Eastman, George

1995/08/02 Azkune Mendia, Iñaki - Elhuyar Fundazioa | Kaltzada, Pili - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Biografiak

(1854-1932)

American inventor born in Waterville, New York, July 12, 1854. He studied at the public school in Rochester, New York, as he had no money to go anywhere else.

The photographic plates until the time of Eastman were made of glass that had to be rubbed an emulsion before making the photo. The emulsion was not preserved, so the emulsion should be prepared in the place and at the time the photo should be taken. In 1878, Eastman mixed the gelatin to this emulsion and allowed it to dry on the plate to harden. This mixture lasted longer and it was not necessary to prepare it at the time of making the photo.

In 1880 he founded the company Eastman Kodak. The company specialized in photographic and cinematographic material, tools used in optics, plastic materials and various organic chemicals.

The glass plates used until then were heavy and difficult to handle. Thus, in 1884 Eastman patented the photographic film that replaced glass with paper. In 1888 Kodak began selling the camera that used this type of movies.

In 1889 he abandoned the paper to invent a film of another material. This new material was the Hyatt celluloid. This plastic dissolves the emulsion.

The drawback of celluloid was that fire was easy to catch and with large amounts became dangerous. For a long time Eastman tried to solve this problem and finally in 1924 replaced celluloid with a cellulose acetate more difficult to inflate.

As the owner of the big business Eastman (nowadays Kodak products are found all over the world) introduced major improvements, although at that time they were not obliged to introduce improvements in the company. Some of these improvements were health insurance, retirement and life insurance. He donated a lot of money to the centers to have another education that he had not received.

On March 14, 1932, after a long and happy life, in solitude and without prospect of new improvements, he committed suicide in Rochester, New York.