Harold Edgerton & World War II

1. Harold Edgerton & World War II

2. The Edgerton Team 6.933 The Structure of Engineering Revolutions Fall 2000 Roozbeh Ghaffari Ozge Nadia Gozum Katherine Koch Amy Ng Hua Fung Teh Peter Yang

3. Harold E. Edgerton

4. The Bullets

5. The Famous Milk Drop

6. Sports Photography

7. We Researched! • MIT Archives • Laboratory Notebooks • Published Articles, Speeches • Correspondences, Conversations • MIT Museum and The Strobe Alley • Dean Kim Vandiver, Dr. Jim Bales • Books by Edgerton and Killian • Books about MIT History Harold E. Edgerton (HEE)

8. Joins J. Cousteau Died Faculty Club Born in Nebraska Enters MIT Starts WWII work Mary Rose EG&G USS Monitor ’31 PhD ’32 Asst Prof. ’48 Prof. ‘75 Leave EG&G ’66 Inst Prof. ’68 Prof Emrt ’25 BS in EE U. of Nebraska ’38 Assoc Prof. ‘03 ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘53 ‘68 ‘73 ‘90 Cousteau Baibi HEE Harold E. Edgerton (1903-1990)

9. 1927 1939 1947 1963 Pre-World War II World War II Post-World War II Timeline • Focus: Examine the influence of World War II on Harold Edgerton’s research.

10. Roadmap • Pre-War MIT Work & Research • Role during World War II– Aerial Photography • Influences of the War A. Work Environment B. Scale & Magnitude C. Broadening of Applications D. New Areas of Research

11. Pre-War Work & Research at MIT

12. His Main Technology : Basic Control Mechanism

13. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Edgerton Encounters The Strobe

14. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 MIT when Edgerton Started • 1920: Save MIT from being a “trouble-shooting agency for the industry.” • 1929: The Depression and consulting for the industry continued. Karl Compton

15. Use of the Stroboscope • Overcome our inherent inability to “see” and therefore study fast motions as they occur • Electronic Control of flash duration made this possible to be run at 14,400 rpm.

16. Sample Applications

17. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Pictures taken by Edgerton during His Industrial Work

18. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Educational Uses of The Stroboscope

19. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Edgerton’s Cognitive Style • Meticulous nature and incessant work ethic • Creative and innovative thinker • Demonstrations and press coverage

21. Meticulous nature, and incessant work ethic • Creative and innovative thinker • Demonstrations and press coverage • Meticulous nature, and incessant work ethic • Creative and innovative thinker • Demonstrations and press coverage WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Edgerton’s Cognitive Style

22. Role during World War II– Aerial Photography

23. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Prime Candidate for War Research • Widely recognized for his pre-war work in photography • Research at a leading technological Institution– MIT • Expertise in Electronic Flash Technology

24. Aerial Reconnaissance in a Nutshell • Airplanes took pictures of enemy territory • Enemy movements occurred at mainly at night • Need for advanced nighttime aerial photography

25. Old System: Flash Bomb Aerial Photography

26. Flash Bomb Aerial Photography • Disadvantages • Explosive • Bomb number limited per flight • Fixed altitude • Not effective in bad weather

27. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Goddard Commissions Edgerton One Saturday afternoon we were down in the lab working, and a fella came in and said ‘Where is that blinking light I keep hearing about,’’ and I said, ‘ It’s right here.’ “ - HEE Major Goddard

28. Solution: Electronic Flash Unit

29. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Electronic Flash Technology • Advantages: - Non-explosive - Any altitude - Reusable • Disadvantages: - Heavy - No shadows - “Fogging” of pictures

30. Architecture of Pre-War Flash

31. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 System Architecture of Aerial Flash Unit

32. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Black Box: Attention to System Usability • 3 steps to operation:- Turn on power- Charge Capacitors- Take photograph • Abstracted flash system to “black box” for use by military personnel.

33. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Technology Timeline • Quickly adapted existing technology to new, war-driven application • First test: End of 1939 (1/4 scale) • Full scale test: April of 1941 • Used in Europe & the Pacific

34. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Technology Timeline • Six models produced by end of war • D1: 1000 ft, 150 lb • D2: 5000 ft, 500 lb • D3: 20,000 ft, 5400+ lb • D4, D5, D6 modified versions of D2: • D4: low altitude ops • D5: used standardized components • D6: high-speed D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 '39 '40 '41 '42 '43 '44 '45 '46 '47 '48 '49 '50 '51 '52 '53 Development and Operation Years of Different Models

35. Crucial Role in D-Day Invasion

36. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Complete Unit

37. Influences of WarA. Work EnvironmentB. Scale & MagnitudeC. Broadening of Applications D. Post-War Nuclear Research and EG&G, Inc.

38. Before : Controlled Experiments

39. Before: Access to Resources

40. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Field Tests • Wright Field, Ohio (‘39-’43) • Italy and England (‘44) • Nature of the experiments: • Uncontrolled conditions • Lack of resources • Each experiment cost time and money

41. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Part of the Army - Not an isolated engineer “Doc was a man of action and always got the job done with distinction. The men at Chalgrove, England marveled at his unbounding energy as they saw him in coveralls clinging in and out of airplanes and dashing to his machine shop and about the field on personnel training schedules.” Major Goddard

42. Influences of WarA. Work EnvironmentB. Scale & MagnitudeC. Broadening of Applications D. New Areas of Reseach

43. From getting the detail and a close up picture… • To long range photography… WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Change of Focus

44. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 From Milk Drop to Stonehenge

45. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Change of Scale for Edgerton

46. How powerful?

47. 12 lb 150 lb 500 lb 5400+ lb WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Change of Scale for Edgerton

48. Influences of WarA. Work EnvironmentB. Scale & MagnitudeC. Broadening of Applications D. New Areas of Research

49. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Ballistics Photography

50. WWII ‘27 ‘39 ‘47 ‘63 Ballistics Photography