition left him more and more isolated. 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. He finalized his will.
On March 14, 1932, after meeting with a gathering of company executives and friends and finalizing his will, Eastman shot himself in the chest and died. He left a suicide note that read, "To my friends. My work is done. Why wait? GE." [4] 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").[5] 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
Notes
- ↑ George Eastman - The Man: About His Life. Kodak: History of Kodak. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
- ↑ Kodak film patented on October 14, 1884
- ↑ Building the Foundation. Kodak: History of Kodak. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
- ↑ Simon, Robert I., and Robert E. Hales. 2006. The American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of suicide assessment and management. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub. 57.
- ↑ Ford, Carin T. (2004). George Eastman: The Kodak Camera Man. Enslow Publishers, INC..
ReferencesISBN 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
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
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