Born in 1909 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the founder of the Polaroid Corporation, Dr. Edwin Land, became captivated by light at an early age. A fascination with kaleidoscopes and stereoscopes, combined with his desire to play with and control light, led Edwin Land to invent the world's first synthetic polarizing material for commercial use in 1929. He was endowed with great powers of invention, and had a total of 535 patents credited to his name during his lifetime.