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Kodak: 30 fascinating facts Telegraph.co.uk

19.01.12

6. Kodak's engineers were issued 19,576 US patents between 1900 and 1999. Some 4,478 of these were awarded between 1995 and 1999.

7. Kodak was the first company to build a working digital camera. An engineer named Steven Sasson created the 3.6kg device which stored images on cassette tape , had a 0.01mp resolution and took 23 seconds to expose each image.

8. The company founded its research labs in 1912, which made it one of the US's first industrial research laboratories.

9. Kodak passed up the chance to become the official film sponsor of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Japanese competitor Fuji won the bid, giving it a foothold in the US market.

10. In 1995 Kodak filed a petition with the WTO arguing that unfair practices by Fuji had kept it from gaining ground in the Japanese market. Three years later the WTO published a "sweeping rejection of Kodak's complaints".

11. Kodak developed aerial cameras and trained US Signal Corps photographers during World War I.

12. Steve McCurry used Kodachrome film for his 1984 portrait of Sharbat Gula, the 'Afghan Girl', for the National Geographic magazine.

13. In 1895 the Pocket Kodak was launched at a price of just $5. It's small size meant it could be carried in a coat pocket.

14. Apple launched a digital camera in 1994, the QuickTake. It was actually designed by Kodak and had been released in Japan months before under its own brand name.

15. In NASA's 1997 Mars Surface Rover mission, Kodak image sensors were used to capture close-up images of the red planet.

16. In 2005 Kodak unveiled the EasyShare-One digital camera which was equipped with Wi-Fi and allowed photographers to email pictures.

17. In 1976 Kodak had a 90pc market share for photographic film and an 85pc share of camera sales in the US.

18. Kodak researchers invented OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology, which is being used to power the next generation of ultra-thin televisions, in 1987.

19. Kodak designed the optics for the Chandra X-ray space telescope in 1999.

20. in 2005 Kodak bought an Israeli company called OREX Computed Radiography which developed a technology for taking digital x-rays.

21. The first Kodak camera launched in 1888 with the slogan: "You press the button, we do the rest." It cost $25 and came with enough film for 100 pictures.

22. Kodachrome film was used by Walton Sound and Film Services during the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.

23. Kodachrome was invented by professional musicians Leopold Godowsky and Leopold Mannes, leading to comments that it was "made by God and Man".

24. Images shot on Kodachrome can be safely stored for decades undeveloped and still retain accurate colours.

25. A 35mm Kodachrome transparency can record the equivalent of 20 megapixels in digital image terms.

26. Paul Simon wrote a song, Kodachrome, about the film. It made number 9 in the US charts, just ahead of Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando.

27. Kodak scientists invented the photoresist, which is now used to manufacture integrated circuits.

28. Dorothea Lange used Kodak film to capture her famous 'Migrant Mother' photograph in 1936.

29. Prior to starting Kodak, George Eastman invented an emulsion-coating machine in 1879 that allowed him to mass-produce photographic dry plates. Two years later he formed a partnership with a family friend, quit his job as a bank clerk and set up in business.

30. The Eastman Savings and Loan Association was set up to help Kodak employees buy a home. It remained part of the company until it was split-off as a credit union in 1994.

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