EARLY HISTORY OF LASER GRAPHICS
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Laser Displays Inc.

This web page features a promotional brochure dated November 1979 from Laser Displays Inc. LDI was possibly the first company to do graphic laser images (logos, words, etc.) for commercial purposes. They claim the first "real-graphics" presentation in a corporate show, in spring 1978 for IBM.

The LDI brochure/poster

The inside of the brochure folds out into a 17" x 22" poster showing a laser image of dictator Col. Muhamar Quadafi, projected on the side of a building in Libya:

LDI brochure - poster of Quadafi

The four outside panels have text and photos about LDI's laser graphics capability. Clients shown include BMW, Wendy's and Chrysler. (To see a larger-size view, click on a panel.)

Click to see panel 1 Click to see panel 2
Click to see panel 3 Click to see panel 4

Who created the first laser graphics?

Among the text is this statement (on panel 4):

"Bart Johnson, founder of Laser Displays Inc., conceived, designed, and constructed the world's first real-graphic laser projection system in the summer of 1973 while an undergraduate in the Electrical Engineering Department of M.I.T. This first system .... projected a person's signature seven meters wide.... In the fall of 1976 he left M.I.T. to found Laser Displays Inc."

Was he really the first to do laser graphics (e.g., logos or drawings, as opposed to simple shapes and abstracts)? Others such as Eric Eisack, Paul Earls and Rockne Krebs have done work in the early 1970s and should be researched before completely accepting Johnson's statement.

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Laser Displays Inc.
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Patrick Murphy (pre-Pangolin)
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