Victor Hasselblad (8 March 1906 – 5 August 1978) was a Swedish inventor and photographer, known for inventing the

Hasselblad Victor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company originally became known for its classic analog medium-format cameras that used a waist ...

6x6 cm

medium format camera Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 135 fil ...

Life and work

Hasselblad was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. In 1940 Swedish Air Force officers requested Hasselblad to construct a camera that rivaled the one found in a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

aircraft shot down over Sweden. Hasselblad founded the Victor Hasselblad AB company in 1941 to produce cameras for the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the e ...

. Hasselblad was famous for always trying out Hasselblad AB's new camera models by photographing birds. For example, Hasselblad 2000 was tried a week at Nidingen, the only place in Sweden where the

black-legged kittiwake The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...

nests. By 1948, the company introduced the first civilian Hasselblad camera, the 1600F, in New York City. Over time, Hasselblad has become a standard camera for many professional photographers. On his death, Hasselblad willed SEK 78 million (US$8 million) to the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation. In 1980 Hasselblad was posthumously inducted into the

International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri honors those who have made great contributions to the field of photography. History In 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, California and ...

References

External links

* 1906 births 1978 deaths People from Gothenburg Swedish photographers 20th-century Swedish inventors Swedish ornithologists 20th-century Swedish zoologists Hasselblad {{Sweden-bio-stub