The Kodak Story Behind the Development of Digital Photography

A presentation by Steven Sasson

Monday, April 5, 2021

7:00 pm

Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74909264555   (meeting link opens at 6:45pm)

Steven Sasson was born and raised in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn N.Y. Steven attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy N.Y. and in 1973; he graduated with a BS and a MS in electrical engineering.

Steven joined Eastman Kodak Company as an electrical engineer in 1973 and began working in the Kodak Apparatus Division applied research laboratory. He engaged in a number of early digital imaging projects.  Among these was the design and construction of the first digital still camera and playback system in 1975.  Steven continued to work throughout the 1980s in the emerging field of digital photography receiving over 10 key digital imaging patents. In 1989 he led the development of the first prototype mega pixel electronic digital camera utilizing DCT compression that stored images to flash memory cards. Steven continued his work throughout the 1990’s by developing one of the first photographic quality thermal printing systems, derivatives of which are still in use in self-service imaging kiosks around the world today. Before retiring in 2009 Steven was a litigation project manager in the Intellectual Property Transactions group at Kodak.

Steven has received numerous recognitions for his work that includes his 2011 election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 2009 Economist Magazine Consumer Products Innovation Award and the US National Medal of Technology and Innovation that he received in 2010 from President Obama.