Morton Leonard Heilig (December 22, 1926 – May 14, 1997) was an American pioneer in

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

(VR) technology and a filmmaker. He applied his

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

experience and with the help of his partner developed the

Sensorama The Sensorama was a machine that is one of the earliest known examples of immersive, multi-sensory (now known as multimodal) technology. This technology, which was introduced in 1962 by Morton Heilig, is considered one of the earliest virtual re ...

over several years from 1957, patenting it in 1962.

Sensorama

The

is big, bulky, and shaped like a 1980s era video arcade game. It was impressive for 1960s technology. The viewing cabinet gave the viewer the experience of riding a motorcycle on the streets of Brooklyn. The viewer felt the wind on their face, the vibration of the motorcycle seat, a stereoscopic 3D view, and smells of the city. Heilig wanted to create “cinema of the future.” The Sensorama was doomed, however, from the high costs of the filmmaking. The problem was not that the apparatus addressed the wrong senses; the business community just couldn't figure out how to sell it. He was not able to find the amount of funds necessary to create new 3-D films “obtained with three 35 mm cameras mounted on the cameraman.”

Filmmaker

Heilig was the producer, director, writer, cinematographer and editor of the short films ''Assembly Line'' (1961), which was awarded the San Giorgio Medal at the Venice Film Festival, and ''Destination: Man'' (1965), as well as ''The Film Maker'' about the making of ''The Greatest Show on Earth''. He was the producer, director, writer, cinematographer and editor of the feature film ''Once'' (1974). For the US Information Agency, he produced ''WIlson Riles'' (1972) about the superintendent of public instruction in the state of California and served as a cinematographer on ''The Entrepreneur: Malcolm Arbita''. He also directed the TV series ''Diver Dan'' (1961). He was a production executive for the film '' They Shoot Horses Don't They?'' (1969).
retrieved May 5, 2018 Morton Heilig is buried at Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, USA.

References

External links

mortonheilig.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heilig, Morton 1926 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American inventors Burials at Eden Memorial Park Cemetery Virtual reality pioneers