PHOTOGRAPHS
Edgerton, Harold Eugene
U.S. (1903 - 1990)
Bullet Through the Apple
1964, printed later
Dye transfer print
10 x 11 3/4 in. (25.4 x 29.8 cm) image size; 12 x 14 in. (30.5 x 35.6 cm) sheet size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company
FA 97.228

The whiz of a passing projectile. A simultaneous flash of brilliant light. Gone in the blink of an eye.

Harold E. Edgerton used this 1964 image of a shooting bullet traveling through an apple to illustrate the laws of physics for a Massachusetts Institute of Technology lecture called “How to Make Applesauce at MIT.” Born and raised in Nebraska, he attended graduate school at MIT and taught in its electrical engineering program. Edgerton’s innovations in photography made it possible to see what had before been invisible to the human eye. By using very brief and rapid flashes of light from an electronic stroboscope, he produced sharply delineated still photographs of fast-moving objects.

In 1987, Edgerton wrote, “In many ways, unexpected results are what have most inspired my photography...The experience of seeing the unseen has provided me with insights and questions my entire life. It seems to have struck a responsive chord in many others as well.” Edgerton’s photographs capture the speed of the modern world and suspend it indefinitely for our careful consideration. His works arrest an ephemeral moment. -- Label copy for Vortexhibition Polyphonica: Opus I, October 3, 2009 to February 9, 2010.