Harold Doc Edgerton

The Edgerton Digital Collections project celebrates the spirit of a great pioneer, Harold "Doc" Edgerton, inventor, entrepreneur, explorer and beloved MIT professor. This site is for all who share Doc Edgerton's philosophy of "Work hard. Tell everyone everything you know. Close a deal with a handshake. Have fun!"





Aerial Reconnaissance

When America entered the war, the US government very quickly discovered what Compton already knew: the union of MIT’s scientific resources and the nation’s specific military needs would prove to be mutually beneficial. In a sense the school itself was drafted into service.Like every corner of MIT, the Strobe Lab was highly mobilized to serve the military. Major Goddard of Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio visited Edgerton during the summer of 1939 and asked Edgerton to consider the problem of nighttime aerial photography and the need for Edgerton’s control circuits and powerful flash.





Doc developed underwater cameras, lights and deep-sea recording instruments for imaging and detection efforts at the cutting edge of oceanographic research.

Harold Doc Edgerton