with film and returned. As the Eastman Kodak Company promised in ads from that period, "You press the button, we'll do the rest."

Over the next several decades, major manufacturers such as Kodak in the U.S., Leica in Germany, and Canon and Nikon in Japan would all introduce or develop the major camera formats still in use today. Leica invented the first still camera to use 35mm film in 1925, while another German company, Zeiss-Ikon, introduced the first singlelens reflex camera in 1949. Nikon and Canon would make the interchangeable lens popular and the built-in light meter commonplace.

Digital Cameras

The roots of digital photography, which would revolutionize the industry, began with the development of the first charged-couple device (CCD) at Bell Labs in 1969. The CCD converts light to an electronic signal and remains the heart of digital devices today. In 1975, engineers at Kodak developed the very first camera creating a digital image. It used a cassette recorder to store data and took more than 20 seconds to capture a photo.

By the mid-1980s, several companies were at work on digital cameras. One of the first to show a viable prototype was Canon, which demonstrated a digital camera in 1984, although it was never manufactured and sold commercially. The first digital camera sold in the U.S., the Dycam Model 1, appeared in 1990 and sold for $600. The first digital SLR, a Nikon F3 body attached to a separate storage unit made by Kodak, appeared the following year. By 2004, digital cameras were outselling film cameras, and digital is now dominant.

Flashlights and Flashbulbs

Blitzlichtpulver or flashlight powder was invented in Germany in 1887 by Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke. Lycopodium powder (the waxy spores from club moss) was used in early flash powder. The first modern photoflash bulb or flashbulb was invented by Austrian Paul Vierkotter. Vierkotter used magnesium-coated wire in an evacuated glass globe. The magnesium-coated wire was soon replaced by aluminum foil in oxygen. In 1930, the first commercially available photoflash bulb, the Vacublitz, was patented by German Johannes Ostermeier. General Electric also developed a flashbulb called the Sashalite around the same time.

Photographic Filters

English inventor and manufacturer Frederick Wratten founded one of the first photographic supply businesses in 1878. The company, Wratten and Wainwright, manufactured and sold collodion glass plates and gelatin dry plates. In 1878, Wratten invented the "noodling process" of silver-bromide gelatin emulsions before washing. In 1906, Wratten, with the assistance of E.C.K. Mees, invented and produced the first panchromatic plates in England. Wratten is best known for the photographic filters that he invented and are still named after him, the Wratten Filters. Eastman Kodak purchased his company in 1912.

Vocabulary:

caustic chemicals – едкие химические вещества

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cumbersome cameras – громоздкие камеры pinhole camera – камера обскура

elaborate – разрабатывать; продуманный, замысловатый photo-sensitive chemicals – светочувствительные химические вещества engraving – гравюра, гравировальный, гравированный

bitumen – асфальт, битум

solvent – растворитель; платежеспособный iodine – йод

wet-plate negative – мокрая пластина негатива sheet film –листовая пленка

fireproof – огнеупорный

poor archival conditions – плохие архивные условия resin-coating – пластмассовое покрытие

dyes deteriorated – испорченные краски/цвета light meter – светомер

interchangeable lens – сменный объектив

collodion glass plates – коллодионные стеклянные пластины panchromatic plates – панхроматические пластинки

Robotics

We have evidence that mechanized human-like figures date back to ancient times to Greece. The concept of an artificial man is found in works of fiction since the early 19th century. Despite these initial thoughts and representations, the dawn of the robotic revolution began in earnest in the 1950s. George Devol invented the first digitally operated and programmable robot in 1954. This ultimately laid the foundation of the modern robotics industry.

Earliest History

Around 270 B.C. an ancient Greek engineer named Ctesibius made water clocks with automatons or loose figures. Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum postulated a mechanical bird he called "The Pigeon" which was propelled by steam. Hero of Alexandria (10–70 AD) made numerous innovations in the field of automata, including one that allegedly could speak.

In ancient China, an account about an automaton is found in the text, written in the 3rd century BC, in which King Mu of Zhou is presented with a life-size, humanshaped mechanical figure by Yan Shi, an "artificer."

Robotics Theory and Science Fiction

Writers and visionaries envisioned a world including robots in daily life. In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein," which was about a frightening artificial lifeform come to life by a mad, but brilliant scientist, Dr. Frankenstein.

Then, 100 years later Czech writer Karel Capek coined the term robot, in his 1921 play called "R.U.R." or "Rossum's Universal Robots." The plot was simple and terrifying; the man makes a robot then robot kills a man.

In 1927, Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" was released. The Maschinenmensch ("machinehuman"), a humanoid robot, was the first robot ever to be depicted on film.

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