Editing Doc Edgerton (section)

==Biography==
===Early years===
Edgerton was born in [[Fremont, Nebraska]], on April 6, 1903, the son of Mary Nettie Coe and Frank Eugene Edgerton,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Nebraskana/pages/nbka0099.htm|title=The Nebraskana Society|website=www.usgennet.org}}</ref><ref>[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~edgerton/FrankEugene1875.htm Frank Eugene Edgerton/Mary Nettie Coe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023045320/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~edgerton/FrankEugene1875.htm |date=October 23, 2012 }} – ''[[rootsweb]]''</ref> a descendant of Samuel Edgerton, the son of Richard Edgerton, one of the founders of [[Norwich, Connecticut]], and Alice Ripley,<ref>http://lcweb4.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2007/20070619018ou/20070619018ou.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118142735/http://lcweb4.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2007/20070619018ou/20070619018ou.pdf |date=January 18, 2021 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> a great-granddaughter of [[Governor William Bradford]] (1590–1657) of the [[Plymouth Colony]] and a passenger on the [[Mayflower]]. His father was a lawyer, journalist, author and orator and served as the assistant attorney general of Nebraska from 1911 to 1915. Edgerton grew up in [[Aurora, Nebraska]].  He also spent some of his childhood years in Washington, DC, and [[Lincoln, Nebraska]].

===Education===
[[File:May Rogers Webster Bulletin.jpg|thumb|A 1936 picture of [[May Rogers Webster]] with [[hummingbird]]s]]
In 1925 Edgerton received a bachelor's degree in [[electrical engineering]] from the [[University of Nebraska-Lincoln]] where he became a member of [[Acacia Fraternity|Acacia fraternity]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Acacia Fraternity: Notable Acacians|author=Acacia Fraternity|url=http://www.acacia.org/about_notables.php|access-date=30 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204223942/http://www.acacia.org/about_notables.php|archive-date=February 4, 2012}}</ref> He earned an [[Master of Science|SM]] in electrical engineering from [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] in 1927.  Edgerton used stroboscopes to study [[synchronous motor]]s for his [[Doctor of Science|ScD]] thesis in electrical engineering at MIT, awarded in 1931. He credited [[Charles Stark Draper]] with inspiring him to photograph everyday objects using electronic flash; the first was a stream of water from a faucet.

In 1936 Edgerton visited hummingbird expert [[May Rogers Webster]]. He was able to illustrate with her help that it was possible to take photographs of the birds beating their wings 60 times a second using an exposure of one hundred thousandth of a second. A picture of her with the birds flying around her appeared in [[National Geographic]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://webmuseum.mit.edu/detail.php?module=objects&type=browse&id=5&term=Edgerton,+Harold&kv=96476&record=142&page=3|title=MIT Museum|website=webmuseum.mit.edu}}</ref>

===Career===
[[File:Tumbler Snapper rope tricks moire cancelled.jpg|thumb|alt=Blog of light seemingly mounted on a wire tower|Nuclear explosion captured by Edgerton's Rapatronic camera]]
[[File:Shockwave.jpg|thumb|[[Shadowgraph]] of bullet in flight using Edgerton's equipment and [[stroboscope]]]]
In 1937 Edgerton began a lifelong association with photographer [[Gjon Mili]], who used stroboscopic equipment, in particular, multiple studio electronic flash units, to produce photographs, many of which appeared in [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]]. When taking multiflash photographs this strobe light equipment could flash up to 120 times a second. Edgerton was a pioneer in using short duration electronic flash in photographing fast events photography, subsequently using the technique to capture images of balloons at different stages of their bursting, a bullet during its impact with an apple, or using multiflash to track the motion of a [[devil stick]], for example.

He was awarded a bronze medal by the [[Royal Photographic Society]] in 1934, the [[Howard N. Potts Medal]] from the [[Franklin Institute]] in 1941,<ref name="PottsMedal_Laureates">{{cite web |url=http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=POTTS&sy=&ey=&max=300&name=Submit |title=Franklin Laureate Database – Howard N. Potts Medal Laureates |publisher=[[Franklin Institute]] |access-date=June 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502215246/http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=POTTS&sy=&ey=&max=300&name=Submit |archive-date=May 2, 2014 }}</ref> the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] in 1966,<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref> the [[David Richardson Medal]] by the [[Optical Society of America]] in 1968,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/davidrichardson/ |title=David Richardson Medal |work=OSA.org | publisher=The Optical Society|year=2013 |access-date=December 18, 2013}}</ref> the [[Albert A. Michelson Medal]] from the same Franklin Institute in 1969,<ref name="MichelsonMedal_Laureates">{{cite web |url=http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=MICH+&sy=1967&ey=1997&name=Submit |title=Franklin Laureate Database – Albert A. Michelson Medal Laureates |publisher=[[Franklin Institute]] |access-date=June 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406103546/http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=MICH+&sy=1967&ey=1997&name=Submit |archive-date=April 6, 2012 }}</ref> and the [[National Medal of Science]] in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=116|title=The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details &#124; NSF - National Science Foundation|website=www.nsf.gov}}</ref>

Edgerton partnered with Kenneth J. Germeshausen to do consulting for industrial clients. Later Herbert Grier joined them. The company name "Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier" was changed to [[EG&G]] in 1947. EG&G became a prime contractor for the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] and had a major role in photographing and recording nuclear tests for the US through the fifties and sixties. For this role Edgerton and Charles Wykoff and others at EG&G developed and manufactured the [[Rapatronic camera]].

