Editing Dennis Gabor (section)

== Life and career ==
Gabor was born as '''Günszberg Dénes''', into a [[Jewish family]] in [[Budapest]], Austria-Hungary. In 1900, his family converted to [[Lutheranism]].<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/dennis-gabor-wop/ Dennis Gabor Biography]. Bookrags.com (2 November 2010). Retrieved on 7 September 2017.</ref> Dennis was the first-born son of Günszberg Bernát and Jakobovits Adél. Despite having a religious background, religion played a minor role in his later life and he considered himself agnostic.<ref>{{cite book|title=Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present: D-H|year=2001|publisher=Gale Group|isbn=978-0-7876-1753-0|author=Brigham Narins|page=[https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/797 797]|quote=Although Gabor's family became Lutherans in 1918, religion appeared to play a minor role in his life. He maintained his church affiliation through his adult years but characterized himself as a "benevolent agnostic".|url=https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/797}}</ref> In 1902, the family received permission to change their surname from Günszberg to Gábor. He served with the Hungarian artillery in northern Italy during [[World War I]].<ref name=Oxford>{{cite book|title=Holographic Visions|last=Johnston|first=Sean|year=2006|isbn=978-0-19-857122-3|page=17|chapter=Wavefront Reconstruction and beyond|publisher=OUP Oxford |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8dcFC43QWoC&pg=PA17}}</ref>

He began his studies in engineering at the [[Budapest University of Technology and Economics]] in 1918, later in Germany, at the ''Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg'' in [[Berlin]], now known as [[Technische Universität Berlin]].<ref name=KFnotes>{{cite journal|last = Bor|first = Zsolt|author-link = Zsolt Bor|title = Optics by Hungarians|journal = Fizikai Szemle|volume = 5| page = 202|year = 1999|url = http://www.kfki.hu/fszemle/archivum/fsz9905/bor.html|issn = 0015-3257|access-date = 5 June 2010|bibcode = 1999AcHA....5..202Z}}</ref> At the start of his career, he analysed the properties of high voltage electric transmission lines by using cathode-beam oscillographs, which led to his interest in electron optics.<ref name=KFnotes /> Studying the fundamental processes of the [[oscillograph]], Gabor was led to other electron-beam devices such as [[electron microscopes]] and TV tubes. He eventually wrote his PhD thesis on Recording of Transients in Electric Circuits with the Cathode Ray Oscillograph in 1927, and worked on [[plasma lamp]]s.<ref name=KFnotes />

In 1933 Gabor fled from [[Nazi Germany]], where he was considered Jewish, and was invited to [[Great Britain|Britain]] to work at the development department of the [[British Thomson-Houston]] company in [[Rugby, Warwickshire]]. During his time in Rugby, he met Marjorie Louise Butler, and they married in 1936. He became a [[British citizen]] in 1946,<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Wasson|first1 = Tyler|first2 = Gert H.|last2 = Brieger|title = Nobel Prize Winners: An H. W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary|publisher = H. W. Wilson|year = 1987|page =359|isbn = 0-8242-0756-4|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/nobelprizewinner0000unse_k3o3/page/359}}</ref> and it was while working at British Thomson-Houston in 1947 that he invented holography, based on an [[electron microscope]], and thus electrons instead of visible light.<ref>{{cite patent| inventor-last = [[British Thomson-Houston Company]]| country-code = GB| publication-date = 1947| patent-number = patent GB685286}}</ref> He experimented with a heavily filtered [[Mercury-vapor lamp|mercury arc light source]].<ref name=KFnotes /> The earliest visual hologram was only realised in 1964 following the 1960 invention of the [[laser]], the first [[Coherence (physics)|coherent]] light source. After this, holography became commercially available.

Gabor's research focused on electron inputs and outputs, which led him to the invention of holography.<ref name=KFnotes /> The basic idea was that for perfect optical imaging, the total of all the information has to be used; not only the amplitude, as in usual optical imaging, but also the phase. In this manner, a complete holo-spatial picture can be obtained.<ref name=KFnotes /> Gabor published his theories of holography in a series of papers between 1946 and 1951.<ref name=KFnotes />

Gabor also researched how human beings communicate and hear; the result of his investigations was the theory of [[granular synthesis]], although [[Greek people|Greek]] composer [[Iannis Xenakis]] claimed that he was actually the first inventor of this synthesis technique.<ref>{{cite book| last = Xenakis| first = Iannis| title = Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition| publisher = Pendragon Pr.| year = 2001| volume = 9th| edition = 2nd| pages = preface xiii| isbn = 1-57647-079-2}}</ref> Gabor's work in this and related areas was foundational in the development of [[time–frequency analysis]].

