George Eastman
George Eastman (born July 12, 1854 in Waterville , New York , † March 14, 1932 in Rochester , New York) was an American inventor and entrepreneur who co-founded today's Kodak and Eastman Chemical companies .
Childhood and youth
Eastman dropped out of school in Rochester because his father died and he had to contribute to the family's livelihood. From the age of 14, Eastman worked as a clerk for an insurance company. His first salary was $ 3 a week. Since this salary was insufficient to support the family, Eastman attended evening classes at a business school and was later able to take on higher-paying jobs in the banking industry.
Camera and Film Innovations: The Company and the Kodak Brand
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In 1880 he switched to the photo industry. His first patent attorney was George B. Selden , who advised him on the application for an improved process for the production of photographic drying plates. Eastman founded the Eastman Dry Plate Company in 1881 together with Henry Alvah Strong . From 1884 the production of negative paper (so-called stripping film ) was added - the company was renamed The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company .
In 1884 he announced together with William Walker the roll film based on paper (so-called. Stripping film ) for a patent after he had bought the invention for 40,000 US dollars this.
The company introduced its first camera in 1886, the Eastman Detective Camera designed by Franklin M. Cossitt ; in the summer of 1888, the first camera under the brand name Kodak , the legendary Kodak No. 1 , developed for Eastman by camera designer Frank A. Brownell . On September 4, 1888, Eastman registered the trademark "Kodak" and received a patent for a roll film camera .
From 1889 the company was called The Eastman Kodak Company ; the paper film was replaced by the celluloid film developed by Henry M. Reichenbach for Eastman (the so-called American film ); the celluloid film, however, had already been patented for Hannibal Goodwin in 1887 ; So Eastman did not invent either paper-based or celluloid-based roll film. Even the first plastic, celluloid, is not an American invention. The Hyatt brothers bought the British patent on Parkesine in 1868 from Prof. Alexander Parkes, Birmingham, England.
Marketing for the mass market
Eastman's decisive contribution to the history of photography was probably its opening to the mass market through clever marketing : the combination of an affordable camera with film and innovative service in film development. "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest" was the motto (German: "You press the button, we do the rest"). In 1888, the Kodak standard model cost roughly the monthly wage of a factory worker at $ 25, but the Brownie camera was available in stores from 1900 for one dollar including inserted film. When the material was out, the customer could bring the camera back to the photo shop. There the film was developed, prints made and the camera loaded with fresh film. The customer later received his ready-to-fire camera, including the prints. The brand name Kodak was also developed by Eastman: It should be easy to remember and not be confused with any other term from the Western European languages.
Eastman as a social reformer in the company
Eastman also emerged as an entrepreneur with social ideas and a patron of science and culture: In his company he was the first to voluntarily introduce a retirement pension, disability pension, life insurance and a wage dividend for employees.
Patron for culture and science
As a patron he founded the Eastman School of Music . His largest single donation was to MIT for $ 20 million . Numerous donations for the University of Rochester, clinics, foundations for the advancement of African-American citizens were also made. He also had one of the largest private collections of paintings. He assumed the entire financial burden of the first free dental clinic for children founded by members of the Rochester Dental Association for Children in Need in 1901. A corporation was formed in October 1915 that came to be known as the Eastman Dental Dispensary (EDD). The building was inaugurated in 1917. A dental hygienist school was added.
death
When he fell ill with a very painful disease of the spine in 1932, he committed suicide. He left a note with the inscription: “My work is done, why wait?” (German: My work is done, why wait?).
Mount Eastman , a mountain in Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula, has borne his name since 1960 .
From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, Kodak awarded the "George Eastman Medal" for special services to photography. I.a. were Gottfried Jäger and Walter E. Lautenbacher excellent.
Web links
- George Eastman House - Museum of Film and Photography
- Eastman School of Music - University of Rochester
- Newspaper article about George Eastman in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ^ William Greenleaf, Monopoly on Wheels: Henry Ford and the Selden Automobile Patent, Great Lakes Books / Wayne State University Press (2011; first edition 1955); ISBN 978-0-8143-3512-3 ; P. 8
- ^ Marvin E. Ring, History of Dentistry, Könemann Verlag, ISBN 3-89508-599-5 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Eastman, George |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American entrepreneur (Kodak) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 12, 1854 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Waterville , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 14, 1932 |
| Place of death | Rochester |