His work was instrumental in the development of [[side-scan sonar]] technology, used to scan the sea floor for wrecks. Edgerton worked with undersea explorer [[Jacques-Yves Cousteau|Jacques Cousteau]], by first providing him with custom-designed underwater photographic equipment featuring electronic flash, and then by developing sonar techniques used to discover the ''[[HMHS Britannic|Britannic]]''. Edgerton participated in the discovery of the [[American Civil War]] battleship [[USS Monitor|USS ''Monitor'']]. While working with Cousteau, he acquired the nickname "Papa Flash". In 1988 Doc Edgerton worked with Paul Kronfield in Greece on a sonar search for the lost city of [[Helike]], believed to be the basis for the legend of [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Archaeological sonar survey, Helike (Aigion, Greece) - Paul Kronfield, 1988 |url=https://webmuseum.mit.edu/detail.php?module=objects&type=related&kv=87321 |website=MIT Museum |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref>

Edgerton co-founded EG&G, Inc., which manufactured advanced electronic equipment including [[side-scan sonar]]s and sub-bottom profiling equipment. EG&G also invented and manufactured the [[Krytron]], the detonation trigger for the [[hydrogen bomb]], and an EG&G division supervised many of America's [[Nuclear weapons testing|nuclear tests]].

In addition to having the scientific and engineering acumen to perfect [[strobe light]]ing commercially, Edgerton is equally recognized for his visual aesthetic: many of the striking images he created in illuminating phenomena that occurred too fast for the naked eye now adorn art museums worldwide. In 1940, his high speed stroboscopic short film ''[[Quicker'n a Wink]]'' won an [[Academy Award|Oscar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/docs-life/popular-interest |access-date=28 November 2009 |title=Popular Interest: 1932–1941 « Harold "Doc" Edgerton |date=November 28, 2009 |website=edgerton-digital-collections.org}}</ref>

Edgerton was appointed a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1934.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mitmuseum.mit.edu/|title=MIT Museum &#124; MIT Museum|website=mitmuseum.mit.edu}}</ref> At MIT Edgerton created a technology lab nicknamed Strobe Alley, considered by author [[Pagan Kennedy]] as a forerunner of the [[Hackerspace]]. This lab and its encouragement of tinkering and invention influenced the careers of MIT students such as [[Martin Klein (engineer)|Martin Klein]], who contributed to the development of side scan sonar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Pagan |title=Inventology: how we dream up things that change the world |publisher=Mariner Books |year=2016 |isbn=9780544811928 |location=Boston |pages=59}}</ref>

In 1956, Edgerton was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter E|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterE.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 14, 2011}}</ref> He became a member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1964 and a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harold E. Edgerton |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/56095.html |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Harold+E.+Edgerton&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was especially loved by MIT students for his willingness to teach and his kindness: "The trick to education", he said, "is to teach people in such a way that they don't realize they're learning until it's too late". His last undergraduate class, taught during fall semester 1977, was a freshman seminar titled "Bird and Insect Photography". One of the [[Housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|graduate student dormitories at MIT]] carries his name.

In 1962, Edgerton appeared on ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'', where he demonstrated strobe flash photography by shooting a bullet into a playing card and photographing the result.

Edgerton's work was featured in an October 1987 ''[[National Geographic Magazine]]'' article entitled "Doc Edgerton: the man who made time stand still".

===Family===
After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Edgerton married Esther May Garrett<ref>[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/edgerton-0313.html "Esther Edgerton, widow of 'Doc' Edgerton and benefactor of the Institute, dies at 98"], ''MIT News'', March 13, 2002</ref> in 1928. She was born in [[Aurora, Nebraska]], on September 8, 1903, and died on March 9, 2002, in [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. She received a bachelor's degree in mathematics, music and education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  A skilled pianist and singer, she attended the [[New England Conservatory of Music]] and taught in public schools in Aurora, Nebraska and [[Boston]].  During their marriage they had three children: Mary Louise (April 21, 1931), William Eugene (8/9/1933), Robert Frank (5/10/1935). His sister, Mary Ellen Edgerton, was the wife of [[L. Welch Pogue]] (1899–2003) a pioneering aviation attorney and Chairman of the old [[Civil Aeronautics Board]]. The technology writer, journalist, and commentator [[David Pogue]] is his great nephew.

===Death===
Edgerton remained active throughout his later years, and was seen on the MIT campus many times after his official retirement. He died suddenly on January 4, 1990, at the MIT Faculty Club at the age of 86, and is buried in [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]], [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news |first= Andy|last= Grundberg|title= H. E. Edgerton, 86, Dies. Invented Electronic Flash. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DC103BF936A35752C0A966958260 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 5, 1990 |access-date=5 April 2008 }}</ref>