In 1948 Gabor moved from Rugby to [[Imperial College London]], and in 1958 became professor of [[Applied Physics]] until his retirement in 1967. His inaugural lecture on 3 March 1959, 'Electronic Inventions and their Impact on Civilisation' provided inspiration for [[Norbert Wiener]]'s treatment of self-reproducing machines in the penultimate chapter in the 1961 edition of his book [[Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine|''Cybernetics'']].

As part of his many developments related to CRTs, in 1958 Gabor patented a new [[flat screen television]] concept. This used an [[electron gun]] aimed perpendicular to the screen, rather than straight at it. The beam was then directed forward to the screen using a series of fine metal wires on either side of the beam path. The concept was significantly similar to the [[Aiken tube]], introduced in the US the same year. This led to a many-years [[patent battle]] which resulted in Aiken keeping the US rights and Gabor the UK. Gabor's version was later picked up by [[Clive Sinclair]] in the 1970s, and became a decades-long quest to introduce the concept commercially. Its difficult manufacturing, due to the many wires within the vacuum tube, meant this was never successful. While looking for a company willing to try to manufacture it, Sinclair began negotiations with [[Timex Sinclair|Timex]], who instead took over production of the [[ZX81]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ian |last1=Adamson |first2=Richard |last2=Kennedy |publisher= Penguin |date=1986 |title=Sinclair and the 'sunrise' Technology |pages=91–92}}</ref>

In 1963 Gabor published ''Inventing the Future'' which discussed the three major threats Gabor saw to modern society: war, overpopulation and the Age of Leisure. The book contained the now well-known expression that "the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented." Reviewer [[Nigel Calder]] described his concept as, "His basic approach is that we cannot predict the future, but we can invent it..." Others such as [[Alan Kay]], [[Peter Drucker]], and [[Forrest Shaklee]] have used various forms of similar quotes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/09/27/invent-the-future/|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20131226085813/http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/09/27/invent%2Dthe%2Dfuture/|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 December 2013|title=We Cannot Predict the Future, But We Can Invent It|publisher=quoteinvestigator.com|date=27 September 2012|access-date=3 May 2015}}</ref> His next book, ''Innovations: scientific, technological, and social'' which was published in 1970, expanded on some of the topics he had already earlier touched upon, and also pointed to his interest in technological innovation as mechanism of both liberation and destruction.

[[File:Dennis Gabor 1971.jpg|thumb|Gabor in 1971]]
In 1971 he was the single recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with the motivation "for his invention and development of the holographic method"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1971/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1971|publisher=nobelprize.org}}</ref> and presented the history of the development of holography from 1948 in his Nobel lecture.

While spending much of his retirement in Italy at [[Lavinio]] Rome, he remained connected with Imperial College as a senior research fellow and also became staff scientist of [[CBS Laboratories]], in [[Stamford, Connecticut]]; there, he collaborated with his lifelong friend, CBS Labs' president [[Peter Carl Goldmark|Dr. Peter C. Goldmark]] in many new schemes of communication and display. One of Imperial College's new halls of residence in Prince's Gardens, [[Knightsbridge]] is named Gabor Hall in honour of Gabor's contribution to Imperial College. He developed an interest in social analysis and published ''The Mature Society: a view of the future'' in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Dennis_Gabor |title=Dennis Gabor |author=IEEE Global History Network |year=2011 |publisher=IEEE History Center |access-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> He also joined the [[Club of Rome]] and supervised a working group studying energy sources and technical change. The findings of this group were published in the report ''Beyond the Age of Waste'' in 1978, a report which was an early warning of several issues that only later received widespread attention.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/beyondageofwaste0000gabo|title=Club of Rome: Beyond the Age of Waste|author1=Gabor, Dennis|author2=Colombo, Umberto|author3=King, Alexander|author4=Galli, Riccardo|publisher=Pergamon Press|isbn=0-08-021834-2|year=1978|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Following the rapid development of lasers and a wide variety of holographic applications (e.g., art, information storage, and the recognition of patterns), Gabor achieved acknowledged success and worldwide attention during his lifetime.<ref name=KFnotes /> He received numerous awards besides the Nobel Prize.

Gabor died in a nursing home in [[South Kensington]], London, on 9 February 1979. In 2006 a [[blue plaque]] was put up on No. 79 [[Queen's Gate]] in [[Kensington]], where he lived from 1949 until the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.gov-news.org/gov/uk/news/blue_plaque_for_dennis_gabor_inventor_of/63353.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202225540/http://www.gov-news.org/gov/uk/news/blue_plaque_for_dennis_gabor_inventor_of/63353.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 December 2013|title=Blue Plaque for Dennis Gabor, inventor of Holograms|publisher=Government News|date=1 June 2006|access-date=23 November 2013}}</ref>