Editing Polaroid Corporation (section)

===Founding and success===
{{expand section| Content on the firms introduction of revolutionary instant photography which is completely absent from this history|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Polaroid-1960.svg|thumb|250x250px|Polaroid logo from 1962 to 1991, designed by [[Paul Giambarba]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-09-19|title=Vintage Polaroid Branding and Packaging by Paul Giambarba|url=https://imjustcreative.com/original-polaroid-branding-by-paul-giambarba/2019/09/19|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-23|website=The Logo Smith|archive-date=2021-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024001120/https://imjustcreative.com/original-polaroid-branding-by-paul-giambarba/2019/09/19}}</ref>]]
[[File:Polaroid 80B Highlander instant camera.jpg|thumb|Polaroid 80B Highlander instant camera made in the USA, circa 1959]] [[File:Polaroid 3000 Speed Type 47 Rollfilm Expired June 1962.jpg|thumb|Polaroid 3000 Speed Type 47 Rollfilm Expired June 1962]][[File:Polaroid Automatic 350 instant camera.jpg|thumb|Polaroid Automatic 350 instant camera, made from 1969 to 1971, MSRP $150]] [[File:Polaroid 430.jpg|thumb|Polaroid 430 Land Camera]] [[File:Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera model 2 instant camera.jpg|thumb|Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera model 2 instant camera, made in the USA circa 1972 to 1974]] [[File:Polaroid Sun Autofocus 660 instant camera.jpg|thumb|Polaroid Sun Autofocus 660 instant camera, circa 1987]] [[File:Polaroid OneStep Autofocus SE.jpg|thumb|Polaroid OneStep Autofocus SE instant camera, made in the United Kingdom circa 1997]]
[[File:Polaroid Snap Android Smartphone (16675935440).jpg|thumb|Polaroid Snap Android smartphone]]

The original Polaroid Corporation was founded in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], by Edwin Land and George W. Wheelwright III in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rael|first=Trula J.|date=November 9, 2017|title="Just One of the Boys": Edwin Land and The Polaroid Corporation|work=The Harvard Crimson|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/9/edwin-land-and-the-polaroid-corporation/|access-date=2020-08-13|archive-date=2020-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806074245/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/9/edwin-land-and-the-polaroid-corporation/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Deutsch|first=Claudia H.|date=2001-03-03|title=G. W. Wheelwright III, 97, Dies; Co-Founder of Polaroid|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/03/business/g-w-wheelwright-iii-97-dies-co-founder-of-polaroid.html|access-date=2020-08-13|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911091440/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/03/business/g-w-wheelwright-iii-97-dies-co-founder-of-polaroid.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been described by ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' as a "juggernaut of innovation", and "the [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] of its time" with a "leader in [[Edwin Land]], a scientist who guided the company as the founding CEO for four decades".<ref name="boston-history-polaroid" /> Polaroid’s initial market was in [[polarized sunglasses]] — spawned from Land’s self-guided research in light [[Polarization (waves)|polarization]]. Land, having completed his freshman year at [[Harvard University]], left to pursue this market, resulting in Polaroid's birth. Land later returned to Harvard to continue his research.<ref>Mervis, Stanley H. "Memorial Tributes" National Academy of Engineering 7 National Academies Press, 1947: page 129. {{ISBN|978-0-309-05146-0}} {{doi|10.17226/4779}}</ref> Polaroid, owning patents to its polarizer technology, got its start by employing polarization in products that included 3-D movies and protective goggles for [[Dogs in warfare|military dogs]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Earls |first1=Alan |last2=Rohani |first2=Nasrin |title=Polaroid |date=2005 |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=9781531621797 |page=41}}</ref> During World War II, Polaroid designed and manufactured numerous products for the armed services including an infrared night viewing device. He led the company as CEO for 43 years. He headed the Polaroid Corporation, developing it from a small research and marketing firm into a well-known high-tech company. [[Kodak]] was a customer for some of Land's polarizing products. Recognized by most as the father of instant photography, he included all the operations of a darkroom inside the film itself. He gave the first public demonstration of his new [[Land Camera]] in February 1947; from then until 1972, the user had to release the film manually, pull a tab, and peel the negative from the finished positive print—the first version to eliminate these intermediate steps was the SX-70 of 1972, which ejected the print automatically.<ref>{{cite book |last=Buse |first=Peter |title=The Camera Does the Rest: How Polaroid Changed Photography |date=2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226312163|pages=5, 9}}</ref> Land was pictured on the cover of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine in 1972 with the inscription, "A Genius and His Magic Camera".

In the 1940s, Polaroid purchased the [[B B Chemical Company]] building at 784 [[Memorial Drive (Cambridge)|Memorial Drive]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] for its headquarters. The landmark<ref name=MACRIS>{{cite web|url=https://mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=cam.257|title=MACRIS inventory record and NRHP nomination for B & B Chemical Company|publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts Historical Commission|access-date=2019-09-19|archive-date=2022-05-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528160218/https://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=CAM.257|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Streamline Moderne]] style structure would be added to the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts]] in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bulfinch.com/case_study/784-memorial-drive/ |title=784 Memorial Drive |publisher=The Bulfinch Companies, Inc. |access-date=2019-09-19 |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806152709/https://www.bulfinch.com/case_study/784-memorial-drive/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

When Kodak announced instant film cameras in 1976, Polaroid announced they were suing them, accusing Kodak of having stolen its patented instant photography process.<ref name="boston-history-polaroid" /> In the two years that followed the lawsuit, total sales of instant cameras climbed from 7.4 million cameras in 1976 to 10.3 million in 1977 and 14.3 million in 1978. The suit in federal court lasted 10 years. Polaroid asked for $12 billion for infringements of its patents by Kodak. The court ruled in favor of Polaroid and ordered Kodak to cease instant picture production, plus pay Polaroid $909.5 million of the $12 billion it had asked for.<ref name="boston-history-polaroid" />