INSPIRATION OF A CHILD HEY! DID YOU KNOW?? A CHILD WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE POLAROID INSTANT CAMERA: SHE WAS THE INVENTOR’S THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. DR. EDWIN H. LAND TELLS IT THIS WAY: “I RECALL A SUNNY DAY IN SANTE FE WHEN MY LITTLE DAUGHTER ASKED WHY SHE COULD NOT SEE AT ONCE THE PICTURE I HAD JUST TAKEN OF HER. AS I WALKED AROUND THE CHARMING TOWN, I UNDERTOOK THE TASK OF SOLVING THE PUZZLE SHE HAD SET (SOUNDS MORE LIKE A CHALLENGE) FOR ME. WITHIN AN HOUR, THE CAMERA, THE FILM, AND THE PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY BECAME SO CLEAR TO ME.” AND SO DR. ED LAND, FOUNDED THE POLAROID CORPORATION IN 1937 AND HEADED IT TILL 1982. AND THAT’S HOW THE POLAROID CAMERA BEGAN. OR HOW ABOUT THEODORE SEUSS GEISEL, WHO WHILE STUDYING TO BE A TEACHER AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY WOULD DOODLE IN HIS NOTEBOOKS, AND HIS DRAWINGS CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF HELEN MARION PALMER, A FELLOW STUDENT. PALMER, WHO LATER MARRIED GEISEL, SAID “TED’S NOTEBOOKS WERE ALWAYS FILLED WITH THESE FABULOUS ANIMALS. SO I SET TO WORK DIVERTING HIM; HERE WAS A MAN WHO COULD DRAW PICTURES; HE SHOULD BE EARNING A LIVING DOING THAT.” GEISEL, USING THE PSEUDONYM DR. SUESS, DID JUST THAT. BUT REMEMBER HE WAS REJECTED 27 TIMES BY PUBLISHERS, BEFORE HIS FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK WAS PUBLISHED.