Stereo Convention Keynote Speaker

[P3D Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I mentioned in a recent post that Bill Ewald would be the Keynote 
Speaker at the Awards Banquet of the National Stereoscopic 
Association's annual convention in Rochester this August.  I met with 
Bill again last Friday and he provided me with this more comprehensive 
bio:

INTRODUCTION TO BILL EWALD

Our speaker was often called "Mr. Stereo" during his 38 years with 
Kodak.  His education began at a very young age, when he became 
fascinated with anything containing lenses:  field glasses, telescopes, 
microscopes, cameras and stereoscopes.

In 1941 Bill Ewald enrolled in the Institute of Optics at the 
University of Rochester. With the beginning of World War II, while 
still a full time student, he obtained a full time job as a draftsman 
at Kodak.  This schedule changed abruptly when he was inducted into the 
U.S. Navy and sent to the Optical Shop at the Submarine Base in Pearl 
Harbor.

While at Pearl Harbor, and under his own initiative, he built a 
submersible reflex gun sight.  He also improved the attachment of 
cameras to periscopes, and built several short-base range finders.

At the conclusion of the war, Bill returned to school and to Kodak, 
armed with sketches of a unique miniature camera system having a focal 
plane shutter and using 16mm film.  His interview was held with Joseph 
Mahaly, who had over 200 patents, including Kodak's most prestigious 
cameras.  Although Bill had no degree, he was hired during that first 
interview and worked in new product development until his 
retirement nearly 40 years later.

In the field of stereo, he designed several projectors.  One of these 
could obtain the troublesome horizontal and vertical registration 
almost instantaneously and with no eye discomfort.  Another of his 
systems fits a standard Carousel Projector but requires a special 
camera.  He also received a patent for a stereo table viewer requiring 
no Polaroid glasses.

While still an undergraduate, Bill was asked to teach a graduate course 
in Optics at the University of Rochester, which he did for 12 years.  
The Training Department at Kodak then urged him to teach his 16 week 
course at Kodak.  During the next 20 years more than 5300 Kodak 
employees completed the course.  At one time, there was a six-year 
waiting list for the course!

An entrepreneur convinced Bill that he should be videotaped using his 
many demonstrations.  These tapes are now used by Kodak and several 
universities and organizations concerned with optics.

In 1979 the Optical Society of America awarded Bill the David 
Richardson medal for outstanding contributions to the field of Applied 
Optics.  After retirement in 1980, Bill was a consultant on several 
projects, including Kodak's digitized lenticular stereo system.  

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I might add that Bill is a fascinating individual with a thousand tales 
to tell.  Hope everyone can make it to Rochester!

Best regards,
Bill Davis


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