Lloyd Cross
Lloyd Cross is an American physicist and holographer.
As a physicist, Cross' research started in the 1950s, and focused primarily on masers and lasers at Willow Run Laboratories, at the University of Michigan. In 1968, he and Canadian sculptor Gerry Pethick, developed a simplistic stabilization system for holographic cameras, that for the first time did not require expensive optics and an isolation table, effectively making the medium accessible to artists. In 1970, he organized the first exhibition of holographic art at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This success, and laser research turning to military applications which he didn't want to be part of, prompted him to leave the laboratory and tour for a short time with a laser and sound show.
By 1971, he had made his way to San Francisco, California and founded the San Francisco Holography School, to teach his hologram techniques. In 1972 he developed the "integral hologram" by combining holography with conventional cinematography to produce three-dimensional images that appeared to move. Sequential frames of two-dimensional movie footage of a rotating subject are recorded on holographic film. When viewed, the composite images are interpreted by the human eye as 3-D image, in the same way that stereoscopy works. His most famous work in this form was a hologram of a woman that appeared to wink and blow a kiss as the viewer walked by, entitled The Kiss. This historic piece can be viewed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Museum, Cambridge, Mass.
In the mid 1970s, Cross founded the Multiplex Corporation, to find commercial applications and further develop his holographic techniques.