American scientist and inventor (1909-1991)
We think of photography as the intersection of science and art.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
One of the best ways to keep a great secret is to shout it.
EDWIN H. LAND
address to Polaroid Corporation employees at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, February 5, 1960
Fifty years after we undertook to make the first synthetic polarizers we find them the essential layer in digital liquid-crystal. And thirty four years after we undertook to make the first instant camera and film, our kind of photography has become ubiquitous.
EDWIN H. LAND
letter to Polaroid Corporation shareholders, 1978
It only takes a day to change someone from an anti-intellectual to an intellectual by persuading him that he might be one!
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, The Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 1992
There's no scientist I know who wouldn't rather be a charlatan. And when circumstances allow you to be both, why it's great fun!
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
It's not that we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Platform Ecosystems: Aligning Architecture, Governance, and Strategy
Our society is changing so rapidly that none of us can know what it is or where it is going.
EDWIN H. LAND
testimony, The Public Television Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Communications
It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious.
EDWIN H. LAND
address at the Franklin Institute, 1937
Any problem can be solved using the materials in the room.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It
I believe it is pretty well established now that neither the intuition of the sales manager nor even the first reaction of the public is a reliable measure of the value of a product to the consumer. Very often the best way to find out whether something is worth making is to make it, distribute it, and then to see, after the product has been around a few years, whether it was worth the trouble.
EDWIN H. LAND
"Research by the Business Itself", The Future of Industrial Research: Papers and Discussion
This is the most exciting part of being human. It is using our brains in the highest way. Otherwise we are just healthy animals.
EDWIN H. LAND
"What It Took: Intuition, Goo", LIFE Magazine, January 25, 1963
Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Visions: Readings for a Changing World
Aladdin in his most intoxicated moments would never have dreamed of asking his [djinn] for [a polaroid] ... It's utterly new in concept and appearance, utilizing an utterly revolutionary flash system, an utterly revolutionary viewing system, utterly revolutionary electronics, and utterly revolutionary film structure.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Classic Wisdom for the Good Life
I believe each incoming freshman [in college] must be started at once on his own research project if we are to preserve his secret dream of greatness and make it come true.
EDWIN H. LAND
address at MIT, "Generation of Greatness: The Idea of a University in an Age of Science", May 22, 1957
You cannot separate the composition from the life of the moment. It is all one thing, to be decided in a split second while you're living through it.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
We took nothing from anybody. We gave a great deal to the world. The only thing keeping us alive is our brilliance. The only thing that keeps our brilliance alive is our patents.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Instant: The Story of Polaroid
[A Polaroid camera] places before you a thing that is more of the thing than the thing was.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
An invention that is quickly accepted will turn out to be a rather trivial alteration of something that has already existed.
EDWIN H. LAND
attributed, Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land
When Arthur Ashe plays tennis, his purpose each day is to play the game in a way he has never played it before. It may be a backhand he uses, one that he may never have used before in that circumstance. His play is a fresh integration of his world at the instant of action. A really great scientist has the whole past at his disposal. At any instant he is rebuilding the world, molecule by molecule, in his subconscious. That is what you want in an athlete or a scientist.
EDWIN H. LAND
LIFE Magazine, October 27, 1972