Arnold Hardy (February 2, 1922 – December 5, 2007) was the first amateur photographer who won the 1947

Pulitzer Prize for Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Photography was one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It was inaugurated in 1942 and replaced by two photojournalism prizes in 1968: the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and "Pulitzer Pri ...

. His 1947 award-winning photo of a woman plunging from a window of the burning Winecoff Hotel in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, USA, on December 7, 1946, became the defining image of the fire that killed 119 people. At the time, Hardy was 24 years old and a graduate student at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. He was returning home late from a dance when he heard the fire sirens. At the fire department he was told that the fire was at the Winecoff Hotel. He had a filmpack and only five flashbulbs when he arrived at the scene. Hardy recalled offering help to the firemen, but they refused. He started taking pictures, even though in the darkness it was technically very complicated to adjust the camera. After developing the film, Hardy sold three photos to the

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for $300. According to some sources, the woman died at the scene. However, others identify her as Daisy McCumber, 41, who survived but suffered multiple fractures and had her leg amputated. She died in 1992. Apart from the Pulitzer Prize, Hardy was awarded five other top photography prizes in 1947. Later he declined a job with the

and instead began an

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equipment business. According to his son, Hardy was only proud that after the wide publication of his shot the fire safety standards around the country were raised significantly. In a 2000 interview, he said that the only photos he took since that time were of family and vacations. Arnold Hardy died in 2007 at age 85 at the

Emory University Hospital Emory University Hospital is an 853-bed hospital in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, specializing in the care of acutely ill adults. Emory University Hospital is staffed exclusively by Emory University School of Medicine faculty who also ...

in Atlanta of complications following hip surgery.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Arnold 1922 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American photographers Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners Georgia Tech alumni