Dennis Gabor

Dennis Gabor was a European inventor who lived in Europe during the time period of 1900 – 1950. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. His father was a mining director. His passion for physics began at an early age. He was eager to go to college. Once he got to collage, the microscope and color photography amazed him. Dennis and his brother set up a small laboratory in their home where they could repeat the experiments that they were interested in. Some of these experiments included X-Rays and radioactivity. He received his degree in electrical engineering even though his true work was mostly done in applied physics. He worked on his doctorate work involving high speed cathode ray oscillographs. In 1927 He went to work for the Siemens Company.


In 1933 when Hitler came into office Dr. Gabor left Germany to go to England. In England, he worked at British Thomson-Houston Co. In his studies of wave front reconstruction, Gabor accidently invented the hologram. The original goal was to improve the electron microscope to see single atoms. After some collaboration with the AEI Research Laboratory, the idea was slowly becoming a success. Optical holography became a huge success after the invention of the laser. In January of 1949 Dennis Gabor went to work at the imperial Collage of Science and Technology in London where he worked as a professor of Applied Electron physics. There he worked on many theories including plasma theory, magnetron theory, and fusion. He also contributed to inventions such as the holographic microscope, a new electron-velocity spectroscope, and a flat thin color television tube.


After Gabor retired in 1967 he moved to Connecticut to work at CBS Laboratories. Dennis Gabor was a fellow member of the Royal Society. In 1971 he received the Nobel Prize in physics. He died in 1979.


Please visit these sites for pictures of Dennis Gabor and his invention:

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562367/Dennis_Gabor.html

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1971/gabor-autobio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography
\