{"id":535426,"date":"2010-04-20T12:21:35","date_gmt":"2010-04-20T16:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gereports.com\/?p=6176"},"modified":"2010-04-20T12:21:35","modified_gmt":"2010-04-20T16:21:35","slug":"reagan-ge-holography-caps-a-%e2%80%98progress-report%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/535426","title":{"rendered":"Reagan & GE: Holography caps a \u2018Progress Report\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>As part of GE\u2019s sponsorship of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration<\/a> — which is a two-year-long commemoration of President Reagan\u2019s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011 — we\u2019ll be taking an ongoing look at Reagan\u2019s GE years through the lens of the employees he met and the technologies they made.<\/em><\/p>\n

In postwar America, GE found its ideal goodwill ambassador in Ronald Reagan. The former president projected optimism and reassurance, the perfect spokesman for a company introducing the public to new technologies. Reagan helped sell GE\u2019s \u201cProgress Is Our Most Important Product\u201d slogan to millions of Americans looking for not only a better and more comfortable way of life, but a brighter future. During Reagan\u2019s early years with GE, the progress could be seen in revolutionary home appliances such as the world\u2019s first toaster oven and the automatic portable dishwasher, or in the latest TV sets that Ronald and Nancy Reagan described in our last story<\/a>. Some of GE\u2019s most innovative discoveries in the 1950\u2019s also came in the area of plastics — and when combined with optical research born from those early entertainment systems — together they paved the way for GE\u2019s latest breakthroughs in holographic storage.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAs it happens:<\/span> Ronald Reagan, then a spokesperson for GE, is seen here in 1957 observing a chemist working at GE\u2019s foundry laboratory in Erie, Pennsylvania.<\/div>\n

With the discovery of Lexan<\/a> polycarbonate resin, a \u201ctransparent plastic of unsurpassed impact resistance,\u201d GE was setting the groundwork for a myriad of applications and uses, including space helmets for NASA and the manufacture of compact discs, cell phones and pagers. That expertise in materials research fueled discoveries that enabled GE scientists to use the full volume of a DVD-type disc, rather than just the surface, as is now the case. The result is holographic technology that will soon allow consumers to store 100 traditional DVDs on a single disc — and will help support a new era of sophisticated 3-D TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about producing hardware that gives viewers a cinema experience superior to movie theatres at reasonable costs,\u201d says Peter Lorraine, manager of the Applied Optics Lab at GE Global Research. \u201cIn the Reagan era of early television, you could only get a postcard box with flickering green and black images. Now we\u2019re going for unparalleled color and capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/GEREPORTS_WEBONLY>He should know!<\/span> In the video above, General Electric Progress Reporter Don Herbert<\/span><\/a> gives a tour of GE technologies. In case you didn\u2019t know it, Don is none other than TV\u2019s \u201cMr. Wizard\u201d from the hit science show that ran from 1951 to 1965.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter says the need for additional digital storage is crucial in a world where huge amounts of data are being lost every day, costing companies billions of dollars. \u201cThere is a spectacular amount of data that cannot be maintained,\u201d he says. \u201cConsumer video is like an onion, peeling away a new layer all the time.\u201d For example, holographic data storage would allow television networks producing live sports to retain more of the digital video — and it provides significantly faster access to archived information when compared to traditional computer hard drives.<\/p>\n

Peter says consumers can expect to find an entire TV series available on one high definition disc. And holographic storage technology will be able to support 3-D television that will make the home viewing experience comparable to seeing Avatar<\/em> on the big screen.<\/p>\n

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
\n* \u201cLeaps in the lab: From Reagan\u2019s TV to digital x-rays<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cCoast to coast with 250,000 employees: Reagan at GE<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cThe Reagan centennial: A legacy of progress<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cGE\u2019s holographic disc lands \u201cCoolest Tech\u201d award<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cGE unveils holographic disc breakthrough<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

* Read Reagan essays on our website by Thomas W. Evans<\/a>, Peggy Noonan<\/a>, Andrea Mitchell<\/a>, Tom Brokaw<\/a>, and Rudy Giuliani<\/a>
\n* See more of Reagan\u2019s General Electric Theater<\/em> spots by clicking the videos in this slideshow<\/a>
\n* Read GE\u2019s Centennial announcement<\/a>
\n* Learn more about the centennial at www.reagancentennial.com<\/a>
\n* Watch a rebroadcast of Jeff Immelt\u2019s speech at the Reagan Library<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of GE\u2019s sponsorship of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration — which is a two-year-long commemoration of President Reagan\u2019s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011 — we\u2019ll be taking an ongoing look at Reagan\u2019s GE years through the lens of the employees he met and the technologies they made. In postwar America, GE found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4069,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}