Holography has been present since 1947, when British scientist Dennis Gabor developed the theory of holography while he was working to improve the resolution of an electron in a microscope. The term hologram comes from the Greek words holos, meaning "whole," and gramma, meaning "message". Development in the field was slow during the next decade because light sources available at the time were not monochromatic or one-color, from a single point, and of a single wavelength.
This problem was improved in 1960 by Russian scientists N. Bassov , A. Prokhorov and an American scientist named Charles Townswith the invention of the laser, whose intense light was perfect for making holograms. In that year the pulsed-ruby laser was developed by Dr. T.H. Maimam. This laser system emits a very powerful burst of light that lasts only a few nanoseconds. It efficaciously freezes movement and makes it possible to produce holograms of high-speed events, such as a bullet in flight, and of living subjects. The first hologram of a person was made in 1967, that event later made possible for a specialized application of holography: pulsed holographic portraiture.
In 1962 Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks of the University of Michigan were recognized from their work in side-reading radar that holography could be used as a 3D visual medium. In 1962 they studied Gabor's work and they decided to duplicate Gabor's technique using the laser and an off-axis technique borrowed from their work in the development of side-reading radar. The result was the first laser transmission hologram of 3-D objects. These transmission holograms produced images with clarity and realistic depth but required laser light to view the holographic image. Their work led to standardization of the equipment used to make holograms. Today, thousands of laboratories and studios have the necessary equipment: a continuous wave laser, optical devices for directing laser light, a film holder and an isolation table on which exposures are made. Stability is fundamental because movement as small as a quarter wave-length of light during exposures of a few minutes or even seconds can completely spoil a hologram. The basic off-axis technique that Leith and Upatnieks developed is still the primary basis of holographic methodology. In 1962 Dr. Yuri N. Denisyuk from Russia combined holography with Gabriel Lippmann's work in natural color photography. Denisyuk's path produced a white-light reflection hologram that for the first time, could be viewed in light from an ordinary incandescent light bulb.
Another major advance in scheme of holography happened in 1968 when Dr. Stephen A. Benton invented a white-light transmission holography while he was researching holographic television at Polaroid Research Laboratories. This type of hologram can be viewed in ordinary white light creating a rainbow image from the seven colors which make up white light. The depth and brilliance of the image of and its rainbow spectrum soon attracted artists who adapted this technique to their work and brought holography further into public awareness. Benton's invention is very significant because it made possible the mass production of holograms using an embossing technique. These holograms are printed by stamping the interference pattern onto plastic. The resulting hologram can be duplicated millions of times for few cents a piece. Embossed holograms are now being used by the advertising, publishing, and banking industries.
In 1972 Lloyd Cross developed the integral hologram by combining white-light transmission holography with traditional cinematography to produce moving 3D images. Sequential frames of 2D motion picture footage of a rotating subject are recorded on holographic film. When viewed, the composite images are synthesized by the human brain as a 3D image. In 70's Victor Komar and his colleagues at the All-Union Cinema and Photographic Research Institute(NIFKI) in Russia, developed a prototype for a projected holographic movie. Images were recorded with a pulsed holographic camera. The developed film was projected onto a holographic screen that focused the dimensional image out to several points in the audience. Holographic artists have notably increased their technical knowledge of the discipline and now add to the technology as well as the creative process. The art form has become international, with major exhibitions being held throughout the world.