2/11/2011:
Otto Sandvik enlisted with the U.S. Army on this date in 1918. Sandvik, largely influenced by his work in the military, would go on to establish himself as one of the great physics researchers of the day, eventually helping to develop sound in motion pictures.
Although the technology for making silent films became available as early as the late 1880s, “talkies,” as sound pictures became known, were not developed for another forty years. In the late 1920s, filmmakers began using recorded soundtracks to add sound to films. The “marriage of film and sound” proved extremely successful, and led to the rapid demise of the silent film era. However, many technical difficulties, including the use of enormous cameras, microphones, and complex recording equipment, required years of research and design improvements to finally create a recording film camera that could be efficiently employed and operated. The years between 1920 and 1940 proved extremely important for these developments.
Otto Sandvik was like many researchers who entered the field of photography and film through indirect routes, such as physics or chemistry. Born on April 13, 1893, in Vagge, Norway, Sandvik immigrated to North Dakota in 1910 and became a student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. In 1918, he took a break from his studies to enlist with the U.S. Army and serve in World War I. As a science student, Sandvik was assigned to the aerial warfare division of the Army, a precursor to the U.S. Air Force. He was sent to Fort Omaha for training to use meteorological balloons and instruments, and then transferred to Fort Wood, New York, for additional meteorological training. On June 11th, Sandvik was sent overseas to work in France. In addition to observing and recording meteorological phenomena, the Army was researching the use of aerial balloons as weapons. Because of this, Sandvik was introduced to physics research, which he pursued upon his return to North Dakota. He completed his PhD in physics from UND in 1927, and was hired by the Eastman Kodak company in Rochester, New York.
As head of Kodak’s Physics Division, Sandvik published widely on his research and made several advances in sound film emulsions that eventually led to the efficient production and exhibition of sound films, or, the “advent of the talkies.” When Sandvik passed away in 1957, his obituary was published by the American Institute of Physics.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
Randolph, Mabel. Service List of the University of North Dakota, The Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota, Vol. 10, January 1920: 269.
Crafton, Donald. The Talkies: American Cinema’s Transition to Sound, 1926-1931. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.
Swenson, Joel. The Entrepreneur’s Role in Introducing the Sound Motion Picture. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 63 (3), September 1948: 404-23.
Obituaries: Otto Sandvick, Physics Today, Vol. 10(11), November 1957.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Eastman-Kodak-Company-Company-History.html