George Eastman
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George Eastman (b 12 July 1854, Waterville, New York – d 14 March 1932, Rochester, New York) was an American inventor and the founder of Eastman Kodak, through which he propelled photography from an expensive specialised activity into a part of daily life. He is now celebrated as the father of popular photography.
- 1878: buys a photographic outfit - becoming fascinated by photography
- 1880: invented and patented a dry-plate coating machine
- 1881: formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company
- 1888: Kodak camera introduced - together with the word "Kodak"
- 1892: Company renamed "Eastman Kodak Company"
- 1900: "Brownie" camera introduced, price $1, to a design commissioned from Frank A. Brownell by Eastman
- 1925: Retires from Kodak, and began to travel extensively - in the US and Africa
Eastman was very successful in business, and gave away vast sums for education, arts, parks, health and other charities, and bequeathed most of his fortune to the University of Rochester. Part of this legacy became the George Eastman House museum.
