Leon Harmon
Encyclopedia
Leon D. Harmon was a cyberneticist
who worked at Bell Labs
.
Harmon started his career as a radio serviceman and electronics hobbyist. In 1950, he went to work as a wireman on the IAS machine
at the Institute for Advanced Study
, where he worked for Julian Bigelow
and encountered John von Neumann
and Albert Einstein
. At the same time he began taking night courses in engineering at New York University
. When the IAS project ended in 1956, he joined Bell Laboratories
where he worked on human perception, computer vision and graphics.
In 1966, Harmon and Ken Knowlton
were experimenting with photomosaic, creating large prints from collections of small symbols or images. In Studies in Perception I they created an image of a reclining nude (the dancer Deborah Hay
), by scanning a photograph with a camera and converting the analog voltages to binary numbers which were assigned typographic symbols based on halftone densities. It was printed in The New York Times
on 11 October 1967, and exhibited at one of the earliest computer art exhibitions, The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, held at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York City
from November 25, 1968 through February 9, 1969.
Harmon is best known for his highly pixelated
, block portrait of Abraham Lincoln
from the American five dollar bill
. It was created to illustrate his 1973 article, The Recognition of Faces. In 1976, Salvador Dalí
used Harmon's image as the basis of his Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea.
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
who worked at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
.
Harmon started his career as a radio serviceman and electronics hobbyist. In 1950, he went to work as a wireman on the IAS machine
IAS machine
The IAS machine was the first electronic computer built by the Institute for Advanced Study , in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. It is sometimes called the von Neuman machine, since the paper describing its design was edited by John von Neumann, a mathematics professor at both Princeton University...
at the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
, where he worked for Julian Bigelow
Julian Bigelow
-Life:Bigelow was born in 1913 and obtained a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying electrical engineering and mathematics...
and encountered John von Neumann
John von Neumann
John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
and Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. At the same time he began taking night courses in engineering at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. When the IAS project ended in 1956, he joined Bell Laboratories
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
where he worked on human perception, computer vision and graphics.
In 1966, Harmon and Ken Knowlton
Ken Knowlton
In 1963, Knowlton developed the BEFLIX programming language for bitmap computer-produced movies, created using an IBM 7094 computer and a Stromberg-Carlson 4020 microfilm recorder. Each frame contained eight shades of grey and a resolution of 252 x 184....
were experimenting with photomosaic, creating large prints from collections of small symbols or images. In Studies in Perception I they created an image of a reclining nude (the dancer Deborah Hay
Deborah Hay
-Life and work:Deborah Hay was born in 1941 in Brooklyn. Her mother was her first dance teacher and directed her training until she was a teenager. Hay moved at age 19 to Downtown, Manhattan in the 1960s, where she continued her training with Merce Cunningham and Mia Slavenska...
), by scanning a photograph with a camera and converting the analog voltages to binary numbers which were assigned typographic symbols based on halftone densities. It was printed in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
on 11 October 1967, and exhibited at one of the earliest computer art exhibitions, The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, held at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from November 25, 1968 through February 9, 1969.
Harmon is best known for his highly pixelated
Pixelation
In computer graphics, pixelation is an effect caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, are visible to the eye...
, block portrait of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
from the American five dollar bill
United States five-dollar bill
The United States five-dollar bill or fiver is a denomination of United States currency. The $5 bill currently features U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's portrait on the front and the Lincoln Memorial on the back. All $5 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes...
. It was created to illustrate his 1973 article, The Recognition of Faces. In 1976, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
used Harmon's image as the basis of his Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea.
Publications
- Goldstein, A. J., Harmon, L. D. and Lesk, A. B. (1971). Identification of Human Faces. Proceedings of the IEEEProceedings of the IEEEThe Proceedings of the IEEE is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers...
, 59(5):748-760.
- Goldstein, A. J., Harmon, L. D. and Lesk, A. B. (1972). Man-Machine Interaction in Human-Face Identification. Bell Syst. Tech. J.Bell System Technical JournalThe Bell System Technical Journal was the in-house scientific journal of Bell Labs that was published from 1922 to 1983.- Notable papers :...
, 51(2):399-427.
- Harmon, L. D. (1972). Automatic Recognition of Print and Script. Proceedings of the IEEEProceedings of the IEEEThe Proceedings of the IEEE is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers...
(60), No. 10, October 1972, pp. 1165-1177.
- Harmon, L. D. and Julesz, B.Béla JuleszBéla Julesz was a visual neuroscientist and experimental psychologist in the fields of visual and auditory perception.Julesz was the originator of random dot stereograms which led to the creation of autostereograms...
(1973). Masking in Visual Recognition: Effects of Two-Dimensional Filtered Noise. ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
(1973 Jun 15) 180:1194–1197
- Harmon, L. D. (1973). The Recognition of Faces. Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
(1973 Nov) 229(5):71-82
- Harmon, L. D., Kuo, S. C., Ramig, P.F. and Raudkivi, U. (1978): Identification of human face profiles by computer. Pattern Recognition 10(5-6): 301-312
- Harmon, L. D. and Hunt, W. F. (1978). Automatic Recognition of Human Face Profiles. Computer Graphics and Image Processing, 6(2):135-156.
- Harmon, L. D., Khan, M. K., Lasch, R., and Ramig, P.F. (1981). Machine Identification of Human Faces. Pattern Recognition, 13(2):97-110.