The Man Who Stopped Time and Opened Worlds
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: January 18, 2000
Dr. Harold E. Edgerton was a wizard of invention who changed the way people see things. The flash of his camera opened up hidden worlds of motion: of golf clubs flattening apparently rigid balls, of drops of milk forming crowns of splattered droplets, of beetles firing seemingly fluid secretions in what turned out to be rapid pulses. His photographs revealed the drama hidden in the commonplace.
A born showman, Dr. Edgerton communicated his love of science and discovery to students and peers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked and taught for more than six decades.
The luckiest worked with ''Doc'' Edgerton in Strobe Alley, the campus laboratory where he and his cohorts invented the machines that illuminated unseen worlds.
A Nebraska native, Dr. Edgerton died in January 1990 at 86. But his work lives on, and this month, M.I.T. Press released a multimedia CD-ROM, ''Exploring the Art and Science of Stopping Time: The Life and Work of Harold E. Edgerton.'' The CD ($37.95) runs on Macintosh or Windows, contains hundreds of Dr. Edgerton's photos, explains how they were made and recounts the inventor's life, often in his own voice. Made for middle and high school students, and curious adults, the CD also lets scholars simulate some of Doc Edgerton's experiments.
His main tool was the stroboscope, which he perfected in 1931. Like the electronic flash on a camera, the stroboscope fired a brilliant light. But its flash tube did so repeatedly and quickly in a series of bursts of very short duration, allowing an accompanying camera or human eye to capture very fast motions.
Dr. Edgerton trained his new tool on a wide range of subjects. Perhaps the most famous early use of the stroboscope was in a lawsuit between Lever Brothers and Procter & Gamble on rival methods of making soap powder, the CD-ROM recounts. Stroboscopic movies provided visual proof that while the two methods looked alike, under the surface they were different. The suit was dropped.
By the mid-1930's, he had embarked on his lifelong effort to unveil the everyday: tennis players hitting serves, water running from a faucet, and all sorts of creatures in flight. In 1940, his flash caught Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in mid-song, and a 10-minute movie of his, ''Quicker Than a Wink,'' won an Oscar.
During World War II, his strobes were used for aerial reconnaissance, and after the war, he helped photograph and analyze the blinding flash of atom bombs.
Later in life, he published many articles and photographs in National Geographic, including ones revealing the delicate wing movements of hummingbirds. Some of Dr. Edgerton's most enthusiastic work focused on undersea archaeology, marine life and treasure hunting, where his innovative lights and cameras often illuminated inky realms of pitch blackness. It was his camera system that first illuminated the Titanic's ghostly hulk.
''The man was a lot of fun,'' recalled Emory Kristof, a National Geographic photographer who accompanied Dr. Edgerton on a 1976 expedition to hunt for the Loch Ness monster. ''He would play the guitar and stay up all night long.''
The main CD-ROM screen shows three doors that lead to three aspects of Dr. Edgerton's life. The Biography door tells his story in text and films, including those of Air Force reconnaissance and undersea photography. The Lab door, labeled ''Strobe Alley,'' lets explorers do experiments on flowing water, bursting balloons and bouncing balls. The Work Archive door leads to a photographic exhibit of Dr. Edgerton's work.
James Sheldon, a photographer who produced the CD-ROM and runs the new media program at Emerson College, Boston, said Dr. Edgerton resonated especially deeply with children, making a tour of his life for students quite fitting.
''He had an amazing knack to get you to open your eyes and explore,'' Mr. Sheldon said. ''He did that with kids on a constant basis.''
Photos: Dr. Harold E. Edgerton, a pioneer of stop-action photography, in a 1957 self portrait microseconds after a bullet burst a balloon and left it in shreds.; His famous milk-drop series, above, done in 1935, revealed previously unseen details of fluid movement, including its lack of perfect symmetry. His bullet through a candle flame, far right, in 1978, showed changes in air density as a range of hues. His golfer, right, 1967, revealed that the shaft of the speeding club bent slightly as the ball was hit.; His atomic blast, left, done in 1952, showed the action a split second after the fury began. His pole vaulter, far left, done in 1964, cut the athlete's rise into pieces. His bronco rider, below, 1940, captured the subjects parting ways rapidly. (Photographs courtesy of Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation and Palm Press Inc.)