Toy Train
date: label: date made
content: ca 1963
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This toy train was used in 1963 and 1964 as the subject for several of the earliest publically seen holograms. In late 1963, Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University of Michigan’s Willow Run Laboratories demonstrated a method of making high-resolution, three-dimensional images using laser beams. Their success came after years of research by many scientists, so while “Toy Train” was not the first hologram, the quality of the image stunned everyone. In 1970 Leith and Upatnieks donated about a dozen of their early holograms and the toy train to the Smithsonian.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: subject
content: Toys
label: subject
content: Laser
label: subject
content: Hologram
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Photography
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Emmett N. Leith and Juris Upatnieks
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.330400
label: catalog number
content: 330400
label: accession number
content: 288880
objectType: label: Object Name
content: holography model
label: Object Name
content: toy train
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/8 in x 1 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 5.3975 cm x 3.81 cm x 19.05 cm