Table 9-1

HIGHLIGHTS IN THE HISTORY OF REMOTE SENSING*

I. Photographic Methods

1759 | First statements by Lambert (France) of principles underlying photogrammetry
1839 | First ever photographs by Daguerre and Nepce, in France
1840 | French used photos in making topographic maps.
1850's | Photographs important in documenting exploration of the U.S. West (through 1870's).
1855 | Maxwell proposed proof of trichromatic color vision by photographic experiments (1861; Sutton).
1858 | Pictures of Paris from cameras mounted in free and captive balloons.
1862 | Du Hauron analyzed multispectral imagery with single-lens beam splitter technique.
1860's | Claims of photos for military observations from balloons during American Civil War; none survive.
1870's | Simple additive color projection and viewing developed.
1880's | Camera airborne on kites in England, France, Russia.
1895 | First color separations produced.
1895 | Photos used by Seville in topographical surveys in Canada.
1900 | Ives invented three-lens multispectral camera.
1903 | Cameras attached to carrier pigeons.
1909 | Wilbur Wright took first photos (movies) from an airplane.
1909 | Berthon's lenticular color film process for additive system.
1910 | Orel-Zeiss Stereoautograph: precursor to serial stereo-photos.
1915 | Aerial photos used by British R.A.F. for reconnaissance, changing tactics of work in W.W.I.
1917 | Unites States Signal corps used aerial photos in Mexican border war.
1920 | Aerial photos used by petroleum geologists for exploration.
1923 | Zeiss Stereoplanegraph.
1924 | Multilayered color film developed.
1930 | First aerial spectrophotography of the Earth by Krinov and colleagues (Russia).
1930's | Extensive use of aerial photos in Earth sciences and agriculture.
1931 | Testing of aerial IR sensitive film from stratospheric balloon.
1935 | Kodachrome appeared on market.
1937 | Color film used in aerial surveys.
1938 | Bausch and Lomb multiplex photogrammetric plotter.
1940 | Kelsh plotters came into wide use.
1940 to 1943 | Rapid advances in development of black-and-white and color IR (CIR) film for camouflage detection and haze penetration.
1941 | Eardley's Aerial Photos: Their Use and Interpretation published
1940 to 1945 | Tremendous strides in aerial photography and photogrammetry resulting from W.W.II military needs.
1944 | First edition of AS's Manual of Photogrammetry.
1944 | Military studies of water-depth penetration by two-band aerial photography.
1947 | Publication of Krinov's Spectral Reflectance Properties of Natural Materials.
1950's | Orthophoto mapping became popular.
1952 | Color aerial photos used in geological mapping.
1953 | Colwell (U.S.) demonstrated detection of disease and stress in vegetation (published 1956).
1950's | Term "Remote Sensing" first used (generally ascribed to Evelyn Pruitt; see footnote on page Intro-1).
1956 | Soviets published on spectro-zonal photography for mapping soils.
1960's | Color film entered into common use in aerial photography.
1960 | Colwell's Manual of Photointerpretation and Ray's Aerial Photographs in Geologic Interpretation and Mapping published.
1960's | Considerable activity in multispectral photography applications.
1960 | Wheeler's colorvision additive multispectral system.
1962 | United States and Russian nine-lens multispectral cameras; Itek camera (ten lens) in 1963.
1963 | USAF built Additive Color Viewer-Printer
1964 | NASA inaugurated programs in testing usefulness of multiband photography for Earth resources.
1965 | Multispectral additive color system developed by Yost and Wenderoth.
1967 | First practical uses of UV photography.
1967 | Two-volume Earth Resources Surveys from Space prepared by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
1968 | ASP's Manual of Color Aerial Photography.
1968 | SO65 multispectral photography experiment on Apollo-9
1975 | Publication of ASP's Manual of Remote Sensing.

Primary Author: Nicholas M. Short, Sr. email: nmshort@ptd.net