George Eastman
George Eastman (1854-1932): Photographic Pioneer
Eastman invented the Kodak camera, which used an easy to load film roll, made possible by his invention of gelatin-based paper film and a roll-holding device. He and camera inventor William Hall Walker thereby created a lightweight camera in 1888. In 1889 chemist Henry Reichenbach developed a flexible film that could be easily inserted into a handheld camera. The Brownie camera resulted in 1900 to target hobby photographers. Thomas Edison adapted the flexible film for the motion-picture camera. Eastman was very successful, also inventing unbreakable glass lenses and a special camera for aeronautical photography.
Eastman’s pioneering inventions resulted in financial success that left him free to pursue a noteworthy hobby: calendar reform. Eastman admired persons who combined idealism with usefulness. In 1924 he was introduced to Moses B. Cotsworth, a British statistician, who already spent 25 years advocating the adoption of a 13 month calendar. Eastman perceived this idea of calendar reform for the good of humanity. The calendar would have 13 equal months of 28 days with the extra month in the year named “Sol” and the extra day in the year would be a holiday. This holiday would be named “World Peace Day” and occur between Christmas and New Year. Easter would be fixed and all holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas would fall on a Monday. The idea being a mathematical insight that a seven day division grouped into four weeks for a month fits neatly into 13 months for a year with only one day remaining as a holiday at the end of the year. Cotsworth’s plan was to have every week begin with Sunday as the first of the month. The calendar reform was known also as the Cotsworth Plan, the Eastman Plan, and the International Fixed Calendar. The benefits of the calendar reform were perceived to be cost savings, ease of scheduling, clarity and efficiency. In 1928 the Kodak company adopted the plan for over half a century but in the 1980s returned to the uneven months of the Gregorian calendar.